OHLAB pairs cork and CLT with a 1935 block at Palma's Terreno Barrio Hotel

Mallorca studio OHLAB has completed the 41-room Terreno Barrio Hotel in Palma, pairing a renovated 1935 heritage building with a new seven-storey structure built from cross-laminated timber and clad in cork.

The hotel sits in El Terreno, in the west of the city. Its founders, Paloma Hernaiz and Jaime Oliver, position it as "a catalyst for the neighbourhood" — a community hub as much as a tourist destination.

"Terreno is not conceived as a tourist object imposed on its context, but as a device for exchange – a hotel that, before being a hotel, aims to be an extension of the barrio," the OHLAB founders said. "This is not a slogan; it is the principle that orders programme, thresholds, atmospheres and materiality."

That is a strong claim. The programme, at least, backs it up.

What does the hotel actually contain?

The complex divides into two characters. OHLAB calls the renovated 1935 building — a five-storey apartment block by local architect Francesc Casas — "the stage". It holds the reception, restaurant and bar, a club and a roof bar.

The new block is "the bazaar", the civic heart. Wrapping a new public plaza, it houses:

• a cafe
• co-working areas
• a bookshop and gallery
• pop-up retail
• a gym, spa and cinema

How does the design differ between the two buildings?

OHLAB took different approaches to architecture and interiors in each structure, testing themes of building and material reuse.

"Here, circularity was understood not only as an environmental or material strategy, but also as an economic, social and territorial one, a way of keeping value within the local ecosystem by activating residents, culture, crafts, suppliers and everyday life," said Hernaiz and Oliver.

In the heritage block, the interior revives the existing structure rather than covering it. Communal spaces have a theatrical character: patterned floor tiles, heavy curtains, a golden mirror bar and a wool curtain installation by artist Sylvia Sanchez Montoya in the reception and restaurant.

Bedrooms use colour-blocking to split each room into horizontal top and bottom halves. Floors and furniture share matching terrazzo, produced by local manufacturer Huguet from the project's own demolition waste.

What about the new building?

Cork clads the courtyard-facing north facade; timber louvres shade the windows on the other exterior walls. Inside, the exposed CLT structure carries more playful colour — the cafe and shop combines shades of brown and lime green across terrazzo floors and wooden furniture.

Bedrooms here take another register: murals by Mallorcan artist Albert Pinya, bathrooms inside mirrored boxes, and timber flooring that merges into joinery.

Who commissioned it, and who made the furniture?

José Taltavull developed the concept after hotelier Lydia Piñero brought him on board; the client is Grupo Piñero. Taltavull appointed StudioRoses to oversee the visual identity, which fed into OHLAB's scheme. The logo's red recurs in the ramped floor between bar and reception, the club's stage and the sculptural bar stools.

Most furniture was designed by OHLAB or sourced from Mallorca-based manufacturers. A DJ table was made from cork left over from construction, and Mallorcan artist Pedro Óliver supplied the neon lighting pieces throughout.

Context: El Terreno's wider revival

The hotel joins a run of major openings in Palma, a city in the midst of a cultural renaissance. Camper completed its 15,000-square-metre Project Gomila in El Terreno in 2023, including the Jasper Morrison-designed Can Pa bakery. OHLAB's other Palma work includes the Can Santacilia residential development and the Paral·lel apartment complex.

Whether a 41-room hotel can genuinely anchor a neighbourhood rather than profit from its revival is a question the barrio itself will answer — the co-working, plaza and pop-up retail at least leave the door open.