The Bohemian spirit of Ibiza

Some houses capture the spirit of their location more than others, not just in their appearance but in the atmosphere they convey. One such example is House of Dreams, a private villa with a pool and stunning sea views perched on a hillside in Ibiza’s Can Furnet residential neighbourhood.

Originally built in the 1990s, the property was recently renovated by Zucchero Architects – an Ibiza-based architecture and interior design firm with offices in Pesaro Urbino (Opalus Group Design) and Amsterdam – as part of a project that reflects the island’s free-spirited, bohemian character.

“The ‘Ibiza factor’ played a decisive role in the remodelling of the villa, which has a floor area of around 400 square metres, a total of ten rooms and a 60-square-metre swimming pool,” explains architect Luciano Zucchero, who worked on the project with his colleague Luca Saldarini under the strategic coordination of Jader Rossi. The influence of place is evident not only in the style – “Mediterranean with deep Ibizan roots, enriched with the Asian elements that were popular on the island in the 1960s and 1970s”, says Zucchero – but also in the layout, where the spaces have been opened up and interconnected both visually and physically. A recurring motif is the arch, used throughout the villa to reinforce this sense of connection.

“The way the socialisation spaces are organised to promote an open community was the starting point for the project,” the architect continues. This led, for example, to the decision to connect the living room directly to the outdoor pool, to create a lounge area with seating to admire the views, and to arrange the bedrooms organically around the large central living space with each room opening outwards.

This sense of fluidity between spaces is further reinforced by the choice of materials. For example, stuccoed walls and ceilings are combined with marble-effect porcelain stoneware floors from Flaviker’s Navona collection, a line that recalls the raw beauty of unfilled travertine. “We used it both inside and outside the villa, including in the pool, to create an overall sense of spatial continuity,” notes Zucchero.

Environmental responsibility was another guiding principle. “Our engineers focused on sustainability by introducing water recovery systems, geothermal energy generation and insulation levels that exceed European standards throughout the villa,” concludes the architect.