A Whimsical Reuse explores refined architectural transformations where history is reinterpreted through poetic interventions and contemporary craft. Forgotten spaces gain new life, revealing a dialogue between memory, material, and contemporary ways of living.
Located within the former military service park of Sa Coma, Ibiza, Sa Nau by Atzur Arquitectura transforms an existing military pavilion into a flexible setting for contemporary public life while preserving the clarity and identity of its original structure. The intervention reorganises its interior through a new central skylight that becomes the spatial and social heart of the project. Around this shared space, workshops, exhibition areas and gathering places unfold within an open and adaptable layout. By embracing the existing architecture, the project demonstrates how adaptive reuse can reveal new possibilities for collective coexistence without erasing the memory of place.
The former Sa Coma service park occupies the grounds of a former military barracks on the eastern side of Ibiza, near Santa Eulària des Riu. Conceived as a self-contained military compound, the site was organised as a series of rationally planned pavilions arranged within an ordered network of roads and open spaces. Each pavilion was designed as an autonomous yet complementary element within the larger complex, reflecting the efficiency, repetition and spatial discipline characteristic of military planning.
Following the site’s decommissioning, the complex has gradually been transformed into the Parc Insular de Serveis de Sa Coma, a public campus accommodating educational, environmental, administrative and emergency services. Rather than replacing the existing buildings, this ongoing regeneration adapts the former military pavilions to contemporary civic programmes, allowing their robust architectural framework and collective memory to remain an integral part of the site’s evolving identity.
Within this broader transformation, Sa Nau by Atzur Arquitectura occupies Building 601, demonstrating how a single pavilion can become a catalyst for new forms of public life while remaining firmly rooted in the spatial logic of the original military ensemble.
The architects retain the pavilion’s structural envelope, preserving its identity while upgrading its environmental performance.
The introduction of the new central skylight brings natural daylight deep into the building. At the same time, the former cellular layout gives way to a more open spatial organisation, improving natural ventilation, visual continuity and the overall quality of the interior environment. This flexible framework allows the pavilion to accommodate evolving public programmes while preserving the clarity of its original structure.
The intervention reveals and reinterprets the building’s inherent qualities, establishing a balance between conservation and transformation.
This approach is equally evident in the project’s materiality. Throughout the interior, the preserved white envelope is complemented by exposed brickwork and new timber insertions, clearly distinguishing the contemporary intervention from the existing structure. Set against the calm white shell, their warm, tactile presence creates a restrained material contrast that reveals the relationship between the original pavilion and the new architectural intervention.
By adapting rather than erasing the existing architecture, the project demonstrates how former institutional spaces can accommodate forms of collective life while preserving the memory embedded in their original structure.
The project’s defining architectural gesture takes place at its centre.
The former internal courtyard is enclosed beneath a central skylight, creating a shared interior space that becomes the spatial and social heart of this new multifunctional building.
More than introducing natural light, this intervention reorganises the entire programme around a new collective core, transforming a formerly introverted pavilion into an environment that encourages encounter, orientation and visual continuity. Offices occupy the northeast wing, exhibition and conference spaces are located to the southwest, while service areas are integrated along the northwest façade, allowing all functions to relate directly to the central gathering space.
The same restrained design strategy extends beyond the building itself.
Exterior spaces are preserved and adapted to public use, reinforcing the continuity between architecture, landscape and public realm while maintaining the identity of the former military complex.
Rather than treating adaptive reuse as the preservation of an object, Sa Nau demonstrates how existing architecture can acquire renewed civic relevance through spatial reinterpretation.
Facts & Credits
Project Title Sa Nau
Location Eivissa, Illes Balears, Spain
Status Completed, 2026
Architecture Atzur Arquitectura
Photography Flavio Coddou
This project was submitted to Archisearch through the “Submit a Story” feature, where architects, designers, and creatives are invited to share their work for publication.