Cases de neu (snow houses)

What is

Snow pits of the Serra de Tramuntana. They were filled in winter and emptied in summer: refrigerators without electricity. The snow went to hospitals, doctors and vendors of ice cream and cold drinks.

##Com works

• Location: high altitudes, often above 1,000 m, in shady areas.
• The well: an excavated hole (sometimes taking advantage of an avenc), elliptical or rectangular, lined with a dry stone wall and paved floor. It protrudes just over 1.5 m from the ground.
• The roof: brick, single or gable, tile or càrritx. A door for the nevaters and side windows, the bombers, through which the snow was thrown.
• Compact: the snow was placed in horizontal layers for about three hours until it formed blocks of ice. Each layer was covered with càrritx leaves as insulation.
• Seal: filled the well, the door and bombers were closed as hermetically as possible.
• Open: early spring (traditionally April 1). They took out pans de neu and went down at night to the towns, from there to Palma.
• Prepared terrain: walls and banks to expand the flat surface where the snow accumulated; nevater roads that are "true works of popular engineering" (Consorci).

Elements and vocabulary

• casa de neu, nevater, pou, bomberes, sostre (snow cape), càrritx, pa de neu
• porxo or casa dels nevaters (shelter), camí de nevaters, voltes (zigzags of the path)
• aigua llisa (water with snow and lemon), aigua de canyella, aigua dolça (snow with sugar)

History

• First references to the use of snow in Mallorca: s. XIV (Consortium). First reference to collection and trade: Binimelis, 1595 (BOE).
• Economic boom in the ss. XVI–XVIII, maximum in the XVIII.
• Medical uses: reduce fever, spasms, inflammations, burns (mixed with oil). Gastronomic: ice cream and drinks.
• Years without snow: it was brought by boat from Barcelona. The snow from the Tramuntana was sent to Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.
• Ice factories (early 20th century) put an end to the trade. The last one, in Massanella (Escorca), in 1927.

On veure'n

• Massanella (Escorca): 11 cases de neu and five roads of nevaters, the best set on the island. Among them: Son Macip, d'en Galileu (restored by the Consell), Pla de sa Neu, Coll des Telègraf.
• Son Macip / Son Massip (public property): route with nine cases de neu, part of the GR 221.
• Coll de ses Cases de Neu: highest point of the GR 221 , just over 1,200 m.
• Fornalutx: route to the neu cases of Coma de n'Arbona (from ~800 m to 1,216 m).

Stat

• Some 42 documented on the island (BOE 2001); about 40 in the Serra, from Puigpunyent to Pollença (Consorci).
• Massanella: BIC file (place of ethnological interest) initiated in 2001. Final statement to verify.
• Ruins in high mountains; specific restorations of the Consell.

Why is it design

A complete passive cooling system: altitude, shade, mass, plant insulation and night logistics. Lesson: conserve without energy using climate and time. It is proximity design .

Avui architecture

No reinterpretation identified. Open topic: passive refrigeration, seasonal cold storage.

For the project

• Editorial piece: recipe book for aigua llisa and snow ice cream (cooking + history).
• Excursion-workshop to Massanella with the Consorci.
• Atlas: section of a neu house with layers of snow and carritx.

Sources

• boe.es/boe/dias/2001/04/04/pdfs/A12809-12810.pdf
• serradetramuntana.net/-/neu-a-la-serra-l-or-blanc
• serradetramuntana.net/-/casesdeneu
• illesbalears.travel/en/mallorca/the-route-of-the-snow-houses
• serradetramuntana.net/ruta-pedra-en-sec-gr-221

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

Open it in the atlas →