House of Ibiza

"Sense the harmony in the proportions!' It made little difference if the task at hand was to shinny up a crumbling wall, crawl under a cactus patch clutching the end of a tape measure or stand motionless in an empty ruin straining to hear "silent music'*, half measures were not an option for my father. Upon his arrival on Ibiza in the autumn of 1956, he was immediately enthralled by the traditional Ibizan architecture, a form of building alien to the son of a Norwegian master builder, born and raised in Vancouver, but it would none the less become a passion that he would pursue obsessively for the rest of his life. He raced to study and document a millennial culture and building tradition that was rapidly being lost with each passing year, as traditional knowledge disappeared and tourism led to the redevelopment of the island. This book is the result of his scholarship and dedication. Today his research and historical narrative have been widely accepted. Ibizan houses fit into the complex and fascinating history of Mediterranean settlement and development. Not only was he passionate about discovering the origins of the architecture, he always hoped that it could be adapted and evolved for contemporary needs, stating: "It would be wonderful to have as beautiful and harmonious an architecture as was created by our poetic peasant antecedents on this island of Ibiza. This remains a challenge to us.' Rolf Blakstad