[2] Located on the top of a cliff on the island's south coast, the house is built in the area's yellowish-pink sandstone, known locally as marés stone, making it blend into the landscape.
Utzon's approach is reminiscent of the experience he had gained in Finland where he saw how Alvar Aalto had built the Villa Mairea, altering the design along the way.
[4] In his extensive monograph on Utzon, Richard Weston considers Can Lis to be "one of the finest houses built in the twentieth century."
He further comments: "Uniting mental and physical order, geometry and building, Utzon has made a house unmistakenly modern in technique and sensibility yet seemingly as natural and ordinary as the sun, stone and sea whose intercourse it celebrates.
They finally decided to build a second house on the island, Can Feliz, at a more remote location, as they were increasingly bothered by the continual pounding of the waves, the glare of the sun, and intrusions by tourists and architecture enthusiasts who wandered through the site.