The post Pride Rock Villa in Mykonos was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The post E30 – House in Caesarea by Raz Melamed was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The seven luxury suites are built in an 8-acre property, near Preveza, Greece. Their design features sophisticated simplicity and minimalist architecture, in harmony with the environment. Each room comprises two levels: The lowest, on the same level with the swimming pool, accommodates the lounge, with uninterrupted views of the sea, and nature. The interior blends a fusion of Scandinavian design with artisanal Greek furniture. The bedroom and bathroom floors are clad in terrazzo. The walls are plastered with handmade facing, the outdoor courtyards feature pressed cement, and the spa walls are clad in venetian stucco. Solid teak, suar, and iroko wood dominate the pergolas, the outdoor furniture, and the outdoor lounge surfaces, between the room and the swimming pool. The suites are surrounded by a Mediterranean garden lush in rosemary and lavender, and the roofs are planted to achieve passive energy saving. 

Block722

Spyros Hound Photography

262 | November 2021

The post Meraviglia Slow Living was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

In Portugal, spaceworkers built a house in exposed concrete, whose monolithic architecture has a clear and rational layout, in contrast to its apparently random configuration.

The client’s wishes were for the house to be built in an “L” shape. Developing an original identity and finding an answer to this request was the main inspiration for the approach, elaborated in an almost imperceptible way. The distribution of spaces was done with clarity and rationality, without the morphological obviousness hidden in the tenuous movement of the elements developing along two streets that flank the volumetry.

Façade design and materiality

The main façades of this irregular monolith are made of exposed concrete with wooden formwork, composed by a succession of opaque, crude and hermetic volumes that close the house to the public exterior. For the interior of the lot, the volume is torn in order to enjoy the light and the garden, ensuring privacy facing the street.

Layout design and program

The program of the house is distributed over a series of consecutive volumes, as in a game of embedded pieces, almost playful. Each of the volumes presents different functions, heights and depths creating a unique spatial dynamic, and emphasizing a new reading of an “L” shaped house. New visual relationships are created between the full and the empty, between the private, semi-private areas and the view of the central garden space where the pool is also located.

The project for a couple with two children is an ode to the resident’s privacy. From the outside, the North side is obscure and closed: from the street it is only possible to identify two openings (one of them 5 meters high) to see the sky and the other from the bedrooms leading to the inner courtyard. On the other hand, the rest of the light is brought by the large interior feature of the volume that illuminates the house from one end to the other, is related as well to the garden and the pool.

The main access to the house is marked by a cantilevered volume that levitates over the entrance, with an imposing ceiling height that prioritizes the volume of access vis-à-vis the entire monolith. This suspended block reinforces the idea of antigravity which, following the rigid volumes, when actually entering the house, contrasts with a large plane of glass that subtly, lightly and balanced connects the outside with the view of the garden.

Next to the entrance and close to the common area, there’s a study used for the owners’ frequent meetings, with being a semi-public area, carefully preserves the family’s intimacy in the areas of the main room, social room and kitchen areas and services.

A multipurpose space was designed for the youngsters, which is currently used as a playroom, with the particularity that the light entrance is on a level close to the floor, thus allowing them to be able to see the garden when they are seated playing. And in the future, when the space is used as a study room, this light entry is not a distraction.

The four rooms are continuous and with independent access to the garden and the pool, maintaining the indoor/ outdoor relationship without exposing its users. The bathrooms, in turn, are illuminated with zenith light through 3 rectangular skylights present in 3 bedrooms. The closets accompany the volumetric play of the house between the different scales and heights of each block.

In the master suite, two volumes of different scales are joined by a small interior patio that brings a little bit of nature into the house and accompanies the transition between the master bedroom, the bathroom, and the dressing room.

spaceworkers

The post Casa MF was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

On a spectacular site overlooking the Euboean Sea near the small village of St. Minas, a mix of raw and refined materials combine to create a unique summer house that opens to the landscape in all directions.

Layout elaboration under a vaulted roof

Two large shallow concrete arches orient the main living spaces towards the sea. Crossing perpendicular to this primary axis, a one-story bar of more private bedroom spaces is tucked into the existing slope of the landscape. The house disappears into the olive groves and wild pine forest from the approach road but opens up across two stories to embrace the full extent of the seafront views. Extensive terraces around the house create a multi-level network of outdoor living rooms.

Modern architecture reconfigured

An initial structure on the site, designed by Greek architect Nikos Hadjimichalis in the 1970s, has been extensively renovated, reconfigured, and extended. Whereas the original house was singularly focused towards the sea, by cutting large new openings into the original structure and extending space outdoors in all directions, the diversity of the site – forest, grove, lawn, meadow… and sea – is celebrated. Many of the original modernist details have been recreated and updated, but also complemented with playful new additions.

Material palette for an exposed concrete shell

The house is deliberately ambiguous in its treatment of old and new, and unprecious in its deference to the original house; at times revealing the traces of the manipulations and incisions to the original, at other times blending new with old, conflating past and present. The exposed concrete of the structural walls and ceiling are complemented by exposed brick, wood windows, custom terrazzo floors, perforated aluminum cabinets, and built-in upholstered furniture throughout.

Νeiheiser Argyros

The post Summer House in St. Minas was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

An innovative apartment block in Limassol

A four-story apartment block with six apartments was designed to create a pleasant living experience while optimizing construction and maximizing material and energy savings. Two two-bedroom apartments were created on each floor for the first two floors while two different three-bedroom apartments were created on the 3rd and 4th floors.

The Structural System and Layout

A strong core with columns only on the perimeter of the building, allows flexibility in floor plan design. The compact central volume of the cube-shaped block is juxtaposed with lightweight metal structures, becoming the suspended balconies, mainly for private outdoor use. The compact block includes a high level of insulation, aiming to leave a small ecological footprint and to be economically efficient, and shadings for the edifice, and solar, power-generating panels; those were placed to maximize the building’s orientation.

Special attention was given to the floor design of the apartments, where a combination of materials unifies the spaces, disregarding the separating walls.

The ceiling of each typology was designed independently so that the functional, aesthetic, and structural needs of the building are served.

The roof is organized into a roof garden that acts as a common recreation area, through lightweight structures which are covering up the mechanical floor, adding to the building’s overall aesthetic.

Computational optimization techniques

Computational optimization techniques were applied to determine the structural system in order to minimize the impact of seismic activity. This led to a decrease in the amount of reinforcement needed for the construction, given the small cross-sections of the structural elements.

Additionally, the waffle slab system was chosen to reduce the cost for the formworks and to lessen the total weight of the reinforced concrete structure. The cantilevered balconies are hinged metal additions that don’t affect the sturdiness of the rest of the structure.

Alexis Papadopoulos Architectural Practice

Creative Photo Room

The post ZIO Apartment Block in Limassol was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The house, in the outskirts of Nicosia, is built in a relatively large plot, at the corner of a busy street and a small dead-end, which provides the most convenient access to the property.

The simple, balanced architecture of the house is consistent with the way of approaching the building: The entrance is placed at street level; from there, in-between the two main volumes, one reaches the courtyard and then, the house. The functional arrangement and distribution of movement is correlated to the form and geometry of the building. The shape is a product of the program, making it visible. As a result, internal circulation is easily perceptible.

From the entrance gate, a flight of steps following the ground inclination leads to the main house level and to the garden. Two volumes on the left and right of the steps contain the kitchen and living room.

The volumes, occupying the north and south orientations, frame the sheltered patio in-between them and are connected on the level above the entrance space. An internal staircase from the kitchen leads to the floor, housing the bedrooms and office, all looking over the shared spaces on ground level. The gallery on the floor looks outside and brings eastern light to the rooms.

The raised level creates a sheltered patio and protects the shared indoor spaces from the western sun. Glazing is inclined on both sides, facilitating natural heating from the south during the winter months. The bedrooms are oriented to the west, with external shades on all windows, remaining at once protected from the intense summer sun and cross-ventilated.

Simpraxis Architects

The post House 1607 was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

This modest summer home redefines vacationing in an island where the presence of the ship-building industry dominates contemporary imagination as a place of production and labor. Lack of any remarkable features and a palpable sense of ambiguity in the surrounding community, street, and in the plot itself, turn the house inwards. This inward-looking condition anchors the house around an olive tree and a well, creating courtyards that take advantage of the micro-climate and contain the outdoors within. In contrast to most of the island’s year-round residences, which tend to exhibit a makeshift, “prosthetic” approach to spatial expansion through the chronic accumulation of built add-ons, the new summer house is conceived as a form of “subtraction” from a single material volume containing sculptural voids.

Exterior walls give the appearance of a monolithic volume, concealing the existence of a large interior courtyard at the center. A single, narrow passage leads visitors directly from the front yard to the courtyard, while a secondary, twin passage leads from the courtyard to the pool garden at the opposite end of the plot. Within the central courtyard, smaller glass volumes positioned around the olive tree provide the main living spaces. These are lined with full height sliding glass doors that merge indoor and outdoor space while they control circulation from one end of the courtyard to the other. Maximum flexibility of movement is provided when all sliding glass doors are open, including the front and back gates of the house, creating a single, uninterrupted chain of outdoor spaces that extends the entire length of the site, as if splitting the house into two.

The Salamis project is included in the nominations for the European Union Prize of Contemporary Architecture, Mies van der Rohe Award 2022.

AREA

Yiorgis Yerolymbos

The post Salamis was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The location for which the design was made is situated at the southmost end of Evia peninsula, in Karystos, just 180m away from the sea.

The main idea of the design was to highlight the presence of the water element, wishing to add flow in a static and peaceful landscape. Therefore, a 27m water aisle, which ends in a multi – level pool, has been created.

On the ground floor, the space arrangement and the huge openings offer a view at the Evoikos bay as well as at the outdoor space of the property. In addition, the sliding glass boards along the east part provide an unobstructed view of the water element.

The house has two entrances: the main one, directing east, where access channelled is through a bridge over the pool, and the second at the north, with access to the kitchen.

On the first floor there is the master bedroom with en-suite bathroom and walk-in closet; outdoors, the veranda is ideal for accommodating a private living area.

The east part of the building has large openings from the ground up to the first floor looking over the garden, offering privacy to the ground floor and to the master bedroom.

A small sitting area – study and two guest bedrooms – both en suite – are situated at the basement. Outdoors, a deck, trees and a pool are the main attractions with the natural sound of the flowing water.

Maria Karapatsa

Maria Karapatsa

The post Villa in Karystos was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The project comprises two adjacent vacation houses on the northeastern edge of Paros island, in Santa Maria.

During the last years, Paros has been one of the most rapidly developing Cycladic islands, being a popular destination in the domestic and international tourist flows. Beside the increase in visitors’ volume, services have been upgraded and demand has become more selective, and this has had an impact on the programmatic requirements of vacation houses.

On the one hand, users seek relaxation and breaking away from their urban lifestyles; on the other, they seek the same amenities that they enjoy during the rest of the year. The project had to confront two challenges: devising a place-specific solution and finding a balance between tradition and modernity.

Both houses, located at the last property north of Santa Maria, bordering the Natura area of natural preservation, face east with uninterrupted views to Naxos (east) and Delos (north).

This orientation, beside the view and the ground morphology, results from the need to protect the residents from the strong summer wind from the north, and from the view of neighboring buildings on the south.

This protection is enhanced with the use of architectural elements such as stone walls, shades, and pergolas, that create hospitable nooks.

In the building’s aesthetics, the pair of tradition and modernity finds a balance that is redefined each time, according to the individual features of each building and user.

In this case, one aspect of the project involves the large scale, increased technical requirements, the need for high-level services and living, paired with the intention for clear lines and spaces, consistent with the teachings of the modern movement.

On the other side lies the restrained Cycladic architecture, small scale, the simplicity of island living and the rough feel of traditional materials. The balance between all these elements became the main driving force in the architecture of both houses: Technology combined with tradition, comfort with simplicity, clarity and texture, contemporary and vernacular.

ISV Architects

The post Two vacation houses in Santa Maria was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The house is visible from the road, on a small hill, with a dark silhouette in sharp contrast to its natural environment, offering a wide view over Santo Tirso. Its simple lines are the reinterpretation of the stereotype of the traditional Portuguese house, gable roof.

The architects started by defning a northeast-southeast axis in the longitudinal direction of the land, oriented towards the best view. The main volume is aligned to this orientation and, in a playful reconfguration of the traditional house, it becomes remarkable in the landscape. A smaller volume is attached to the main one, completing the programmatic requirements of housing, as an allusion to the traditional annexes to the main house.

This volume begins from the entrance of the lot to create a kind of external decompression atrium. In the simplicity of the composition of these two volumes, an intuitive understanding of spaces is promoted, inviting us to enter.

In terms of the program’s distribution, the reception lobby is the first point of contact with the house, leading to the centrally located common areas: dining room, living room and kitchen. Spacious and generous, with lots of natural light, the common area is enhanced by negative space which is used as the extension to the outside pool and dining room, taking advantage of the rhythmic play of light in the afternoon.

This central block also separates two spaces that were meant to be independent from the outset: the southeast, housing the private area, where a corridor distributes the rooms and a small office, all equipped with exterior spaces accessible through glass doors that balance the visual and physical connections to the landscape of each room; the northeast, accommodating the technical areas of housing and work, with double height. Above those two areas, the traditional shape of the gable roof allowed the creation of a place for reading and studying, on a mezzanine.

Due to the simplicity of its interior design, with light, and minimalist smooth walls, the house offers a peaceful living space. This comes in contrast to the dark exterior, where the black plant tile and pine slats, together with the simple shape of the building, create a striking graphic silhouette against the landscape.

Hous3

The post Santo Tirso House was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The house in Aegina is organized around a central patio. The dialogue with the natural terrain of the plot as well as the unobstructed visual views of the land were elements crucial to the design. The visitor enters from the highest point of the patio from where the movements are distributed around the three living areas of the house – the master bedroom, the guest rooms and the lounge area – and the swimming pool. The morphology of the patio follows the outer sloping terrain and as it gradually descends through a path of terraces and outdoor seating areas leads the visitor to the view. Its final level, in combination with the airy living room, constitutes an expanded covered balcony to the sea. Its transparent roof bears the pool-observatory. The patio functions as a vital living space of the residence and so does the rooftop swimming pool. The bedrooms maintain their privacy while at the same time referring to the heart of the whole – the patio and the sea view. The section of the house levels creates an internal microcosm of spaces and movements, constituting a path that can bypass the enclosed spaces and end up outside the plot around the side of the daily activities volume. The morphology of the complex expresses the function of each individual space housed under it while the selected rough materials set up a direct dialogue with the island’s topos. The individual volumes are embraced by a dynamic curved, unifying outer skin that holds the whole together and forms a characteristically acute, yet silent gesture of a human intervention on the natural landscape.  

The visitor enters the house after descending a few steps and reaching the front door. The door follows the outer skin of the house in morphology and materiality resulting to its “camouflage” so as not to disturb the overall visual aesthetic balance of the outer surface. The resident is now inside the inner atrium where the whole organization of the house is revealed to him / her. The atrium functions as a “panorama” of movements and glances while at the same time it shapes the outdoor life of the house through step-seats and a built-in sitting space. Its organization into levels and corners, flower beds and water elements creates an internal visitor-friendly micro-scale that comes to imitate the island alleys and terraces and to offer interest and reasons to stay in it. Outdoor living acquires equal value with indoor living.

The pool of the house was designed as a visual continuation of the water element of the sea and at the same time as an observatory – “belvedere”. This was achieved by placing it in a receptor tank formed by the roof structure of the living room volume. Thus, its visual continuity-integration with the sea is immediately perceived when entering the highest level of the atrium. The visitor’s vision field “perceives” the water tank as one with the sea. The route towards the pool is made possible through the use of a staircase starting from the entrance level of the patio and leading to the roof of the guest-bedrooms. Then, a connecting slab leads the habitant to the elongated water tank.

The gradual and flowing transition to the second and third level of the atrium signals the possibility to enter the guest-bedrooms and the main master bedroom respectively. Each function is housed under different morphoplastic elements. The common element of both volumes that accommodate the bedrooms is the curvature. The roof of the guest rooms projects as a semicircular cantilever towards the atrium in order to achieve two results: To extend the roof surface of the guest rooms which acts as a seating area for the pool, while this curved extension projects less aggressively towards the atrium and at the same time enriches the vocabulary of islandic forms that are designated to convey the aesthetic vocabulary of the proposal.

The entrance to the guest rooms is made possible through the double puncturing of a concrete breeze block wall bearing plantation and also standing as an element of the night light scenario of the atrium. Each guest room is an independent residential unit. The roof of the rooms recedes in relation to the curvy outer wall, thus forming a single skylight that runs through both bedrooms. This design solution leads to the increase of natural day light reaching the rooms, to the direct visual contact of the inhabitant with the element of the sky and finally to the detachment of the volume housing the rooms from the perimeter wall so that it can be perceived as an independent synthetic element of the solution.

The entrance to the master bedroom is situated on the third level of the atrium. A grand opening on an inclined concrete wall leads to the private functions of the master bedroom, through the descent of a ramp. The wall separates and isolates the private life of the couple from the shared life of the house. The wall formed by exposed reinforced concrete bears a twofold role: it is an element on which the different morphologies of the living room and bedroom volumes “collide”. At the same time the wall acts as a filter of movements and glances from the patio and the living room to the master-bedroom. Its separative role is reflected upon its monolithic morphology and the robustness it exudes. Both the guest houses and the master bedroom offer access to private open spaces overlooking the sea. The curvature of the exterior walls that enclose the whole complex is shaped that way in order to emphasize the “opening” and the reference of the residence towards the sea.

The living room was designed as an elongated space with its long dimension unfolding parallel to the sea view. The absolute transparency provided by the sliding windows that run through the long sides of the living room allows the visitor’s gaze to “penetrate” unhindered from the highest point of the atrium to the sea. The living space is transformed into a frame-pavilion with direct reference to the seafront and the water element. Its division into two levels, corresponding to the living room and the kitchen area, ensures the connection of the latter with the natural ground level in the SE part of the plot. The transparent roof of the living room, which at the same time serves as the bottom of the pool above, contributes to the visual connection of the two elements as well as to the attribution of a surreal atmosphere in this space. The “water” roof generates a unique natural day light that is never constant throughout the passing of hours. The view of the bodies that swim offers a theatricality and a certain flow in a space that aims to the unification of the outside with the inside in every possible way.

ADD Architecture Studio

ADD Architecture Studio

The post Hedonistic Π was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The house with swimming pool is built in a corner site adjacent to a pine grove, at the foot of the mountain bordering the north suburbs of Athens.

The shape and orientation of the site designated anelongated, free-standing volume. The main facades were completely opened towards the south and east, in keeping with sustainability requirements, becoming the scenery of daily life activities. Inversely, the north and west elevations only bear the minimum of required openings, for natural ventilation and cooling during the summer months.

Spatial and visual staging of the path crossing through all indoor and outdoor spaces has been a preoccupation from the outset. The overall massing of the house is already apparent from the garden threshold, while the main entrance is immediately visible. The entrance, in the middle of the elongated southern facade, is the only compact element. Double interior and exterior heights strengthen the composition in the vertical sense and add to the feeling of spaciousness. On the ground level, the entrance recess demarcates three zones: a reception area at the center, kitchen and office facilities on the left, dining and living room on the right. In this area, the lounge is submerged to clear the view towards the garden and the swimming pool. From the reception area, the marble staircase leads to the first floor that houses two children’s bedrooms.

The vertical circulation is supplemented with the flying overpass over the entrance, opening views to the ground level. The second floor accommodates the master bedroom in a singular unbroken volume. Its outdoor area includes the private roof garden, with extensive views towards the east and the neighboring mountain. The composition is concluded with the L-shaped swimming pool, encircling the living room area. The swimming pool is highlighted with a planted artificial island, accommodating a sun deck.

The large openings on the south and east facades erase the boundaries and achieve the optimal integration between inside and outside spaces. This transparency further allows the thermal mass from the sunlight to warm the interiors during the winter months, while strategically placed exterior blinds and pergolas hinder overheating in the summer.

Simple lines, clear geometric volumes, white walls and wooden textures are harmonically combined in this house, where the architectural intentions are further supported by lighting design, in horizontal and vertical lines illustrating the minimalist massing.

AZML Studio

AVAX S.A.

The post Private house in North Athens was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

This building with two apartments is located in Costa do Castelo, a street that surrounds the hill and where its buildings hide the view towards the city of Lisbon. To counteract with the horizontal extension of the plot, an interior void crosses and illuminates every floor. This void organizes the building circulation and allows one to watch the sky or the person two levels below. A vertical view that complements the dominating horizontality of the outer landscape.

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the context of rapid city expansion and growing need for housing in Lisbon led to the appearance of buildings dubbed ‘Gaioleiros’. One of the most recognizable features of this type of buildings is the unusually big depth of the lots, marked by corridors running through the apartments across their full length. The original layout of these buildings suggest a polarization of the social and functional areas at both ends, while the bedrooms are organized around a central lightwell.

For this specific ‘Gaioleiro’ located in Costa do Castelo, in addition to the features that inherently belong to this typology, the terrain’s steep slope allows a generous view over Lisbon. The natural consequence would then be a horizontal distribution logic that seeks, above all, a relationship with the landscape.

Instead, the expansion of the lightwell through its ‘duplication’ and incorporation of the stair core reinforces a relationship that is meant to be zenithal, in search of light and ventilation. Therefore, it ceases to be the element that divides the building in half to become a centripetal force that organizes all its circulations, activities and celebrates its interior.

The project, which comprises a duplex on the lower floors, and a triplex on the upper floors, develops around this lightwell as a central element able to introduce balance in the preexistent horizontal relations. If, on the one hand, this horizontality spreads the floorplans in search of a vanishing point on the exterior, on the other, it is the lightwell that interconnects all floors, establishing itself as an internal vertical counterpoint. Thus, the polarized design that usually characterizes the plan of such buildings, now suggests the reinterpretation of its own center.

aurora arquitectos

do mal o menos

The post Building in Costa do Castelo was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The design aims to integrate the building into the local natural landscape and to incorporate its elements into the body of architecture. The main building volume is broken into smaller ones, differing in size and height according to their use; they are oriented to the south in a way that creates intermediate courtyards and allows uninterrupted natural light in all the interior spaces. This choice is grounded on the fact that life in Greece, especially during the summer months, is bound to the outdoors and to the courtyard space, which is one of the most distinguishing features of Cycladic vernacular architecture.

Access to the house begins from street level through a vertical flight of steps following the topography; all living spaces are on the same level with slight variations in height, creating viewing platforms or subdued, protected areas.

The living room is sunken to merge with the level of the swimming pool, creating two higher courtyards on its sides; one is sheltered under a pergola, creating stable shading conditions, and the other is planted with an olive tree, resulting in different lighting ambiences during the day. The outdoor bathroom is placed at a lower level for privacy, while intermediate landscaped strips act as a visual barrier.

The openings are placed in a way that frames different views and allows abundant light and ventilation with changing shadows, according to the time of the day.

The roofs are planted, both for integration into the landscape and for reducing the energy footprint of the building.

alias architects

alias architects

The post Hill Cubes was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The house is built at the highest point of Nikiana, in the east side of Lefkada on top of a green hill enjoying panoramic views over the nearby islands. The project involved the design of the indoor and outdoor spaces of a 200m² vacation home with a ready-built frame, outside walls and swimming pool.

The building is laid out in three levels and functions as a holiday rental during the summer months. The ground floor accommodates the living areas, including the kitchen and lounge, as well as one bedroom. The other two bedrooms are placed on the first floor, while the basement houses a small gym with wellness area, equipped with a steam bath.

The interior design was informed by the future use of the building as vacation rental, creating a warm, open, and clear space. The white color of the walls is combined with natural materials, like wood, bamboo, cane, and woven straw in all furniture and decorative elements.

The outdoor areas are modeled in the same fashion; here, space is organized in distinctive zones with outdoor lounges on many levels, following the terrain and keeping contact with the water features and the landscape. Landscaped strips are inserted in-between.

Revergo Architecture

The post Agapanthos was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The 200m² house is located in Colymvari, in the outskirts of Chania, Crete, in a setting of exceptional natural beauty.

The intensely sloping ground and the orientation of the property towards a plain lush with olive groves, provided the basic design principles. The main concern was integrating the new building into the terrain and illustrating the landscape qualities (olive trees, rocks, dry bushes) in an architectural proposal.

The building evolves on three levels, aligned to the terrain contour lines, with access from the top of the property going downwards. The main house is divided in two levels. The master bedroom with its en-suite bathroom  is on the top one; the kitchen, lounge, sleeping quarters and bathrooms in the middle, and the bottom level accommodates the guestroom with independent access and outdoor area.

The first design gesture was the stone wall supporting the ground slope, allowing uninterrupted views from its one side for all main functions (rooms, kitchen, lounge) and keeping the secondary ones on its other.

The same wall defines the pathway to the building, integrating the outdoor stairs and creating an entrance to the house.

The resulting building is partially underground and horizontal, and progressively adapts to the ground and the landscape through an array of indoor and outdoor levels. This is further enforced with the bending of the volume, aiming at a smooth integration of the guestroom and its outdoor space into the terrain.

Distinct building volumes are linked under a single roof slab, which acts as shelter for the solid and void composition on the middle level, and more, as outdoor space for the master bedroom.

Moreover, as the house escalates downwards, its only visible element from street level is the planted roof over the garage and the entrance, minimizing the visual footprint.

Outdoor vital spaces, as well as the swimming pool, are organized in successive levels in an organic manner. Rocks and bushes blend into the built space, into the open-air platforms and the access points, composing a harmonious coexistence between architecture and nature.

The material palette follows the same spirit. Coarse terracotta-colored cement facing integrates the outdoor built elements into the landscape. The stone wall provides a background to the main building volume which, through its white plaster facing, stands out from the slope to converse with the Mediterranean landscape.

Parti Architecture

Parti Architecture

The post 29 ° Villa. was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The two-story house is on top of the Acropolis hill, only 200m from the busiest and liveliest street of Skiathos town. The building rises 40m above the street, providing seamless views to the sea and an unexpected sense of privacy.

The restrained design is aligned to the North-South axis, benefitting from the panoramic 270º view to the Aegean and the town. The transition between common and private is done swiftly and accurately, following the same method of abstraction employed at the design of the house, creating an interior courtyard.

The main entrance leads to a spacious living room with an open plan kitchen and a stone-built wine cellar. The extension of the floor to the outside and the large openings integrate indoors and outdoors. The infinity pool, with cutting edge technology for maintaining the same temperature year-round, hovers in the outdoor area, blending with the horizon and the sea.

The outdoor space includes a lounge, a dining area, and a barbecue. Two floating staircases positioned at the opposite ends of the lounge, lead to the two independent volumes at the second floor, accommodating four comfortable bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms.

Those spaces touch upon each other and communicate through the sheltered, atmospheric courtyard. The stage is complete with an outdoor jacuzzi and matchless views towards the sea in the South and the nearby island of Tsougria.

The clear lines and the symmetry featured in the entire house, complemented with neutral greige colors in the indoor and outdoor areas, contribute to a contemporary minimalist feel.

Large openings allow uninterrupted views to the Aegean and bring abundant light to the interior; the custom-designed Cor-ten screen graces the sparse building, creating a focal point of interest.

All furniture, decorative elements and fabrics outline the bo-ho element in the house, to soften the austere minimalist straight lines, making the space more pleasant and accommodating.

ikos.studio and partners

The post House in Skiathos was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The starting point of the project is the replacement of the existing house in the outskirts of Madrid with a new single-family house. The pool stays but stands out and becomes visible from near all the spaces inside the house having maximum exposure to the sun. The house has also an optimal view of the garden.

The core of the house is developed through the patio-staircase, dividing the program into two floors. On the ground floor are the living room and kitchen. These rooms have large glasses (windows) that overlook the pool and garden, thus maintaining a great spatial fluidity.The first floor is divided into two wings communicated through an open walkway. One wing has the master bedroom and office and on the opposite side the children’s bedrooms.

FH2L Arquitectos

Amores Pictures

The post House in Mirasierra was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The design brief started with a premise from the client: A space for many books. Immediately, the architects’ imaginary drifted to the many classical renaissance libraries, with sliding stairs that reach the book stacks. The intervention designated a high space, with a clearly established hierarchy between the interiors.

The volumetric composition corresponds to the functional differentiation of the interior spaces, creating a roof as a restless mass with different heights. The roof also figures itself in a fifth façade.

The density and weight of the monolithic cover roof needed to be subverted and the idea of a levitating mass was introduced, resting upon slender wooden frames and glass. The resulting feeling of compression reminds users of their own scale as humans and evokes the ancestral importance of the shelter.

Time, always an important architectural component, becomes essential in the design of this project. The built elements – especially those in concrete – record the passage of time through their formwork texture. This formwork, similar in its variations to the roof skyline, features protrusions and recesses, generating changing shadows during the different hours of the day and giving a dramatic appearance to the facades. As time passes, the textured concrete will naturally age and will be more integrated in the rural surroundings. The same will happen to the wooden base, which will age beautifully, adding to the impression of the house.

Spaceworkers

The post Casa da Agrela was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The house is designed for a young couple (Belen, co-author of this project, and Martin) who are looking forward to growing their family together. The decision was to work out a house of three bedrooms, a kitchen and dining room that integrate with the social spaces, a wide semi-covered area that holds the grill, a fireplace inside the social area, a swimming pool, a semi-covered space to keep two cars, the main bedroom, en-suite with a dressing room, and the second and third bedrooms that share the bathroom.

From the beginning it was important to prioritize the connections between spaces, to enhance social life and gathering activities. Regarding the esthetic requirements, the couple was interested in the use of bare concrete combined with black-color elements for the exterior and common spaces, whilst for the bedrooms they were looking for a more traditional profile, with plastered walls and wooden floors.

The project strategy consisted of breaking down the volume of the house, in a way that none of the façades would express the total height of the building, to avoid showing a robust object. The proportions of a two-story building inside a short plot could cause the perception of a bulky and heavy volume. This fragmentation was achieved with the distribution of the mass, alternating the filled (covered) and void (semi-covered) spaces. This avoids a compact look from the outside and instead creates an effect of permeability.

Τhe ground floor would host little covered surface, so it was laid out in such a way that it became visually open and free, with a predominant volume above it (the upper floor), which rises over the plot as a clean element standing on four concrete feet. Under the shadow of this floating prism is where all social activities of the house take place. The visual strategy consists on hiding the impact of the ground floor from the outside, that means the entrance, social area, and laundry room. To camouflage these areas, dark grey was used on all the ground floor partitions, except for the four concrete feet that hold the upper volume. Furthermore, the solid areas are visually hidden from the front by pulling back the entrance volume and the laundry room, positioning them behind a free semi-covered space for the car entrance. Then, a deep courtyard enlarges the distance between the social area and the street, turning it almost imperceptible. On one side of the courtyard stands the glass volume that holds the staircase and main entrance (in grey color on the front side). On the other side of the courtyard stands the grill area, which is separated and sheltered from the street by the volume that holds the laundry room, also in a dark grey color.

Towards the rear of the plot, the volume that holds the social area of the house faces the garden and the swimming pool. Inside, to the left side is the living room, which relates to the main entrance; to the right, the kitchen and dining room are connected to the semi-covered space of the grill area. Both living room and kitchen-dining-room areas are integrated and divided at the same time, due to a hanging sculptural element in bare concrete that works as the space for both the television and the fireplace, becoming the heart of the gathering area of the house.

Since there was not much vegetation compared to the built surface, and the intention was to generate an atmosphere that enhanced the contact with nature, the social area are positioned in direct relation with the garden and a large courtyard occupies the center, structuring the floor plan and allowing the alternation between open and closed spaces. In this way, the exterior becomes present in every space in a controlled manner, still encouraging the feeling of shelter.

The top floor is approached through a double-height space that faces the courtyard through a full-height glazing. The two secondary bedrooms face towards the front of the house, while the corridor that connects them incorporates an integrated desk, which faces both the internal courtyard and the backyard. The main bedroom is positioned to the right of the courtyard and concludes in a large terrace that fits into the entire width of the plot. The pergola acts both as a shelter from the sunlight and it visually completes the floating volume, to make it look as a compact element.

The courtyard brings light and wideness to all the spaces, and the vegetation will give privacy and contribute to climate regulation once it is fully developed.

Ekaterina Künzel, María Belén García Bottazzini

Daniela Mac Adden

The post Castaños House was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The villa is nestled among the gorgeous landscape of the suburbs of Heraklion. A triangular floor plan and oversized terraces set the stage.

The building is V-shaped; with this layout the structure maximizes the views, taking advantage of the southern sun exposure. This way, nearly all spaces provide a glimpse of the mountainous landscape.

The angles of the structure, the roof and its adjoining floors, recreate a dramatic force strewn over its rocky site. On the ground, one is drawn in and around the home, ending with a framed view of the picturesque scenery.

It’ s a Trap Space

Manos Vardas

The post VILLA PM was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

BiancoVillas is a compound of two deluxe maisonettes – “Adam” and “Eve”. This bespoke architectural project in the Pefkos area of Rhodes, resulted in two minimal summer houses with a bohemian atmosphere.

The individual white shapes of each house intersect in order to compose a single, monolithic building volume. The project involved the transformation of an existing concrete building frame in two single houses. The design procedure prescribed shared functions between the two houses, reflected in the architectural result.

The interior of each house accommodates three en-suite bedrooms, a large living area and a kitchen. Every room is designed considering the orientation and view. The communal spaces open towards a swimming pool (one per individual house) and an outdoor kitchen. Large pergolas filter the sunlight, creating a pleasantly relaxed outdoor sitting area.

Dimitris Melenos | Klimis Katogas

Harry Zampetoulas

The post Bianco Villas was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

Redesigning a two-story house in a suburb of Athens, Kordas Architects preserve and highlight the special features of the existing building and introduce a new architectural language.

The residence is situated in the middle of a small corner plot, surrounded by taller apartment building blocks. Abandoned by its previous inhabitants, the building had been exposed to the elements and covered in lush vegetation; there was need to designate a new identity, its new technical, functional and aesthetic imprint.

The interior is marked by a theatrical feel, resulting from the organization in multiple levels and from the number of vintage architectural elements, reminiscent of old Athens, that may now be seen only in movies.

“Encountering the two-story house in Papagou for the first time, our enthusiasm for an architecturally interesting project was coupled with a feeling of responsibility and respect that would guide our course of action”, says the architectural office founder, Aristides Kordas.

The design challenge was to illustrate the authenticity and original character of the building, while updating the house to present-day requirements and to the current needs of its new inhabitants.

Clear intentions were translated in the consolidation and simplification of geometry: The main volume is laid bare and dressed in a thermally insulating façade in earthy tones. Natural wood evokes the extensive use of this material in the previous state of the building, but is now employed in innovative shades, partitions and fences. “Soft” geometries in wood and “hard” ones in masonry, clarify the hierarchy of the building volumes and functions and establish the new architectural character.

The main strategy for the interior is to preserve and highlight the feeling of openness and penetrability between indoor and outdoor areas. Separate outdoor spaces are organized according to the use and character of their respective interiors.

The central element of the house is the swimming pool, located in a place where it is brought to prominence and visibility from most individual spaces.

In the interior, the formerly compact core containing the kitchen is now opened and transformed into an extroverted living area, featuring an interplay of views and functional connections.

The house is about to be brought to a new “youth”, maintaining original elements of its past, combined with contemporary features on a functional, technical and aesthetic level.

Kordas Architects

The post A Theater of Domestic Life was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.