The project is designed for two closely connected families who wanted to get rid of the burden of modern urban life by creating a space where they can go on vacation and get some rest.
Coming from an intensely urban centre abroad, they choose a special site at the entrance of the Gulf of Yera in Lesvos island and decide to create the proper conditions to inhabit the place with its specific landscape. The property, with an area of 35 acres, has an isolated coastal front, interesting vegetation (mainly olive trees and native shrubs) and a variety of natural terrain. The two residences, which are designed equally, have a common architectural vocabulary.
At the same time, the architectural process adapts in each case in order to achieve the maximum possible results as regards the natural ground, the optimal turn in the view and the orientation. Both houses are ground floor buildings, which are developed on two different levels due to the ground slope and feature an underground (caved) part and a basement. The main design principle was the connection of the new constructions with the specific place. For this reason, we use pure prismatic forms from load – bearing stone wall, a characteristic of the surrounding countryside buildings (farmhouses, stock – farming facilities etc.).
In addition, the building mass follows the natural terrain, without standing out intensely in the landscape because a great part of it, is built underground. Each residence has a continuous space on the first level, which includes the entrance, the living room, the kitchen and the dining room. They both penetrate into the earth through an inner atrium. At this underground part, there are auxiliary spaces and three bedrooms with their own bathrooms. On the second level, there is the master bedroom with a bathroom and a belvedere terrace.
