The design is for two identical cottages in Chanioti, Halkidiki, on a plot with an existing building, on the edge of the seashore. The possibility of preserving the sea view for the existing building determined the linear and longitudinal development of the functions of the houses, leaving free space between them. Furthermore, their massing was arranged in such a way that they look like two light volumes, especially on the southern side bordering the existing building. For this reason, the elongated ground floor is separated in material from the rest of the building volume using stone, giving the feeling of a solid base, on which a white volume with openings is placed that includes the floor and the attic.

The dwellings share a common typology of floor plan. The entrance to the house is from the ground floor, under the covered space created by the volume of the floor and attic. The ground floor receives the common functions of the house, the living room, kitchen, bathroom, a guest room and a small storage room. The ground floor spaces internally discharge to different parts of the exterior surroundings, creating separate discharge spaces for each function and emphasizing the sense of integration of the inside with the outside. The floor and the attic are where the rest of the bedrooms and bathrooms of the house are located. Covered semi-outdoor spaces act as a transition from inside to outside, protecting from the sun during the summer months. The choice and placement of the openings of the houses have been managed in such a way that the houses can take advantage of the views, natural light and ventilation, while at the same time maintaining privacy between the buildings, so that there is no direct visual contact.

The configurations of the exterior spaces relate on the one hand to the independent entrances of the residences, as well as to outdoor lounges, barbecue areas with outdoor dining areas, and relaxation areas, offering the user of the residence many different summer experiences on each level and each space individually.

The 120 m2 residence is located in Aroni area, just a few minutes outside of the city of Chania and it was studied to serve the needs of a four member family. Our main goal was the creation of a one floor roof residence along with a small church.

The partial vicinity of the building with the street, the orientation of the land and the dense vegetation are aligned with the owners’ desires and lead the design towards an agreement of the building’s volume, the squares, the pathways and the natural environment, where introversion and extroversion are being rotated.

The creation of a sequence of four different levels, in use and in texture and the relationship between them, are contributing to the transition from the North to the South and more specifically to the private residence, using references from the scale of a small settlement.

The parking area along with the barbeque area are located on the upper level, from the North towards the South. The church along with the churchyard are being developed on the second level. Later on, the residence is visible, along with the “protected area” of the exterior dining area while the lower level provides the expansion of the residence towards the South and the exterior living areas.

These levels are connected through a bold axis while smaller cobblestone paths are leading to smaller gardens and secondary exterior uses. One of the main features of this route is its clear continuity through the building’s volume adding to its degradation into the living and sleeping areas, meeting later on the exterior area.

These two building units are being developed perpendicular to each other.  This happens, due to the fact that the living areas enjoy facing the South, whereas the exterior living room, enjoys the direct access towards the East, with the fenced yard of the dining room and the access towards the West patio and the garden. The bedrooms’ orientation allows the light coming from the South to sink in, and provides direct access to the exterior areas and the view.

One of the highlights of the building are the two high pitched roofs; the roof covering the living areas extends alongside and catalyzes their limits making it the exterior living room of the building.

The design of the church follows a different pattern. Monolithic with curves and small openings, it becomes part of this wandering while it contributes along with the residence, to the creation of the internal – like a hug – yard.

Stone, clay surfaces (kourasani) and wood, were used in order to blend the structured and natural environment into a harmonious whole.

Collaboration with Parti Architecture

The proposal concerns the participation in the open complex architectural competition “Welfare Infrastructure and Neighborhood Park in the Municipality of Chania”, where the design of a crèche, a day care center for the elderly and a neighborhood park was requested.

The central idea of the proposal draws inspiration from the way children instinctively use space, and more specifically the schoolyard, as a dynamic field of creation, communication and development. The courtyard is translated as a nucleus for the birth of experiences in space, shaping its public image through individual and collective practices. The proposal is approached anthropocentrically by creating a core that activates and unifies the social character of the structures with the neighborhood, forming a stage where everyone can perform and produce a unique atmosphere in it, creating a bridge of communication and interaction.

The building set is approached as boundaries that allow the influx of movement inside the site, interrupting the contact where clear inward function takes place and creating intermediate thresholds of coexistence organized around a reference point. In this way, privacy is scaled without losing a sense of wholeness, both conceptually and design-wise. Based on the above, a centrifugal structure is organized by articulating a sequence of “courtyards”: the park, the nursery courtyard and the entrance plaza, upon which the sense of private and public is scaled at each scale.

In relation to the building complex, two buildings are proposed because the functions of the welfare structures concern two different age groups, which have basic differences in terms of their activities and needs for relaxation. It is proposed that the activity of the infants be protected and operate internally in relation to the other functions of the nursery, without being cut off from the whole. On the other hand, the activity of the elderly is based on extroversion, socialization and tranquility. The entrances of the two buildings are located in a common square of different levels. In it, urban facilities can be used by the users of the structures and the residents, enhancing the interaction and communication between them. In the southern part of the site, the park is developed, which is designed to serve some organized facilities for the residents of the neighborhood, such as urban gardens with aromatic plants and herbs offer the experience of engaging in gardening and organized space for children’s activities for physical, mental development and socialization. The nursery is organized around the courtyard, as a reference point for the children, but which also functions as the field of connection of all the above-mentioned open spaces, stimulating the sense of integration of the structures with the neighborhood within the plot. More specifically, the entrance of the nursery is located on the axis of the courtyards achieving their visual connection. Its functions are organized on the ground floor in a “Π” shape with a peripheral arcade, taking advantage of the southern orientation and the conceptual reference to the centrifugal element of the design, the courtyard. The courtyard can become part of the park, through the wet element that separates and at the same time unifies, allowing the life of the building to be united with the public, expanding its boundaries and offering an additional quality to children, that of participating on a larger scale, adapting it to their needs and enabling them to get involved and participate in the shaping of the public image.

Particular emphasis has been placed on bioclimatic and child-centered design. Bioclimatically, the proposal was approached through the creation of the building volume in Π with an arcade and large openings in the south for lighting and the exploitation of solar heat in winter, the use of a water element in the south for cooling in summer,
planting according to orientation, using evergreen trees in the north and deciduous trees in the south. Planting, has also been used as a tool to organize spaces for children through their seasonality, fruitfulness and symbolism. The constructions designed for the children have been based on developing their skills (such as gross, fine, balance, imagination, imitation) through their participation in the new spatial possibilities.