Mountain Retreat

  • Year: 2020
  • Location: Ziria, Greece
  • Size: 225 m2

This three-bedroom house is designed as a countryside retreat for a small family. It is located on a slope overlooking the gulf of Corinth and is surrounded by an olive grove. The project is designed around the idea of merging the local materiality with the contemporary construction technique by using the minimum amount of resources. The form is dictated by the topography and prevailing wind direction so as to shelter the outdoor living spaces, as well as from the tree positions so as to avoid the cutting down of the olive trees.

Therefore, it is a juxtaposition of bare concrete slab which carries a green roof, hovering over a series of loadbearing stone walls, which use local stone. The back side of the house, facing the street, is solid and uses a wooden pergola and a semi-transparent screen to create privacy, while the front makes more extensive use of glass to provide views of the sea. The result is a modernist building, which is grounded within its place through the chosen material palette which renders it almost invisible from far away.