An old traditional two-story rural house was renovated for a family with two children, with the common areas and parents’ bedroom on the upper level and the children’s’ spaces on the lower level, which was originally the stable. To resolve the disconnected levels with contemporary family life, new functional elements, rooms and furniture were carefully positioned to create fluid circulation throughout the house.
To achieve this, the private functions of the downstairs bathroom were reduced to their minimum, while other functions were integrated into a sensual, open room that performs equally as a central passage. The original stone vaults on the lower level, were preserved and revealed, each hosting a bedroom for the children with raised wooden floors containing storage and extra mattresses for sleepovers, and heavy curtains that separate them from the common area. The base of the new internal wooden stair doubles as a seating tribune with a generous hidden storage area. The narrow space between the columns under the upper veranda was converted into an enclosed sun-room (‘liakoto’). This new space between house and garden is densely programmed with functions that support outdoor living and use of the outdoor space: kitchenette, daybed and a small study area. The storage room on the other side of the house was turned into a functional workshop.
Within the communal area on the upper level, a traditional wooden interior façade (‘ontas’) was constructed to designate the living room with fireplace and create facing built-in seating. Across this, a hole was cutout in the wooden floor to allow direct access downstairs via a trap door. In the kitchen, a day bed (‘krevata’) was built – a typical feature of Greek traditional houses – adding to the room’s communal character. At a material level, like an archeological excavation, the renovation process preserved elemental features of the original house while introducing new traditional elements in contemporary form.
Hidden textures and materials that had been covered for years were revealed; their presence and patina was preserved and where required, stabilized – stones were infilled with rough concrete. The exact and unusual colors of the original windows and doors (mustard, pistachio and ceramic red) were kept, respecting the authentic and spontaneous choices of the original builders. The corrugated aluminum roof - typical of storage structures – was also rebuilt, with the use of stones atop it to hold it in place. The careful play of new construction and original characteristics allows the vernacular house to accommodate new contemporary, flexible ways of living while also rerooting it in the local traditions of family life.
