Shared Ground

KONSTANTINOS TSILIVIS

SHARED GROUND - A Contemporary Reading of the Greek Village

• Architects

The project is conceived as a hospitality settlement in the Cyclades, structured around the idea of “shared ground” unfolding across the island’s terraced landscape. The design reinterprets traditional dry-stone walls not merely as retaining elements, but as a spatial framework organizing collective life, movement, and habitation.

Curved terraces follow the natural contours of the terrain, forming a continuous sequence of inhabitable ground planes. In communal areas—including the restaurant and wellness spaces—these terraces are deliberately pulled outward, forming projecting platforms that serve as enlarged public grounds. This gesture transforms the terrain into a social surface, a landscape “carpet” unfolding beyond its original edge. Architecture emerges through the ground rather than as an object placed upon it.
The residential fabric is organized into small neighborhoods of three residences each. These clusters center on a shared outdoor living space, featuring a common seating area and a pond-like pool.

photo_credit KONSTANTINOS TSILIVIS — KONSTANTINOS TSILIVIS

That encourages social interaction while maintaining privacy through subtle shifts in level and direction. The shared ground becomes the primary space of encounter, fostering a strong sense of belonging.
By prioritizing pedestrian circulation and the curved logic of the terrain, the proposal offers a contemporary interpretation of the village as a system of collective spaces rather than isolated buildings. Architecture and landscape operate as a single, continuous framework, shaping a settlement that is social, grounded, and deeply connected to its terrain.