In the area of Apokoronas and more specifically at the village of Gavalochori, in an area outside the settlement with a slight slope, we designed and built a two-level house with a basement and a swimming pool. The house is 511m2 and the construction time is 2019-2020.
The central idea of the house is based on the philosophy and principles of feng shui, as well as bioclimatic design. The central design is by four stone walls of different lengths which divide the house into three areas.
Starting from the east ground floor, between the first two stone walls, we have the living room and the dining room and the office upstairs, looking at the double height of the living room. Three orthogonal frames of different shape and size made of corten and glass, penetrate the stone wall and "frame" the landscape. The larger square frame has a seating area inside and protrudes of the building.
The second wall is shorter in length and unifying these spaces with the kitchen and the entrance, as well as the bookcase upstairs. The second part of the house is a point of transition from the day zone to the night zone, as well as from the main areas to the basement auxiliary spaces. In this section, as in the first, the large glass windows that extend along the entire length and height of the façade, offer unobstructed views of the of Souda bay.
To the west, the third and last part of the house is divided into two parts, the closed one that has the bedrooms, the meditation room, the bathrooms, and the open one, which creates an inner garden and incorporates the element of water in the composition. The patio resulting from the placement of the walls is perceived as a transition space through which nature and the landscape are introduced into the built environment and vice versa. In this wall we find again openings with corten, that "frames" from the inside space the tops of the mountains.
In the southern surroundings we find small private gardens with pre-existing trees and rocks, which are illuminated at night. In the northern part the access is direct through large openings, to a terrace of wooden deck. There we find an outdoor seating area with a fireplace and a heated pool.
