The Olive Press House is an adaptive reuse project that transforms an early 20th-century olive mill in the village of Kotroni, Mani, into a contemporary dwelling.
What was once a space of labor and production has become a quiet home — yet the memory of its former life remains tangible in every wall, vault, and trace of oil embedded in the stone.
Context and History
Kotroni lies in one of the oldest olive-growing regions of Mani, where for centuries the olive press was the social and economic heart of village life.
These heavy stone structures were places of production but also of community — where people gathered, exchanged stories, and shared the annual ritual of pressing.
Local oral history tells that during the Greek Civil War, the underground oil reservoirs of this press were emptied and used as hiding places for fugitives.
The press, once filled with olive oil, became a refuge for hunted men and women — a chapter that deepened its sense of endurance and concealment.
When the current owners acquired the property, the machinery and millstones had long been removed by a previous owner who had converted it into a dwelling.
What survived was the structure’s powerful atmosphere: thick walls, large open spaces, hidden rooms, timber beams, and a spatial rhythm that still recalled the choreography of work, and the home to the family that run the press,
Architectural Approach
The ensemble consists of five interlocking stone volumes, each built at a different time, gradually expanding around the original core.
This layered construction produced both richness and irregularity — a physical record of adaptation over time.
The architectural challenge lay in reconciling contradictory priorities: one approach aiming for functional optimization with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, and another seeking to preserve the open, fluid character of the old industrial space.
The final design found balance — retaining large, flexible rooms where furniture defines use rather than walls, allowing for change and seasonality.
Unlike most Mani houses, the Olive Press House has no distant view; its strength lies inward. To counter this introversion, the design introduced visual and physical continuity between previously disconnected courtyards.
Selective new openings on the lower level now align sightlines across the property, enabling glimpses through the sequence of spaces and connecting interior and exterior rooms through light.
From one end of the house, one can now see the play of daylight and shadow move across stone walls that had once been isolated.
Two walkable roof terraces add a vertical dimension to the experience, offering open-air living and sky views where none existed before.
A network of stone paths unites the outdoor spaces, restoring a sense of movement and coherence across the fragmented site.
Preservation and Transformation
The project is guided by restraint and reversibility.
Original features — stone masonry, arches, timber roofs, and lintels — were carefully repaired and reintegrated.
New interventions are expressed in light timber, black steel, and smooth lime plaster, designed as insertions within the historic fabric rather than replacements.
In one of the five volumes, a new steel-frame roof clearly signals the contemporary layer of intervention.
Openings were modified only where necessary to bring in daylight and airflow, preserving the building’s protective inwardness.
Internal levels were adjusted for accessibility and continuity, allowing smoother flow between the rooms without erasing their individuality.
Materiality and Atmosphere
The project’s material palette is quiet and tactile.
Stone walls remain exposed, showing the marks of time.
Natural lime plaster provides a breathable, soft surface against the roughness of the masonry.
Timber ceilings, reclaimed furniture, and locally crafted joinery add warmth to the cool mineral tones.
The dialogue between the weight of the past and the precision of the new defines the atmosphere: light filters through narrow slits and skylights, revealing the stratified textures of the old press.
Inside, the architecture is calm, almost monastic.
It retains the sense of stillness and enclosure that once characterized the olive mill, but with a newfound openness — a continuity of air, light, and movement that turns an industrial relic into a livable home.
Sustainability and Continuity
Sustainability is embedded in the project’s DNA as an act of reuse, repair, and circular economy.
By preserving the existing shell, reusing stone and timber, and limiting demolition to the bare minimum, the intervention reduced embodied energy and waste.
All works were carried out by local masons and carpenters using traditional lime techniques, reinforcing local craftsmanship and knowledge.
Small-scale, climate-sensitive strategies replace technological solutions: cross-ventilation through aligned openings, thermal inertia of stone walls, and shaded courtyards that moderate temperature naturally.
Outdoor spaces were replanted with native vegetation and olive trees, requiring minimal irrigation and maintenance.
Through this approach, sustainability extends beyond energy to become a cultural act of continuity — allowing history to remain productive and relevant.
Atmosphere and Experience
Moving through the Olive Press House is an experience of discovery and layering.
Each room offers a different light, smell, and echo — a tactile record of the building’s transformations.
The new openings allow views through the sequence of courtyards, so that space unfolds gradually, like a film of light and stone.
The building breathes again, quietly acknowledging its past while embracing the life of the present.
Contribution and Relevance
The Olive Press House reflects on the adaptive reuse of rural industrial heritage.
It demonstrates how architecture can revive a building’s function without erasing its memory, transforming an emblem of production into a home of stillness and continuity.
In a region shaped by cycles of work, abandonment, and return, the project becomes a metaphor for Mani itself — enduring, evolving, and human.
A house where architecture shelters both life and history, and where every wall still whispers the sound of the press.
