The two holiday residences are located in the traditional village of Imerovigli, on the island of Santorini. They are parts of a single old house that was destroyed during the 1956 earthquake. The remaining caves inside the volcanic earth that used to compose the old house are reconstructed, keeping unchanged the initial architecture form of it. The two houses face South to the volcano and to the Aegean Sea.
The entrance, in the level of the pedestrian street of the village, leads to the terrace of the houses and through two exterior staircases to the level of the houses’ yards, as it emerges, due to the fact that the plot is downstream the pedestrian road and placed on the steep incline of the island’s Caldera. The old linear façade of the building and the small cubist building placed off-centre of the façade are reconstructed from the beginning as much as possible to the initial structure. The existing caves are preserved and redesigned in order to be adjusted to the functional needs of the residences.
The two houses are consisted of a living space, bedrooms and bathrooms, in an open plan layout. The ceilings mostly vault restore the old condition of the interior. The pale beige colour that covers the vaulted walls and the matt white cement of the floor aim to create a sense of serene and purity, the sense of the continuity of the interior space and to bring out the curves and the random forms of it. Some pieces of natural wood, marble and matt earthy colours are spotted to the interior and complete the build in furnishing. The exterior staircases are coiled and affiliated with the exterior pools of the houses, in order the pools to be adjusted to the building in a discreet but playful way.
