Project: Santorini summer house
Architects: Kapsimalis Architects
Location: Pyrgos, Santorini, Greece
Area 300.0 m2
Project Year 2018
Photographer: Giorgos Sfakianakis
Designed by Kapsimalis Architects, this summer residence is located on the outskirts of the traditional village of Pyrgos in Santorini. The building is placed on a mild sloping plot surrounded by vineyards and facing the southwest part of the island and the Aegean sea.
The building is a single residence which can be divided into three separate houses each with its own private outdoor space. The ground floor consists of the main sitting-dining room, the main kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom and a secondary kitchenette. Three bedrooms with their bathrooms can be found on the upper floor while in the basement there are supportive storage/bathroom and garage spaces.
The main idea of the design was the the formation of an artificial monolithic rock, diligently standing on a random spot of the landscape, eroded by the time and natural elements. The building is the result of the subtraction of mass from that conceivable solid form. Parts of the remaining mass turn in different angles of orientation, elsewhere are split, leaving semi-open and outdoor passages between them. Fragments of the monolithic synthesis are placed as tracings like the retaining walls of the exterior planted yards. The architectural form of the Santorini summer house has also references from the traditional Santorinian vaulted roofs, the old fortification towers outside the old castles of the island and the metallic cantilevers used in the old pumice quarries, all pieces of the architectural history of the island, subtly combined and embedded in the monolithic structure.
The bearing structure of the Santorini summer house has been made by reinforced concrete. Local black stone, bricks and thermal insulation have been used for the walls, as also colored earthy plaster for the coatings and the exterior floors. White color plaster and white mosaic for the interior surfaces. Natural wood, marble, rusty steel, cement plaster and clay are used to the built/handmade interior & exterior furniture. Mediterranean plants and cactus complete the integration of the building in the landscape.
