Elements House
In Greece, Elements House is hiding on a hill with an arid landscape but spare no opportunity to enjoy the view over the Cyclades.
This project by G&A Evripiotis is located on a rigid slope overlooking the bay of Molos on the east seashore of Paros island, surrounded by a typical Cycladic landscape.
The view and the rigid landscape are the two main elements of the architectural design, which seeks the accomplishment of both the maximum use of the view in every interior space and the minimum trace of the building on the landscape.
The panoramic view of the slope consists of southern Naxos, Herakleia, and Kefalos Hill with the monastery of St Anthony on top and the settlements of Marmara and Marpissa on its base.
The use of a linear stonewall that embraces an underground layout of successive spaces forms the design fundament of the two independent parts of the house, whose green roofs intergrade them even more into the Cycladic flora.
Two linear underground planted backyards contribute to extra lighting and ventilation to every space and they are simultaneously functioning as the main movement corridor between the parking area, the common spaces, and the interior spaces.
A common exterior kitchen and dining area (agora) shape every aspect of the residents’ life, as it lies in-between the backyards, the entrance staircase (scala), the independent parts of the house, and the view-oriented verandas.
The exterior materials’ colours and textures are all nuanced in accordance with the natural ground of the slope, giving precedence to natural stone and wood. On the contrary, the interior has been a more exclusive, free-spirited mix of materials, colours, and decorative objects.
Elements house composes both a reference to the integrated building on a rigid landscape and a secluded summer residence on a Greek island, experimenting with the differences of the hidden and the visible, the interior and the exterior, the natural and the artificial.
Photographs by Yiorgis Yerolymbos.
