A Cluster of Earthy, Stone-Built Huts Form a Far-Out Retreat in Greece

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Project Details:

Location: Greece

Architect: Hiboux Architecture

Footprint: 3,138 square feet

From the Architect: "The house is formed as a complex of scattered domed round volumes and a square grid canopy connecting them, among 42 existing olive trees on terraces retained by dry-stack walls (xerolithies). Inspired by the pastoral round stone dwellings found in several places, such as in nearby Eglouvi, Lefkada, the stone volumes aim at conserving the terraced configuration of the ground, following the curved patterns, thus paying respect to the pre-existing habitat of the place and serving the idea of a new human dwelling among the existing non-human living (trees) or non-living (rocks) entities, with the least possible disturbance. None of the trees were cut or moved.

"The steel canopy contrasts the almost archaeological existing surface of the land and its habitation as a protecting layer over it, acquiring a form so often found in the shepherds’ sheds of the Mediterranean landscape, a thin cover parallel to the inclination of the ground. This canopy is a new ground, offset and planted. Thus the new is immersed in the preexisting.

"The complex consists of the main residence and five dome guest houses. The dome volume of the primary bedroom and a two story ‘watchtower’ with accessible roof form the main residence by means of glass curtain walls that ensure an inner heated space (for living/dining and kitchen) while allowing the flow of the terraced land to traverse the entirety of the house. The indoor/outdoor continuity creates spaces valuing life in the countryside.

"The complex serves as a landscape-immersive joint retreat for groups who can rehearse together on the hexagonal stage (shala), train, and gather around a common outside table, called the piazza."