A Holiday Home in the Mediterranean Takes Cues From a Nearby Castle

Named The Koulas Project, this 1,830-square-foot house is made up of two distinct volumes. One stretches out across a single story, while the other is arranged vertically and includes three levels. With its boxy form and rectangular windows, it references the tower of a nearby medieval castle, which is visible from the home.

"We had to be careful in the way that we referred to the castle," says architect Alexis Papadopoulos, whose work often responds to its context. "It needed to be strong and unquestionable without falling into the traps of superficial imitation." Papadopoulos was also mindful of building around the plot’s mature olive trees, but positioned windows to create vignettes of the surrounds.

In a notable departure from ancient building methods, the home’s vertical portion was built from prefabricated concrete panels, which were cast in metal molds for a perfectly smooth finish. It includes a dining area, a sleeping area, and a rooftop garden, and was assembled on site in just three days.

The single-story volume, constructed using a combination of concrete and timber, contains a south-facing bedroom and a living room that opens out onto a garden.

"These spaces differentiate in form and materiality from the main one, emphasizing the height of the main volume and its presence," says the architect. "We also gave it much larger openings, which help to create a strong visual relationship between the house, the garden, and the castle."

Both spaces embrace the texture of their natural materials. The gray exposed concrete and plywood cladding create cool, pared-back interiors with a tactile quality. In the tower’s ground floor, red finishes, a slab of green marble used for the countertop and backsplash in the kitchen, and yellow onyx tiles in the ground-floor bathroom add dashes of color throughout.

Related Reading:

Stay at a Greek Island Villa Among the Ruins of a 14th-Century Castle

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Alexis Papadopoulos Architectural Practice / @alexispapadopoulosarch

Civil Engineer: Costas Constantinou

Mechanical Engineer: Costas Moyses

Contractor: Innovative Construction Solutions