The amphitheater at Delphi. The Parthenon atop the Acropolis. These ancient works of art and engineering telegraph the glory of Greece. So, too, does the undulating sea, forever hitting the solid shore. Scanning the horizon above the waves is as fundamental to the Greek experience as a sip of ouzo and a plate of moussaka, and this home in the village of Kardamyli is one sweet spot from which to be immersed in a vista as timeless as the poetry of Homer.
Designed by the local firm of Detale Architecture & Engineering, this seasonal family residence is situated on a slope on the Mani Peninsula in the Peloponnese. Although its sharp-edge geometry is in clear contrast to the untamed profile of the landscape, its disposition as a collection of fragments, rather than a single mass, echoes the natural tumbling over time of rocks and earth. “Rather than fighting the topography, the project follows a long-standing practice in this part of Greece of carving the landscape into a series of multilevel flat surfaces,” shares Head Architect Eleanna Kokkaliari. “These terraces give the house its characteristic stepped profile and reflect a sensibility that has shaped settlements in the region for centuries.”
While the structure is sympathetic with the topography, it expresses not a smidge of rusticity. “The design,” states Kokkaliari, “is resolutely contemporary.” The exterior is clad in local stone, while inside, oak is pervasive, from built-in cabinetry to staircases. The primary living spaces – sitting room, kitchen and dining room – are collected in the main building and face the sea. The open plan deployed here is mediated by a kind of layering, with a sunken, sofa- filled seating area and a perforated teak panel that hides a staircase and also serves as a base for a bench at the dining table. A retracting glass wall opens the living spaces to a broad terrace and an infinity pool, while a secondary outdoor space, formed between the home’s various volumes, features a long, sleek bench and a panel with a large aperture that frames the sea and the land below, both finished in lime-rendered plaster, consistent with the interior wall treatments. The panel will soon support a pergola to overhang a seating area on the level below.
Despite the sophistication of its design and the grace within, this home is marked by a certain simplicity. Unfussy and grounded, it puts one in mind of the words of the renowned writer Nikos Kazantzakis: “I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else.”
Photography by Gaëlle Le Boulicaut.
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