A Bare Concrete House in Greece With A Lap Pool That Extends Towards The Horizon
A lot of contemporary homes are designed to blend in with their natural surroundings and that’s usually quite easy to do when they’re framed by forests or lush vegetation. In the case of this house from Tinos, Greece, things were a little different and more challenging. That was because the terrain is quite rocky and barren.
The team at Aristides Dallas Architects were however quite inspired by this topography and they came up with a really interesting design concept. They designed the house as a sort of man-made cave, a structure which sis partially enveloped by the ground and blends in with the ground without being subterranean.
What immediately stands out is the clean geometry of the volumes, their linearity and their sort of rugged aesthetic. In order for the house to become camouflaged in the landscape it had to mimic the land around it. As such, the architects relied on bare concrete as a main material. They also kept the palette of colors and finishes simple, taking inspiration from the scenery. A particularly eye-catching feature is the lap pool which extends out of the slope in which the house is camouflaged and reaches towards the horizon.
Related: An Amazing Split-Level Home With A Shipping Container Pool
Internally, the areas are arranged into three main volumes and they are all covered by a single slab of concrete that’s partially covered up by the land. There are several openings into the roof which let natural light and fresh air into the spaces below, making up for the closed design. The common areas are clustered at the center and open onto a covered area which acts as a sort of indoor-outdoor space. The other two volumes are a bedroom suite and a guest area and they’re projecting out to the sides, perpendicular to one another and connected to the central volume.