Architects: PAAN Architects Location: Athens, Greece Architects: Maria Papafigou, Johan Αnnerhed Project Year: 2008 Photographs: Yiannis Hadjiaslanis
Project Area: 785.78 sqm Collaborators: Elina Stilianidi, Anna Laskari, Alexandra Kizskielis Structural Engineering: Christos Kaklamanis
The plot is situated in the suburb of Dionisos on the foot of the Pendeli Mountain. A beautiful pine forest and a fine carpet of Mediterranean shrubbery colour the site.
Our aim was to create a house that reflects the character of the lot, while maintaining the outmost respect for the natural surroundings. The house mimics the landscape and tries to camouflage itself becoming the extrusion of the natural clearing between the different clusters of trees.
By considering the building as a solid mass and incorporating the roof in to the walls we minimize the archetype of the object-house. The monolithic and earthy character is emphasized by the use of rough brick as the sole material to clad the exterior surfaces. The inclinations of the roof result from the solar studies in order to achieve maximum shading in the summer and sun exposure in the winter.
Parts of the volume are subtracted creating voids that define in between spaces, blur the limits and create new relations. In vs. out, enclosed vs. open, intimate vs. public vs. private, high vs. low, light vs. dark.
In the big fire of 2008 the site was completely burned and today the owners are striving to recreate the natural environment.
