The Patio House | elefkon design studio | elefkon design studio

The spirit

On highland Chalkidiki, on a small village, this residence serves as shelter, as a private world to escape. For a single resident, but with an outgoing attitude with the need to host guests for a drink, for a dinner or for a week. A shelter of the senses is something very personal depending on the childhood memories, the stories one has to narrate, the places one finds peace on, the colors one sees the world. This resident rests his eyes in the view of nature, calm his mind traveling on the old lanes of the village he grew up, warm his soul by the fireside laying back to the stonewall. So, his retreat home, his sanctuary of senses, unleash this essence through the clarity of the space, the authenticity of the materials, the reference to the origins, fulfilling his hiraeth.

The layout

The wide view to Mount Olympus and the binary character of use for seclusion and extroversion was the main guidelines for the plan structure. The orientation of the view formed a linear plan in order all of the rooms to have sight to the valley and the mountain. While, the necessary delineation of the privacy, led the design to divide the layout into two zones, private and shared, for the main house, and the creation of a guesthouse. The private zone consists of the master bedroom, the dressing room, the private bathroom and the sauna, all of them surrounding a central patio. The green patio offers a view of nature to the intimate uses and introduces the exterior into the interior shifting their limits. The guesthouse is independent regarding facilities with separate entrance, but with in-house access, too, for optimum movement flow. Entering the plot there is a courtyard with a stonewall precinct that brinks back traditional architecture, and gives access to the main house, the guesthouse and the yard.