Redefinition-Kalavrita Project

Μεσολόγγι, Greece

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Redefinition-Kalavrita Project

Μεσολόγγι, Greece

Firm

BllendDesignOffice

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2012

PRIMARY FUNCTION:
Creative remodeling

INSPIRATION:
The commodity in terms of Karl Marx's critique of political economy as an object or good produced by human labour was the driving idea behind the design concept.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The project refers to the major interior remodeling of a typical mountain house in Greece.

The customer defined the desired outcome as keeping the mountain context, without emitting stereotypical rustic remembrances. The construction involved manufacturing on site using basic materials as metal, pinewood and mineral aggregates and human expertise.

The house has 3 levels of totally 145sqm, with 2 en-suite bedrooms, 2 guest bedrooms, bathroom and living room on every floor, office and plenty of storage space, allowing for co-habitation and mobility for daytime and night time zones. The desire was to allow for guest families and their children to make creative use of space during different hours of day and seasons.

Emitting the architectural feeling of black burnt metal and volcanic stone. Constructions and levels of nighttime and basic traffic patterns were defined by black metal; mineral aggregates defined the floor plans, wet areas and main elevations while stained pine wood defined the storage areas, which were conceptualized as “containers’.

The color palette was reduced to minimum contrast and low saturation in order to let the materials and textures define the context of the project. The project following sustainability and bioclimatic values in house remodeling, had to utilize maximum natural daylight, even though the existing shell and openings were left intact. The lighting design scheme specified only led lighting sources while low color temperature was chosen to give the feeling of light candles.

Research was done in prevailing mountain typology, availability of materials in the vicinity that would allow for easy access, minimum transportation and manufacturing costs. Pigmentations and stains also were selected in terms of reduced VOC emissions, low cost maintenance and taking into consideration the building life cycle and reusability of materials.

SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES:
Each floor is about 50 sq meters, lower and middle level shell of local stone, while top floor log cabin.

TAGS:
Mountain, residential, remodelling, sustainability, typology, redefinition, mineral, metal, wood