Residence in Palaio Faliro

Athens, Greece

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Residence in Palaio Faliro

Athens, Greece

Firm

YEAR

1999

This residence attempts to reintroduce the uncanny feeling when the inside and the outside merge, when private is camouflaged as public, when the certainty of entry tends to be substituted with an ambiguity. Instead of the claustrophobia of small entry halls, entry here is through an open linear space, a zone transparent till the rear elevation of the house. As soon as we grasp this view towards the backyard, then we turn in order to face the main spaces of the residence. The ambiguous privacy of this residence is articulated on different levels: by its fence of perforated aluminium panels, by the blind walls of the first floor. The neighborhood is perplexed for the identity of the building (is it a residence, a company or something else?). The public identity of this house is retained with its semi-private spaces (the entry/courtyard underneath the skylight) as well as with the way it enables a surveillance of its owners. Their movement along the glass corridor on the first floor is open to public scrutiny from the level of the street.