RESIDENCE & OFFICE ON THE ISLAND KEA
An evolutionary approach to local architectural tradition

The conceptual approach to a contemporary house design in the countryside of the cycladic island of Kea rests on the study of the local architectural heritage. Contemplating the traditional building structures one can distinguish two representative typologies that have prevailed during the last centuries.
The first is the off settlements rural “kathoikia” situated nearby the farmland of the "xotaridon".(in local dialect - inhabitants of the countryside of Kea). These are autonomous one-storey buildings scattered over the hills. They comprise a typical flat roof and small openings.
The second typology can be encountered in the settlement of Ioulis –the capital of the island that has evolved into a residential cluster on a steep hill over the centuries.
The spatial arrangement of the single housing units generates extremely vital public space which can be hardly separated from the adjacent buildings. The public space quality is marked by the alternation of people flow in narrow stair pathways and intermediate stops in the form of small enclosed squares accommodating meetings, entertainment and leisure activities. Another remarkable aspect of Ioulis is the alternation of introverted and extroverted attractiveness. The public space opens to views at distant landscapes and neighborhoods or becomes closed surrounded by the adjacent facades. This typology favors the climate by opening air corridors and flow passages thus serving the proper ventilation and protecting the space from windy conditions.

The house design concept rests on the adoption of both typologies. It features the flat roof and the small openings of the "kathoikia" while the arrangement of separate housing units in the scale of a "kathoikia" shapes a "public space", which is additionally protected by a glass roof and can be shared by the housing units around it.

The composition of 4 juxtaposed housing units follows the slope of the site. The emerging space between the single units, a glass atrium, keeps the characteristics and proportions of respective public spaces of the city of Ioulis and serves the needs for daylighting and ventilation of the entire building. This is the space where visitors are being welcomed and where inhabitants of the single housing units meet together.

Entering the “small settlement” from its upper level the visitor is confronted with the transitional character of the space, which sustains a gradual transformation from public to private the more one descends to the lowest level.

The entrance and the first welcome level of the atrium are situated in the upper part of the building. Following the steps down one arrives at a square multifunctional space for meeting, dining, movie watching etc. It is a vestibule for the adjacent “private” spaces - the office and the kitchen that are accessible through sliding doors. The lowest level of the atrium provides a sitting area, which expands if needed to the adjacent living room. From the same level one can access the most private unit of the building that includes a bedroom and a bathroom.

The glass atrium provides a large variety of outlooks at the surrounding landscape. It also acts as a solar heat collector in winter and free cooling lung in summer. The direction of the main axis of the atrium coincides with the direction of the prevailing wind in Kea. The commensurate dimensioning of the upper windows of the vertical glazing serves the ventilation, enhanced by the application of the Bernoulli Effect.

The glass roof structure follows the slope of the site but remains always at a lower level with reference to the height of adjacent living units so that it becomes invisible from outside and the adopted architectural typology appears intact. The fragmentation of the roof into smaller sections with a slight inclination serves the rain water drainage. Rain water from both glass atrium roof and flat unit roofs is being collected in a belowground water tank.

In order to integrate the “small Ioulis” in the surrounding landscape natural tones have been selected for the mosaic plaster and the stone flooring.