Sinas Architects designed a breathtaking stone summer house in Serifos Island, with a distinctive morphology that is inspired by the short stone retaining walls, widely known as “xerolithies”.

The main focus of the design was to create a house that blends in its natural environment. An environment comprised of steep dirt and gravel slopes, dressed with scattered wild thorny bushes, and beautiful large rock formations.

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Though the most important existing elements, were the short stone retaining walls, locally called xerolithies, created a long time ago for land cultivation purposes. These walls, usually not more than a meter in height formed flat stripes of land parallel to the slope and extended along the entire surface of the hillside.

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

“The site with its xerolithies was the spark of inspiration”.

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

When one thinks of the Greek Islands, stacked white boxes come to mind. The design challenged this morphological preconception, by imagining the main facades of the house as xerolithies, starting low and gradually developing a sufficient height.

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

“They move closer and away of the slope and independently from one another, forming spaces in between them”.

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

To achieve this, all the functions of the house were placed sequentially making it long and narrow. The walls have a lightness that seem like they were affected by the strong Cycladic winds, like “ribbons in the air”.

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

To complete the “xerolithia” likeness, the roof of the house was covered with dirt and vegetation imitating the natural landscape. This made the house almost invisible especially when seen from behind and afar.

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Another important feature of the Cycladic rural house are the wooden pergola, consisted of thick, raw, smooth, wooden beams and columns with a bamboo cover, all in their natural color.

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

“This structure appears also in the interior of the house, on the ceiling, following the traditional way of constructing roofs”.

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

This particular element was used along the entire length of the structure, inside and outside. The beams supporting this structure naturally could not be placed parallel to each other, instead they follow the house’s curvy morphology, like vertebrae on a long spinal cord.

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

“As a result, the bamboo was knitted in a fish bone manner creating a unique pattern with beautiful shade textures”.

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

Architectural design: Sinas Architects, Photo © Yiorgos Kordakis

The doors and windows are wooden and simple with a light olive color and the main exterior walls are stone with no joint mortar. Both these decisions follow the traditional style and technique.

Master plan, © Sinas Architects

Floor plan, © Sinas Architects

Floor plan, © Sinas Architects

Elevation, © Sinas Architects

Elevation, © Sinas Architects

Section, © Sinas Architects

Sketch, © Sinas Architects

Facts & Credits:

Project title: Xerolithi, Project type: Summer house, Location: Kalo Ambeli – Serifos Island – Cyclades – Greece, Client: MEK Development SA, Architectural Design: Sinas Architects, Collaboration: Maria Mamoura, Interior design: Olga Ktena – Sinas Architects, Area: 245 m², Completion date: 2019, Text description: Sinas Architects, Photography: Yiorgos Kordakis, Styling: Anestis Michalis

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