Four Houses

Project Name: Four Houses
Construction year: 2007
Website:
Address: Tinou st., Porto Rafti , ATHENS - Greece

Architect(s) : MOB architects (www.mobarchitects.gr)
Project Category: Housing | Residential

Latitude: 37.8665
Longitude: 24.0218

General

The four houses complex is located in Porto Rafti, an area by the sea in a distance of approximately 40 km from Athens. Porto Rafti has been a vacation house area for many decades, but recently new roads have been constructed and an increasing number of population chooses to live here permanently.

Design Concept

The site of 1000 m2 that stands between two streets contains four identical houses of 200 m2 each, two facing the sea and two facing the mountains behind the sea front. In the center of the site a common courtyard includes a swimming pool. The common courtyard, accessible from each house’s garden, is used as recreational space by the inhabitants. Thought the houses are integral, the design aim was to create the impression of an intimate entity formed by bold rectangular masses, in bright terracotta color and various wood structures such as pergolas, fences etc. Since the exact use was not known from the beginning – vacation house or main residence – the design process had to combine the near the sea mediterranean sense of place with urban facilities such as parking spaces, private gardens, pool, etc. Each house consists of three floors and a basement. The living room and the kitchen are on the ground floor, meanwhile the bedrooms are on the upper floors.

Materials

The volumes of the houses in rough plaster are integrated or separated by wood structures that mainly serve as sunshades, as wind protectors, as pergolas intended to be covered by creeping plants and as visual barriers that ensure privacy. The whole plot has been planted and as vegetation grows the image of the houses will constantly change in accordance with the seasons of the year.

Contributed by MOB architects