HOUSE IN VAMVAKOPOULO, CHANIA

This house of 200 square meters was built inside an olive grove on the outskirts of Vamvakopoulo, near Chania, along the Chania-Omalos road.

It serves as the permanent residence of a family with two small children.

The main house comprises two floors (ground-floor and first floor) while a basement provides space for additional facilities (storage room, central heating, laundry room).

The relation of the house to the degree of the property slope, to the trees found therein and to potential views was a decisive factor in formulating our proposal.

The childrens bedrooms (level 3) comprise one unit together with spaces of hygiene and a sitting room. The parents bedroom (level 4) is also arranged as one unit – including spaces of hygiene (an open bathroom and a WC), a wardrobe and space serving as a sitting room.

Going up from the entrance we reach the unit made up from the kitchen and dining room, an area which also includes the fireplace and the familys sitting room.

On the first floor is the living room, a rectangular space developing in two levels with an east-west orientation, a view of the Lefka Ori mountain range to the south and large balconies on the north and south sides.

The main concern in terms of deciding the houses interior structure was to establish a friendly relationship between the building and the place: one that renders the building an element at once welcoming and fitting the surrounding landscape; an element that does not contrast its surrounding environment. It is a building that possesses its own character yet attempts to exist next to and within the landscape in humbleness.

The above mentioned relationships are inscribed in the units of interior space encountered as one ascends from the entrance to the various levels of the house. Units comprise:

1. The childrens quarters, an autonomous unit that includes a small sitting room and separate small rooms where children sleep and study, as well as auxiliary spaces.
2. The parents quarters, which include the master bedroom and hygiene and storage spaces forming a unified area of increased privacy.
3. The sitting room, dining room and kitchen area – the familys private space.
4. The living room: a public space for the purpose of receiving guests, with open-air extensions in the form of large balconies, developing along an east-west direction, its long south side overlooking the Lefka Ori mountain range.