Aristides Dallas Architects

Volax House

Volax House
© Panagiotis Voumvakis

VOLAX HOUSE

Aristides Dallas Architects

CATEGORY
Houses

LOCATION
Tinos Regional Unit, Greece

AREA
205 m²

CONSTRUCTION
Aegean Construction & Development, Dimitris Louvaris

3 D VISUALIZATION
Lampis Tozai

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
Theodore Chrysovergis

ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Miron Kinigalakis

Text description provided by architect.

Volax is perhaps, the most “authentic” location in Tinos; blatantly special and distinct, in a way that makes it, unique in Cyclades – or even the world.

Volax House
© Panagiotis Voumvakis
Volax House
© Panagiotis Voumvakis

So, designing a building as a continuation or a complementary part of the overall grand picture of Volax, is a real challenge.

Respecting this landscape we designed 3 separate volumes around a central patio. These volumes house the main functions of the residence, and differ in height, dimensions, and materials.

Volax House
© Panagiotis Voumvakis
Volax House
© Panagiotis Voumvakis
Volax House
© Panagiotis Voumvakis

Their principal feature is that no organized design – site concept was followed for their construction but instead, each part has been freely set in the space, in an almost anarchic way, as if it has fallen from the sky and it just stood there. In other words, as exactly it has happened to Volax volcanic spherical rocks.

Equally typical is the northern side of the residence where we create a “limit”, an artificial protection of the space from the Northern Wind, a volume of apparent and non-painted concrete.

Volax House
© Panagiotis Voumvakis
Volax House
© Panagiotis Voumvakis
Volax House
© Panagiotis Voumvakis
Volax House
© Panagiotis Voumvakis

The selection of this materiality makes the house seem also like a rock while in time, when the colorful concrete aggregates emerge to the surface, it will be totally integrated with the landscape.

On the other hand, the selection of its shape, an oblong rectangle, manages to give prominence to the rocks “underlying” them and enhancing their sphericity, setting them in direct “confrontation” with its own linearity. In the internal part, the hard envelope “breaks” and becomes “transparent”, allowing the interior to become one with the exterior part.

Volax House
© Panagiotis Voumvakis
Volax House
© Panagiotis Voumvakis

In this way, the limitations of the “inside” and the “outside” become less and less apparent, while the interior space extend until the rock cluster, in the back of the land towards the village.

Volax House
© Panagiotis Voumvakis
Volax House
© Panagiotis Voumvakis


Volax House
Elevation
Volax House
Elevation
Volax House
Section
Volax House
Elevation


Volax House
Ground Floor Plan
Volax House
First Floor Plan

Aristides Dallas Architects
T +30 21 03634621
Aristides Dallas Architects
Mavromichali 124, Athina 114 72, Greece