PARALLELS - 2022
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PARALLELS, MEGANISI
Two guesthouses are set along the coastline of Meganisi, both turned to the bay. They are conceived as parallel, elongated volumes, aligned with the shore and held apart at a measured distance. Each houses a sequence of rooms laid out along its length. Every room is a self-contained retreat, and every room is granted an unobstructed field of view over the Ionian Sea.
The buildings are defined by two opposing faces. On the landward side, the envelope closes. It withholds the view and shelters the interior. On the seaward side, the envelope is perforated. Light and air pass through it, and the landscape enters as a filtered image. The sea is not offered on approach. It appears only once the threshold has been crossed, disclosed rather than displayed.
The section follows the slope of the terrain. One volume sits higher, the other lower, so that the rooms of the upper building look out over the roof of the lower. An external stair binds the two levels of each building. Its ascent is accompanied by the sea and ends in a semi-open space, suspended between interior and exterior.
The material palette is drawn from natural, low-impact sources, allowing the structures to recede into the landscape rather than stand against it. Enclosure and openness are held in deliberate balance. The rooms remain sheltered, while daylight moves across their surfaces and lends the interiors a quiet, shifting presence. -
Ateno Team:
Elias Theodorakis, Yiorgos FiorentinosClient:
My Ionian Group
