Nikos Karaflos, the visionary entrepreneur-turned-hotelier, wanted to transform the postwar winery into a barefoot luxury resort, the Dexamenes Hotel, on one of the most unspoiled stretches of coastline in the western Peloponnese. The history of Dexamenes dates back to the “Era of Currants”. Since the liberation of Greece in 1830, the cultivation of currants took on impressive dimensions and currants were the main export product of the Greek Kingdom.
But when the “Currants’ Crisis” broke out in 1910 in Greece, the trade of currants collapsed and there was the need to convert the unsold stock of currants into alternative products, such as wine. It was when the first wineries and distilleries were created. Dexamenes was built literally on the sea, so that the ships could be loaded with wine via pipes that were built as a platform on the beach of Kourouta, and then set sail for the major overseas markets.
The derelict, industrial structures that characterize the site have been left relatively untouched since the 1920’s. K studio wanted through their design to breathe new life into their walls, compliment their brutality with elegant interventions and so transform their austere functionality into a place of calm, comfort and relaxation. The palette the K studio used was concrete, steel and engineered glass, with the addition of timber as a nod to the nautical connection of the site to the sea.
The key to the design of the hotel was to contrast and balance out the old and new by using an industrial palette in an elegant way. The proportions are of the tanks are ideal. A comfortable 30sqm of carefully organized and beautifully detailed space, designed to sit within the exposed concrete walls of the tank without inhibiting their unique texture and patina.
Dexamenes
Kourouta, Greece 2018
Design Team
Dimitris Karampatakis, Marivenia Chiotopoulou, Dimitris Sotiropoulos, Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos, Christina Stamouli
Photography
Claus Brechenmacher & Reiner Baumann
Awards
Winner of the Best New Architecture In An Existing Building Awards at the DOMES 10Yr Awards, 2019
1 thought on “Dexamenes Seaside Hotel in Kourouta, Greece by K-studio”
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