Kapsimalis Architects designed in the traditional village of Fira, in Caldera of Santorini island, two-holiday residences, in which the intention was to reconstruct an old house. The whole former residence converted into two summer houses, retaining as much as its initial, original shell as well as its exterior spaces. The main past residence forms the first summer house, consisting of two independent bedrooms with their bathrooms, a common living space for dining and cooking, a wedge-shaped yard with an oblong pool and an exterior staircase that leads to a small balcony/canopy.
The old caves of the property with their exterior space consist of the second summer house, that includes two bedrooms with their bathrooms, an open-­‐plan common space and a hammam at the end of the biggest cave. The outer shell of both houses, bright and white, is preserved as it was, in a way that is integrated with its surroundings and the cubistic, traditional architecture of the village. The use of earth tones materials and colors and the selection of furniture, preserve a sense of old and showcase the patina of the time passage.
In respect of materials, the floor is filled with local stones in a squared shape, called ‘maltezoplaka’ (being used in old churches and neoclassical residences), in off-­‐white/ecru color, the walls are coated with clay filled with peculiar tiny rocks, the furniture is made by local craftsman by wood, either oak or wood with deep, dim colors and there are few pieces of metal and glass that are chosen to complete the total synthesis. The purpose of the design was to create a natural, rustic space, not a mimic of the past life or a conservative approach of it, but a sense of space that reminds the way of living in the old days of the island in a classy, eccentric and eclectic twist, drawing inspiration from local materials and objects of the past.
In the second house, the use of similar color palette and materiality onto the floor and the walls forms a continuity of the interior space bringing out the curves and the random forms of the cave. The rest of the furnishing are made by materials in the same pale colors, with some few exceptions of shiny gold or silver metal furniture, the use of black leather, neon light, black metal lights, deep dark wooden sphere as light, pink and blue transparent glasses, etc. that contradict to that mild, subtle base and give a spark of uniqueness.
Both houses experiment the design possibilities in the existing spaces, with that certain qualities, such as their scale, the elongated typology, the different forms of their vaulted ceilings, the amorphous carves that someone can meet, the fact that they are part dug into the earth and part outside, the singular façade, the limited openings, the lack of light in the depth of the space and the contradiction of the intense light of the exterior, and how these spaces can be developed, keeping their sensuous and mystical character but pointing in a sense of natural, unavoidable fading of time, a sense of an old island life nowadays.