On the east coast of Peloponnese, overlooking a small, sheltered cove and surrounded by a landscape of olive groves, fruit orchards, and vineyards sits Villa Derrida by K-Studio. The villa is a country house immersed in its natural habitat and in keeping with the local vernacular. The character of the house is defined by the way that it retains its architectural heritage whilst redefining traditional boundaries between internal and external space. A pitched roof of Byzantine terracotta tiles hovers above walls of caustic stone.
These walls, through a carefully curate sequence of openings and interventions, choreograph a nuanced architectural experience of the expansive view over the landscape to the sea. Following the undulating topography, volumes are broken up and stitched into the landscape as a dynamic variety of positive and negative spaces, each with their own particular relationship to their surroundings according to their use. In this sense the view, irresistibly commanding, plays an integral role in the narrative of the house without dominating it. The scattered volumes create a variety of spatial conditions that animate the circulation through the house.
From lofty, light, and airy rooms directly connected to the landscape; to deeper, more enclosed spaces that offers privacy and respite from the heat of the day; to sheltered, semi-protected courtyards that act like mini-landscapes within the landscape. This complex rhythm of spatial qualities creates intrigue and is further enhanced by sensitive and authentically curate materiality that brings texture, light, and atmosphere into balance.