Vino Houses, designed by Interior Design Laboratorium, is a small cluster of three summer apartments for rent located in the traditional settlement of Finikia on Santorini. Overlooking the beach, it stretches out between the vineyards and the wineries, its slopes full of stone terraces and threshing floors. Vino Houses is in fact an adaptation in the operation of buildings originally intended as a private summer residence which have now been turned into summer apartments for tourists in a boutique style.
Without the possibility of remodeling the outer building encasing, with only slight changes to the building interiors, the conversion of the use was studied and the external spaces were constructed to offer the additional provisions which were requested. The key concern in finding the desired design expression was to adapt the interior to the morphology of the surrounding landscape. Naturalness and earth were the guidelines with which the office worked, exploring ways to change a hard inner encasing to a light and natural continuation of the outer aesthetic dialect.
Natural materials such as solid wood, plaster, marble, terracotta, and ropes are some of the materials used in accenting the space. The stereotypical forms of furniture lose their usual forms to create a modern yet traditional space that has an airy and earthy feel. Specially crafted pottery has been transformed into wide basins, stands upon which tables and cushions are laid, clay hand-basins and closets made of fabric are combined to create an invigorating setting that allows the space to breathe and weave together traditional and contemporary design thus creating a balance between a comfortable everyday space and the outside dry and rocky land.