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“We were inspired by the cycle of light, the motion of the wind,
the whooshing of the waves”

A contemporary summer house was endowed with personality thanks
to the original furniture and fittings designed by Nikos Zouboulis
and Titsa Grekou, who used natural materials and new techniques to sculpt
forms and create spaces of a minimalist aesthetic.
The traditionally styled house was fitted exclusively with furniture and other
functional pieces designed and constructed by STUDIO METAPLASI to meet
the owner’s express needs. Forming part of a complex of four residences
in the same family, the house is built on an amphitheatrical plot with a sea view,
near Ornos. The designers were given charge of the interior architecture and
decoration and the fixtures in the communal outdoor areas – tables,
settees, and the bar. In their imaginative work they allowed themselves
to be inspired “by the cycles of Mykonian light, the moving sunlight
that creates three-dimensional volumes and linear shadows on walls
and floors, by the motion of the wind and the sea.”
“We were called in at an early stage in the construction and we worked
closely with the owner, a lover of art, who agreed with all our proposals.
We were also given ample time to complete such a demanding project,
so we were able to study the needs of each area separately and experiment
with new techniques. The first thing to do was to form certain structural
elements such as the fireplace. Then we designed all stationary
and moveable furniture, and selected all the other fittings and fixtures required
to equip the house – chairs, lighting fixtures, door handles, fabrics, etc. ”In the
end the owner took delivery of a modern holiday home
of a minimalist aesthetic that seems to bow mentally to the austerity
of Mykonian tradition.

An original designer project
“Since the owner and we spoke the same visual language, we did not end up
reproducing the stereotypical image of Aegean aesthetic. The house neither
copies tradition nor weds the old with the new. It is in fact an original work,
a designer home that combines contemporary architecture with cultural
memories and is built in an eco-friendly way using natural materials.”
Everything inside the house was designed from scratch, transformed
into a life-size model and constructed by STUDIO METAPLASI,
or erected in situ, as with the fireplace, the fixed settees in the garden,
and the bar.

Translating nature into sculptural forms
“The house has three levels. The high-ceilinged ground floor includes
the sitting-room, one bedroom with a bathroom, the dining room and the open-
plan kitchen. A lower level with its own direct access to the garden
are the guest quarters, a self-contained unit complete with kitchenette
and bathroom. The first floor of the house contains the master bedroom
and its en-suite bathroom.”
The entire house is painted white. The narrow windows and French windows
have no curtains, permitting the light to enter in a pleasant, non-dazzling way.
All materials are natural, selected on the basis of functionality and ease

of maintenance. Indoor floors, for instance, combine bleached timber
and earth-colored mortar as per the Mykonian norm.