Description

Pantelis Nicolacopoulos springs a surprise with his concept for a lavish home in the wooded hills of Attica. In this case, ‘living’ certainly does invoke the classical type of villa and is interpreted as hedonistic pleasure, as living out and experiencing individuality undisturbed, in the midst of a sweeping natural landscape. And yet his understanding of spatial disposition, access and above all of living space is particularly astonishing.

The architect arranges the various parts of the group of buildings strictly orthogonally, both against the steeply falling slope and also parallel with it. Two bands form the core of the composition: firstly, the two-storey building stretching down to the valley with drive, parking, ancillary rooms and dining room on the ground floor and the bedrooms upstairs. Then comes the passage-like element that has been ‘pushed under’ at right angles to it; here the main living space remains separate, maintaining a significant distance from the rest of the rooms though it is closely linked; it is divided into a working and a living area.

With this band of space, Nicolacopoulos has created an extraordinary sense of panorama: the whole façade dissolves into windows on the valley side. No corridor or access space is offered, even though the main access from the rear courtyard is to be found here. It is more like a covered promenade for the living room, in fact it becomes its characteristic main component. Here space for movement, experiencing the scenery and living fuses uniquely; even the kitchen can ultimately be included as part of the spatial connections. The ends of this promenade thrust out deep into the open space, which meshes with the building via steps, terraces and walls. Large-scale glazing, mostly storey-high with top quality timber frames and sliding blinds, provides views in all directions, enhancing the building and its carefully treated reinforced concrete. The sleeping area on the upper floor, oriented in the opposite direction, is provided with a corridor that is broken down into sections along its full length, giving the south-facing bedroom area and the terraces in front something more like the character of living rooms.

Pantelis Nicolacopoulos has not just achieved a harmonious structure with this carefully balanced and impressive handling of horizontal building sections, he has also made an innovative contribution to the distribution of living space relating to dramatic natural surroundings.

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Originally published in: Klaus-Peter Gast, Living Plans: New Concepts for Advanced Housing, Birkhäuser, 2005.