Details
One of the largest gifts of modernism to the 20th century residential architecture was the negation and final abolition of the dividing line between the external and internal space of a building. This two-storey house in the suburbs of Athens not only adopts this contemporary option in its design, but also evolves it even further with the choice of materials and their ingenious implementation. So, while the modern lesson becomes evident in the large openings towards the surrounding areas, the contemporary typology of the “white box” is refuted by the presence of different materials, covering the exterior and the husk of this residence.
Architect Harry C. Bougadelis, who designed this house for a three-member family and attended it’s layout and furnishing, invested the walls with travertine stone – a kind of sandstone – and the floors with white marble. Onehe space is almost completely unified, without doors, providing autonomy, organisation and functionality, from the white color of the marble floor and the ceiling to the vertical presence of the travertine, elegant in both texture and hue. The accessible storage units were upholstered in blond leather, to much the colour of the travertine stone, and the furniture is sparse reduced to the bare essential in both the sitting rooms and the bedrooms. Most of the furniture is handmade: Tables, benches, pedestals, bathroom fixtures made of white Corian, in austere, geometrical lines, accentuated by a few pieces of modern Italian design – mostly seats and round coffee tables – while the owner’s art collection “upgrades”the atmosphere even more. Sculptures by Greek artists, like Lappas, Chryssa, Zakynthianakis, Laneras and Georgiou in a museum-like line up, are scattered throughout the ground level, which gives off the impression of a large and spacious patio, with its abundant light, the unexpected perspectives and the open, internal horizon.
