Vacation house of K. Papapanayotou

48th km. on the Athens-Sounion road, Anavyssos, Attica, 1961-62

Architect
Aris Konstantinidis (1913-1993)



This little house belonging to military officer K. Papapanayotou was a landmark of 20th century Greek architecture. Created by the radical architect Aris Konstantinidis, it is an exemplary combination of the modern spirit of the times with the ethos of the country’s long tradition, a typical example of Konstantinidis’s "genuine modern architecture" which created "containers of life" through a common building structure so as to stand in the landscape as though they’d been planted there.
The house was built virtually on the sea, on a small rocky cape. It has a square plan organised on a grid of 2x5 m. for the closed space, which includes a living room with fireplace, bedroom, bath and kitchen, and 2x3 m. for the L-shaped portico that surrounds the west and northeast sides of the house.
The treatment of the façades is simple and robust. The only materials are the visible concrete of the flat roof – i.e. the slab with the inverted beams, and the structural walls of well-dressed stone.
The human scale, simple volume, austerity of form and harmonious incorporation into the landscape have given this little country home a timeless character, and made it a symbol of covering basic needs. Thus it has retained its value beyond the era or the people who created it.

TRANSPORTATION