Natalia Kokosalaki completes Cretan retreat

Residential home nested within mature olive groves with a view of the skyline and mountains in the background — This newly completed holiday home in Crete is nestled within mature olive groves. Photography: George Messaritakis

(Image credit: George Messaritakis)

When a French couple decided to build their holiday home in Crete, some 500 metres from the village of Roustika, they turned to Athens based architect Natalia Kokosalaki for help.

Sat at the foot of the Lefka Ori Mountains, among idyllic olive groves, vineyards and herb bushes, the site had a lot to offer. Part of the clients' brief was for the design to respect this Cretan environment and ‘stand the test of time', explains the architect. Kokosalaki responded with flair, composing a complex that feels modern, but is also rooted to the local vernacular and the island's tradition.

‘At first we wrote a brief as if it was a first page of a summer novel, narrating a summer day in this imaginary Cretan house and its rural environment,' she says. ‘Simultaneously, it describes different areas of the house and the surrounding large garden and how could be enjoyed by the inhabitants on different hours of the day.'

Exterior of the kokosalaki roustika house featuring thick stone walls on some parts of the building and a soft beige colour on the main building set around trees

A large arched entrance leads to an enclosed courtyard, in turn guiding the visitor to the generous, open plan living areas on the ground level – or a guest suite off the main house. Upstairs are a further four bedrooms.

Thick stone walls transform into staircases, terraces, an outdoor shower area and seating, while clean overall lines and the use of local materials (such as stone and ochre plaster) enhance the house's connection to the landscape around it. This was conceived as a calming, tactile environment, designed for rest and contemplation.

‘We wanted to create a typically Cretan dwelling: simple, distinguished and very proud,' says Kokosalaki. The house does not disappoint; it is a structure that feels contemporary but is also inherently of its place, nestled gently in its Greek countryside locale.

The exterior of the kokosalaki roustika house featuring tall arch entrance way, brown wood windows and doors and an outdoor swimming pool

Interior of the residential home featuring grey concrete walls and floors with wooden chairs and table and a view of the night skies through the tall arch

A room featuring a bed made of concrete base with an extension to a work table with a laptop placed on it. A white frame on the wall next to the wide window with views of the mountain

A double bed with concrete base and 2 pillows with 2 black lamps hanging from the wall on both sides of the bed. The room has cream walls and ceiling with brown wood flooring.

A grey shower room with sloped ceiling and sky light

A bedroom with cream walls and grey flooring featuring an arch with platforms that leads to the double bed covered with pink covers with striped. About the bed is hanging lighting and small open window

A dining room setting with a long wood rectangular table and 6 chairs with 3 hanging ceiling lights with 3 different colours of shades. on the right is an open shelf with 5 levels occupied with items.

INFORMATION

nataliakokosalaki.gr

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).