Concrete architecture and geometrical shapes form Tense studio's Greek home design
Greek studio Tense Architecture Network composes this rural home's geometric concrete architecture out of a circle and a triangle
The concrete architecture of Greek studio Tense has been celebrated for its sculptural quality, modern forms and functional interiors that work equally well in an urban and rural context. The latest work by Tense Architecture Network (as the practice's full name is) belongs in the latter category, nestled in a hill, overlooking the green landscapes and calm, blue waters of the Euboean Gulf in central Greece.
The project is a private residence, and it has been composed as a neat arrangement of two clean, geometrical shapes – a triangle and a circle. In plan, the triangular form represents the main house, while the round one is a striking swimming pool, sitting just outside. The house is placed diagonally and towards the uppermost corner of the plot in order to make the most of its long views.
Entering from the garage and main entrance on the lower level, visitors are guided through a dramatic circular staircase to the residence's piano nobile. This contains an open plan living space and two generous bedrooms. These two ‘wings' are divided by a courtyard in the home's heart, which enhances light and connections between indoors and outdoors.
The architecture's reinforced concrete structure is treated with earthy, absorbent paint that gives the whole a certain roughness, highlighting the house also as a sculptural object placed among the Mediterranean landscape. Bronze-coloured aluminium frames on doors and windows, tinted glass and white plastered walls inside complete the project's restrained material palette.
While the house may seem more angular, the external spaces and landscaping (designed by Eleni Tsirintani) feels softer. A curved terrace straight out of the living space responds to the terrain's topographic lines and leads to the impressive swimming pool. The last brings to mind an elegantly oversized, concrete architecture version of a bird fountain, or the dramatic experimentations of 20th century Modernists.
‘The swimming pool refers to [the curved terrace and pergola above it] and is formed in a sculptural way, also from visible uncoated concrete,' says the studio's founder, Tilemachos Andrianopoulos. ‘Its circular shape works in addition to the triangular prism - freely placed into the surrounding countryside.'
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
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).
-
Maude’s Brâncuși-inspired sex toys go on display in a new Paris exhibition
Maude’s design-led vibrators are now on display at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, as part of ‘Private Lives: From the Bedroom to Social Media’. Brand founder Éva Goicochea talks to Wallpaper* about partnering with the museum and opening up cultural conversations around sex
By India Birgitta Jarvis Published
-
‘I was captivated by the idea of merging two iconic brands’: Nigo on his 1990s-inspired collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz
Unveiled at Moncler’s ‘The City of Genius’ event in Shanghai this past weekend, Japanese fashion designer Nigo unpacks his three-way collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz, which includes a play on the G-Class alongside a fashion collection in his eclectic style
By Jack Moss Published
-
Cathay Pacific’s new business class Aria Suites take flight
Cathay Pacific raises the bar for business-class travel with the launch of the much-anticipated Aria Suites
By Lauren Ho Published
-
Piraeus Tower is a Greek high-rise icon revived through sustainable strategies
The restoration of the Piraeus Tower is completed in Greece, revealing a revived façade by local architecture studio PILA
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Remembering Alexandros Tombazis (1939-2024), and the Metabolist architecture of this 1970s eco-pioneer
Back in September 2010 (W*138), we explored the legacy and history of Greek architect Alexandros Tombazis, who this month celebrates his 80th birthday.
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Tour House D in Athens, where interiors are peachy keen
Designed by Cometa Architects, House D in Athens is full of curvy, colourful character
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Sun-drenched Los Angeles houses: modernism to minimalism
From modernist residences to riveting renovations and new-build contemporary homes, we tour some of the finest Los Angeles houses under the Californian sun
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
All hail the power of concrete architecture
‘Concrete Architecture’ surveys more than a century’s worth of the world’s most influential buildings using the material, from brutalist memorials to sculptural apartment blocks
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Three Object Apartment embraces raw concrete honesty in the heart of Athens
Three Object Apartment by DeMachinas is a raw concrete home in Athens, which confidently celebrates its modernist bones
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Giovanni Michelucci’s dramatic concrete church in the Italian Dolomites
Giovanni Michelucci’s concrete Church of Santa Maria Immacolata in the Italian Dolomites is a reverently uplifting memorial to the victims of a local disaster
By Jonathan Glancey Published
-
Residence in Dionysos was conceived as a minimalist ‘cave refuge’ outside Athens
Residence in Dionysos by Desypri & Misiaris Architecture is a family home designed as a minimalist refuge among the surrounding nature's pine tree-filled slopes
By Ellie Stathaki Published