Greek houses
· MAR DESIGN STUDIO
Greek, in the way clients say it, usually means the islands: white volumes, a flat roof, a terrace, a hard light. There is another Greek house, the neoclassical one in Athens or on Syros, with a pediment and tall windows. Name which one before anyone draws a blue door and calls it done.
Cubes, and the roof you can stand on
Cycladic houses are masonry boxes, limewashed white, pushed together or stepped down a slope. The roof is flat, or nearly, and finished as a terrace with a low parapet. Outdoor stairs connect one level to the next. There is no clay-tile slope trying to look Italian, and there should not be.
The white is practical. It reflects sun, and it was renewed often because limewash is a coating, not a forever paint. On a new house the point is the same: a bright, thick wall, not a white thin skin over a conventional roof.
Small openings, thick walls
Windows are few and set deep. Wind on the islands is serious, and so is the glare. A deep reveal shades the glass and makes the wall look as heavy as it is. A floor-to-ceiling window on the weather side fights the house, even when the view is the reason for the lot.
Put the large opening where a court or a covered terrace protects it. Let the bedroom windows stay small. Wood shutters, plain and painted, are the traditional control for light. A single saturated blue door is a postcard. One is enough, and it is optional. Stone, weathered wood, and the white wall already carry the place.
The other Greek house
Neoclassical houses in the cities are symmetrical, two stories, with a pediment or a simple cornice, tall windows, and sometimes marble at the entry. The color is often a pale plaster, not blinding white, and the roof may be tile because the climate and the street are different from a cliff in the Cyclades.
Columns, if they appear, are at the door or holding a balcony, not a temple front pasted on a suburban plan. This house wants alignment and proportion. It does not want cubic masses stacked like a village. Asking for both in one building is how the style turns into scenery.
What to ask for
If the house is Cycladic: cubic volumes, a roof terrace, thick limewashed walls, small deep windows, an outdoor stair, and one protected place where the view can be large. Color held back.
If the house is neoclassical: a center, tall openings in a regular rhythm, a cornice or a pediment, and stone where hands touch the entry. Say which Greek house it is. The sea, by itself, is not a style.
Illustrations made for MAR DESIGN STUDIO.
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