Designer Greg Haji Joannides used historic photographs as a guidebook when creating a new contemporary interior for this earthquake-broken house on the Greek island of Nisyros (+ slideshow).
Found on a hilltop in the port of Emporeios, the two-storey residence was wrecked by an earthquake in 1933. Architect Giorgos Tsironis has because renewed the construction, and Joannides was tasked with transforming it into a short-term residence for artists.
“The inspiration behind this style was to hold as significantly as feasible of the original way the Nisyrians would create homes,” Joannides informed Dezeen. “They would use the ground floor as a storage or doing work area.”
Materials utilised in the reconstruction of the Sterna Nisyros Residences echo what would have been used to construct the residence at first. Authentic features this kind of as the fireplace and drainage system have been uncovered and reinstated.
Inside, brick walls and wooden floorboards have been painted white. Wide archways offer open-strategy circulation on the ground floor – enabling it to double as an exhibition room for artists in residence.
Related story: Tainaron Blue Retreat is a guest home in a converted tower on the Greek coast
“The white interior setting came about since I needed a space that could be effortlessly utilized for exhibitions,” explained Joannides.
A kitchen, residing area and workspace are all situated on the ground floor. A concrete staircase prospects up to the 1st floor, where there are two bedrooms and a bathroom.
Whilst double doors on the initial floor open onto an outside dining terrace, a rooftop lounge area is accessed via a set of stone stairs on one side of the creating.
In the upstairs bathroom, a smooth concrete wall wraps all around the shower to seclude it from the rest of the space. An outdated rock was utilised to develop a sink.
“The rock sink was discovered during the excavation method of the home as a damage,” explained Joannides. “This utilized to be the bowl where the Nisyrians fed their animals, but I changed it into a sink.”
Sterna Nisyros Residences is named following the cistern that is located in the interior of the residence, which at one time was the biggest water storage system in the Emporeios area.
“The cement drainage technique was used to acquire the water from the rooftop into the cistern,” stated Joannides. “Right now it truly is not in use as most of it was destroyed, but we stored the remainder as an old architectural element of the house.”
The property will offer a base for the Sterna Artwork Undertaking, an international residency and exhibition programme founded by Joannides in 2014.
A equivalent undertaking was also not too long ago completed on Cape Tainaron, yet another Greek island. Architects Kostas Zouvelos and Kassiani Theodorakakou have renovated a 19th-century tower overlooking the coastline.
