Greek studio Sinas Architects has built a house on the island of Serifos, taking cues from local dry stone walls to make the building as inconspicuous as possible.
The walls of the two-bedroom house are designed to look like the stone retaining walls that are typical of Greek landscapes. Known locally as xerolithies, these low walls were traditionally used in the cultivation of land.
Xerolithi is a holiday home on the Greek island of Serifos
George Sinas, founder of Sinas Architects, realised that this type of wall could be used to create a building that merges with the sloping topography. He called the house Xerolithi, in tribute.
"These walls are very common in the Greek Mediterranean countryside," Sinas told Dezeen.
"In a very subtle way, they reveal the presence of man in areas that otherwise seem untouched by civilisation. It only seemed fitting to experiment with this element and to see how it could create shape and space." The design takes cues from xerolithies, a type of dry stone wall used locally in agriculture
These xerolithi walls make it difficult to understand where the landscape ends and the house begins. This effect is emphasised by the roof, which is covered in gravel and native shrubs to help it fit in with its surroundings.
In fact, the house contains 245 square metres of floor space, as well as terraces that wrap all around the living spaces.
Terraces frame the living spaces on sides
"The walls have a lightness, like ribbons i...