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Ecology, Aesthetics & Common Sense In a perfect world, these 3 terms would describe
aspects of the same phenomena - a work-piece that is the result of
human ingenuity and of a genuine craftsman's work.
The collaboration between post-war governments and bee-hive inspired architects creating suburban slums for the working classes has resulted in countless jobs for prison warders, the judicial profession, physicians, shrinks and social workers. No one will deny the connection between health and air pollution, health and the state of food and drinking water, health and the work place, but there is also a strong connection between physical and mental health and the places people are living in, where they are spending an average of 15 hours a day, every day, year by year. I am not talking about hazardous building materials or polluted ground, I am talking of space, light, climate in the building, the factor of feeling well in your place, of really feeling at home. While studying archaeology in the 1970s I wrote a paper about Greek residential buildings in Hellenistic times. It was my first encounter with the subject of how to build the optimal home. It seemed obvious that those who never were satisfied with the mediocre concerning every aspect of life, who invented theatre and the tragedy, philosophy and art, the sciences, economy and democracy, sports and the art of waging a successful war also created the idea that we should always aim for the best possible that just the best was hardly good enough. It seems obvious that those who were aiming for the 'aristo' - the highest in every aspect - would not live in 'ordinary' accommodation like the average European does. Even simple homes would tell about the inhabitant's faculty. Let’s start with some basics. Important for us, for example, is how to locate a house on a certain property; to study not only the climate of the location (western slopes of Taygetos, a gorge to the north, 800m from and 200m above the sea, for example), but also the micro climate of the plot. Where does the breeze come from, if any, in summer? How do we catch it and let it flow through the rooms? From where do the winds come in the course of the seasons? How do we protect against the violent winter storms? Where will the early or late shadows be? Where and when does the sun rise and set on the horizon during the course of the year? I want the windows of my sleeping rooms catching the early light and the studio windows of the kitchen facing the golden west. I want to protect us against the rays of the hot summer sun at noon and to catch them during a sunny winter's day and so on. To be protected against the heat in summer and the cold in winter - to make a slight movement of air possible if all the world seems to stand still in some night in August when the mercury won't drop below 39C.For example, with the exception of my most recent building for American owners from NYC - in none of my places newly built or renovated - have we ever had to install air conditioning. The owners could of course afford it and often they asked us to make provisions for it. We do have hot summers and there are 2 or 5 really hot days and nights every 2nd year when you might wish you had a.c. .... but people cope. The house has to be properly built and insulated and it has to be placed properly on the plot, taking into account all aspects of climate as I have mentioned above. We may learn from ancient times that a house is some kind of image of man itself, at least of a living being. It has a face and a back and shoulders. There is an area below the belt, call it the basement or cellar, and it has legs, too, and feet - in Greek they call the heavy endings of the foundations 'babutsia', shoes. There is a more modern aspect too - the views! Or is it modern? Didn't people place their buildings, religious or secular, with the most intriguing views possible. We have the ruins of these buildings as proof that they did. The secular buildings mostly vanished, but temples, followed by churches & chapels, remain and from these we can learn about faces and views!
In times of frequent wars and insecurity, secular buildings had to be squeezed behind towered walls and the concept of a home was altered. The face turned towards the narrow street and from this even today we can see newly built houses in our area facing the road instead of the sea or mountains. Villas facing the motorway between Tripolis and Athens! Well we have views along our shore, towards the west and often also towards the south. Some properties do not just have a 90' view, or even fine 180' or 270' views - some have breathtaking 360' views - look at the plots on Frangia! When building, we try to exploit the very best of
the situation. It's the location that shapes the house, not the other
way round. We stretch our buildings into the views. Every room (except
some bathrooms or stairs) features the main view! We do not want
bulky houses with sleeping rooms facing a steep slope, with little
or no sun - no view at all - with the kitchen facing north, living
rooms and terraces facing partly to the west.
So it is with all these considerations mentioned above that we plan and build our houses Materials and Ecology: It is self evident that a house which does not need
air conditioning in summer but central heating in winter (gas
or heating oil) and which is built in accordance with the micro-climate
of the location, already follows certain ecological rules. If you
do not need to cool your place in summer you will not need to heat
it too much in winter. Windows are double glazed and the tile roofs
and roof terraces have state-of-the-art insulation. We build in the
traditional way in stone without compromise or fakes (such as concrete
cornerstones!) and use the following materials for our (0.5m thick)
walls: Our walls are built as they have been for centuries
but we have to add enormous amounts of reinforced concrete for the
foundations and structures - well, we have earthquakes occasionally
and build accordingly – without cutting corners. We use local marble for floors and terraces from
a Messinian marble factory, locally produced terra cotta or, if the
customer wants a better quality, imported terra cotta from Italy
or Spain. When the customer requests marble bathrooms, the marble
is from northern Greece. We try to purchase the heavy building materials
- including marble - from our area. This is to preserve the exteriors
and interiors of the buildings in the local styles and to avoid long-distance
transport increasing the 'eco footprint'. We avoid mass-market products
if possible. In general we use ecologically friendly materials and construction designs whenever it is possible and economically viable. We do not use them as an end to themselves unless the customer demands it. We think serious ecological building constructions will only be sustainable if they also make economic sense..
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