Corfu Villa
Design - execution, new construction
Client
Private
Location
Corfu Island, Greece
Year
In progress
Cost
5M
Images created in collaboration with
Mirage Visualisation
Water as a common thread
In the Greek islands , where fresh water is scarce and precious during the summer months, its presence guided the design of the villa, both as a resource , as an element of comfort and as an architectural material.
Upon arrival, the eye is drawn across the entire house. The full opening of the large bay windows erases the boundaries of the living room and reveals, beyond it, the Ionian Sea. Architecture, water, and landscape thus come together in a single perspective.
At the villa's entrance, a first reflecting pool mirrors the airy structure of the roof frame. Water then accompanies the entrance, flows through the house, and naturally defines the living and sleeping areas. It extends to the swimming pool, into which it cascades, before the pool itself overflows towards the horizon and the sea. Entering the house is thus akin to walking on water , at the heart of a composition that creates a seamless connection between the building and the landscape.
Beyond its contemplative dimension , water plays a full part in the bioclimatic functioning of the project. The pools contribute to the natural cooling of the spaces in summer, while the collection and treatment of rainwater integrates this presence into a careful management of the resource .
As a functional element as well as a sensitive one, water thus becomes the backbone of the project: it shapes the circulation, separates and connects the uses, refreshes the spaces and gradually leads the gaze from the entrance of the villa to the Ionian Sea.
The garden is conceived as a narrative shaped by water. Rainwater becomes a living element of the landscape design. A pebble stream emerges from a spring carved into the heart of a massive rock, then flows alongside the terrace, the swimming pool and a sequence of reflecting pools. The water then spills down a stone staircase, continuing towards the vegetable garden, which it irrigates naturally. Every drop follows a visible, almost ritual path, connecting the house to the land that sustains it.
Architecture, landscape and water thus form an inseparable whole: a house that does not impose itself upon its surroundings, but settles gently and sustainably into the rhythms of the living landscape.
