Excerpt: Nafplioblu by Katerina Valsamaki Architects is a vacation house perched atop a lush valley, designed to immerse its spaces in panoramic views of Argolic Bay and the surrounding islands. Its layout blurs boundaries between indoors and outdoors, fostering Mediterranean living, while the residence’s split levels, terraces, and infinity pool seamlessly integrate with the sloping olive grove, creating a tranquil dialogue between light, shadow, and nature.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] The vacation house is located on the top of a lush valley offering a tremendous panoramic view to the Argolic Bay and the islands of Plateia, Psili and Spetses.
The design concept was focused on settling the residence in the tranquil Peloponnesian landscape of the sloping olive grove, while its layout would bless all its spaces with the impressive, magnificent views of the sea and the surrounding nature. Another fundamental design priority was to introduce an outdoor living lifestyle. This is partly achieved by eliminating the boundaries between internal and external spaces through visual and physical tricks that strengthen the flow between them, thus providing a unique experience of mediterranean living. Mediterranean architecture is after all an everlasting dialogue between light and shadow, inside and out.
Due to the irregular shape of the plot, the 190 m2 area house splits into two levels. The ground floor opens up to the sea at the south while it is partly built-in the rocky earth at the north, where the entrance is formed.
An oblique stone wall accentuates the entrance while at the same time hides and protects the private spaces of the residence such as the en-suite master bedroom. Floor to ceiling sliding windows occupying the entire length of the open plan living area – lounge, kitchen, dining room – reveal the magnificent view to the sea.
The living spaces are extended outdoors, where an infinity swimming pool and a verandah with built-in benches runs parallel to almost the full length of the ground floor. A shaded patio, on the west, complements and maximizes the dining area.
The upper floor consists of a compact single storey volume, settled perpendicular to the ground floor. The volume withdraws to the north, creating a large terrace which offers a panoramic view to both the sea and the surrounding landscape. Two extra en-suite bedrooms are organized in this level while the smaller window openings are carefully placed to frame selected views.
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