On Antiparos, a decade-old concrete frame is reworked into a precise house that balances introversion and outlook. ARP reorganizes the inherited structure through selective demolition and compact insertions, composing L-shaped and rectangular volumes around a central pool. The result engages a dense village context, the nearby port, and a protected western landscape while relying on passive strategies, a skylit stair-cooling tower, and native planting to reduce environmental load.
Tetris House Technical Information
- Architects: ARP – Architecture Research Practice
- Location: Antiparos, Cyclades, Greece
- Completion Years: 2024
- Photographs: © Giulio Ghirardi Studio
We treated the inherited frame as a resource, subtracting where necessary and inserting simple volumes to rebuild the house around climate, proportion, and a shared courtyard life.
– Argyro Pouliovali
Existing Frame as Catalyst
The project inherits a bare concrete skeleton erected to extend a planning permit, a common circumstance in the Greek islands. Rather than erase this artifact, the architects accept it as both a primary constraint and an opportunity, addressing material circularity and the legal realities of building amid touristic pressure. Working within predetermined spans and column positions defines an initial grid for structure, rooms, and apertures, turning the legal residue of a prior intention into a design instrument.
Selective demolition removes only those segments that impede a clarified plan. The retained frame shortens construction cycles and limits waste while establishing a rational order for new insertions. Within this armature, basic L-shaped and rectangular volumes rearticulate thresholds, bounding edges, and voids to deliver a legible organization of living, sleeping, and service spaces. The strategy resists the temptation to overwrite the site; it calibrates the existing to a new spatial logic.
Subtraction, Addition, and Site-Specific Massing
The plot sits on flat ground near the port and village fabric, with neighbors on most sides and a protected forestry zone to the west. Massing engages this asymmetry by concentrating openness toward the western landscape and tempering exposure toward built edges. Volumetric additions set up a sequence of solids and voids that register the perimeter conditions, accept proximity to adjacent properties, and create depth through layered setbacks rather than perimeter walls alone.
Simple forms operate as instruments of orientation. Rectilinear bars define courtyard flanks, while a recessed L anchors corners and screens views without sealing them. This disciplined geometry manages privacy in a context lacking a privileged seaside front, and it navigates local regulations by aligning with permissible heights and envelopes. The expression remains quiet, letting proportion, gap, and shade perform the work of articulation in place of surface spectacle.
Courtyard Living and Vertical Sequence
At ground level, the volumes assemble around a central pool, forming an inward court that structures daily life. Rooms open to the shaded edges of this void, prioritizing cross-views across water rather than a corridor of cells. The pool becomes more than an amenity; it is an acoustic and climatic moderator that cools adjacent terraces and signals a collective center for cooking, gathering, and informal circulation.
Above, the program condenses to capitalize on the outlook. The living room and master suite align to a broad aperture that frames the port’s activity while sliding views northward to the island’s less developed terrain. The large opening is scaled to hold the distant horizon as a stable datum, with deeper reveals tempering summer light. An exterior stair connects the ground, upper suite, and roof, allowing independent access and a continuous outdoor route to panoramic views. This parallel circulation loosens the plan, supporting different occupancy patterns without interior duplication.
Passive Systems and Landscape Integration
Environmental performance relies first on passive means. Cross ventilation is established by opposed openings at room and courtyard edges, supported by robust thermal insulation that stabilizes diurnal swings. A skylight over the interior stair operates as a thermal chimney, drawing warm air upward and exhausting it to the exterior. The stairwell’s vertical void becomes an environmental device, converting a functional connector into a seasonal cooling tower through stack effect.
Photovoltaic panels provide on-site electricity, decreasing seasonal demand on the island grid. Planting uses native trees and shrubs to filter lateral views toward nearby hotel buildings while requiring minimal irrigation. Ground surfaces and planting strips reconcile the house with the village fabric, neither retreating behind opaque boundaries nor exposing interiors to the density of neighbors. The landscape is employed as a spatial screen and climatic buffer, allowing the house to coexist with its context without resorting to isolation.
About ARP – Architecture Research Practice
ARP – Architecture Research Practice is an architecture studio based in Athens, Greece. Founded in 2014 by Argyro Pouliovali, the practice has worked across various scales and typologies, including private residences, hospitality venues, and cultural projects. The studio emphasizes an intrinsically Greek architectural approach, characterized by an economy of means—light, flow, and proportion. Deeply rooted in the spirit of place (genius loci), each project begins with a close reading of site conditions, translating diverse parameters into spatial clarity and precision.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Structural engineers: Erisma
- MEP consultants: TETRAS S.A.
- Landscape designers: H. Pangalou & Associates
- Client: Private
- Construction company: Doriki Techniki
- Other contributors: Interiors by Vana Krimnioti
- Research references or publications: Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2022; Europe 40 Under 40 2023; 11th Biennale of Greek Young Architects
