Site Size: 64,600 square feet

Project Size: 4,305 square feet

Program: The clients wanted to keep a low-profile for their new residence, with an emphasis on sustainable, natural materials that blended in with the rural landscape. Flanked by olive trees, the long and narrow site overlooks the Gulf of Euboea on Greece’s northern coastline.

Solution: The chiseled, sharply-angled poured-in-place concrete structure, nearly 200 feet long, appears to be primarily a roof covered in plantings, such as helichrysum, drosanthemum, lavender, gauras, and thyme. The two-story house has a diamond-shaped floor plan, and the architects placed communal areas at the center, with bedrooms at either end. The jagged interior walls of exposed concrete maintain a continuity of materials throughout. A variety of passive cooling strategies, including the cantilever of the roof, sun-shielding blinds, and metallic shutters, mitigate heat in warm weather.