Peninsula Home, Antiparos, is a contemporary response to heritage

One phrase retains arising when Atelier Bow-Wow’s Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and property developer and entrepreneur Iasson Tsakonas talk about their newest enterprise: timeless. The mission is Peninsula Home, Tsakonas’ personal vacation house on the small Greek island of Antiparos. His firm, Oliaros, is already behind a mission of 55 new villas set inside the tough great thing about the Cycladic island – development remains to be underway, with 29 villas already accomplished, however all are offered aside from two properties that can launch in 2023. The corporate has made a reputation for its design-led strategy, working with architects resembling 98-year-old Greek modernist Nicos Valsamakis, Sou Fujimoto and Bjarke Ingels Group to create homes to be let or offered. Nonetheless, Peninsula is house to Tsakonas and his household (his spouse, Argyro Pouliovali, is the founding father of ARP, an rising Athens studio and Greece’s 2022 entry to the Wallpaper* Architects Listing). 

Peninsula Home: the story

‘I purchased the land in 2006, and chosen the Atelier Bow-Wow design in 2008. I had at all times deliberate Peninsula to be my future household home. Once I married Argyro, we checked out all the choice choices from Oliaros’ portfolio and agreed to maintain Peninsula, ensuring changes so it might work higher for our household.’ Tsakonas has labored with Atelier Bow-Wow’s co-founders Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima earlier than, in order that they have a very clean and synergetic working relationship. 

Peninsula’s design works inside Oliaros’ property growth strategy, prioritising properties which might be low-impact and work as half of a bigger, well-considered masterplan, finally sustaining the island’s id whereas changing it into a brand new architectural vacation spot. Alongside the identical strains, this isn’t solely a completely up to date house, but additionally a bit of structure that is still in significant dialogue with its context, and respectfully nods to the spartan nature of the area’s conventional Greek structure.

‘That is the primary home now we have designed on the island – and the third constructed,’ Tsukamoto says. ‘I’ve been there many instances. I benefit from the Mediterranean life-style and structure, particularly the vernacular structure that comes out from this harsh atmosphere. It’s stunning, nevertheless it’s not light nature. And I respect Iasson’s concept to protect the panorama by creating properties distanced from one another – all are by some means coordinated, there’s consistency.’ Atelier Bow-Wow’s ongoing fascinations and analysis into native development strategies, supplies and methods feed into this mission, because it attracts unfastened parallels between easy and but detail-driven Japanese structure and the Cycladic vernacular. 

The home contains two volumes, introduced collectively by a cautious composition of outside areas with the assistance of celebrated Athens panorama structure agency Doxiadis+. There’s a serpentine community of terraces, al fresco seating areas, open-air circulation routes and an important water component within the form of an extended swimming pool that connects the property’s two stone volumes. ‘Central to Atelier Bow-Wow’s response was the water canal connecting and working via the “damage”, the open-air BBQ pavilion, and “the village”, the household constructing, which I instantly purchased into,’ says Tsakonas. Whereas the pandemic meant that the architects weren’t in a position to go to the location as a lot as they’d like, native architect Stefanos Nassopoulos and the Oliaros technical group head Christos Kaklamanis helped ensure every little thing was completed to excessive requirements. 

The Peninsula Home interiors

Inside, the whitewashed partitions and lightweight concrete flooring are complemented by Tsakonas’ in depth assortment of artwork and design. An avid collector, Tsakonas began buying items whereas working in actual property in Azerbaijan. When he returned to Athens to arrange Oliaros in 2001, his ardour for gathering grew, leading to an intensive combine of up to date artwork, design, ceramics and Azeri rugs totalling over 500 items. Right here, the furnishings and artwork mix collectively seamlessly, uniting new and heritage items in a combination that feels easy and transcends eras. 

The terrace’s marble sample is an effective instance of this. The architects drew on conventional Japanese gardens and calligraphy, and the consequence brings to thoughts the work of Greek architect Dimitris Pikionis, who labored on the landscaping across the Acropolis within the Fifties, and was equally impressed by Japanese backyard traditions. ‘I need Peninsula Home to be an instance of up to date Greek structure with a Japanese hand – not showy, not about statements,’ provides Tsakonas. ‘The assertion is just its timeless class, regardless of scale.’  

A model of this text seems within the December 2022 situation of Wallpaper*, accessible in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple Information +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* at present (opens in new tab)