Basic questions about venue, background and landscape are the driving force behind the design of this simple summer villa on Salamis Island, Thessaloniki Bay, near Athens. Although the island's history has been largely dominated by its geography—in ancient times, the narrow confines that separated the island from the mainland played an important role in the Battle of Salamis—, the region's long and powerful role in Greek shipbuilding has recently faded, leaving a marked ambiguity about the island's future.

The topographical location of Salamis, between land and sea, cities and nature, is a mirror of the uncertainty of the post-industrial landscape, which belies the typical features of Greek island resorts. Lacking the aesthetic characteristics and supposed externality of a typical seaside destination, Salamis is home to a very introverted community of residents.

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The land itself is small and flat, with no view and no particularly noticeable features. Its main features are an olive tree and a well. The house is organized into a peripheral condition through the mechanism of the “interior” to interpret the terrain of the site and develop its self-sufficient form through the basic resources of the climate and outdoor space. Compared to most year-round residences on the island, which tend to exhibit a temporary “building body” approach to expanding space through the long-term accumulation of building additions, the new summer cottages are considered a form of “subtraction” “derived from a single volume of material containing sculpted voids. In this sense, vacation is meant to restore all the material objects of city life, not to mention the tranquility of enjoying the tranquility of home away from home. The exterior walls give a holistic appearance and hide the presence of a large inner courtyard in the center. A narrow single passageway leads visitors directly from the front yard to the courtyard, while a second dual carriageway leads from the courtyard to the pool garden at the other end of the lot. In the central courtyard, a smaller volume of glass located around an olive tree provides the main living space.

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These lined full-height sliding glass doors blend indoor and outdoor spaces together while controlling circulation from one end of the yard to the other. When all sliding glass doors (including the front and back doors of the house) are opened, it provides maximum mobility, forming a single, uninterrupted chain of outdoor space that extends throughout the site, as if dividing the house into two. All “private” areas in the project (bedrooms, bathrooms and service areas) are hidden within thick exterior walls, forming a series of small cave-like spaces. These pair with secondary courtyards to provide light and porosity for a dense sequence of peripheral spaces. The guest side wing operates independently from the rest of the house and is accessed through its own second-level courtyard, which also contains an old well.
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