“Hidden Ladies Suites” project by InDetail Architecture was awarded with Merit at GRAIL Awards. The location of the project is characteristic of the southern coast of the Regional District of Chania in Crete, the White Mountains towering the place to the north, and the Libyan Sea opening wide as if infinite to the south of it. The mountains disintegrate moving towards the sea as rocky gorges and gullies. One of these dry gullies runs through the project’s plot, meeting a larger one later on that ends in a hidden beach.
Such as the topography of the site is, it called out for a play with the precipice, even the concept of the gully. Meanwhile, the southern Crete climate, hot and dry, forms a barren natural landscape, dominated by thyme, oregano, and dry bushes, on top of which the region’s cultivating tradition creates grids of olive trees. Some of these spread into the building plot.
The site itself had already established a vocabulary of a dry terrain discontinued by broken lines. In came the building program and its’ necessities. The project consists of four 45 m2 suites with their courtyards, which required privacy from each other, along with an unobstructed view of the place’s feats. The synthesis is arranged as four new “valleys” cut gradually into the ground along the terrain’s contours, each one ending at the yard a suite. The olive trees’ grid is left untouched as much as possible to ensure the general continuity of the landscape.
The northern scarps of these “valleys” form the main facades of the buildings, while the southern ones define the boundaries of each studio’s outside living spaces, preventing the soil in front from spilling into them. Each Lady is Hidden from the next, embedded into the ground, being able to look only beside and above the previous one, as well as across the gully, enjoying the view of both the sea and the rocky formations.
White colour is used to outline the “valleys’” ridges, on the buildings’ facades and landscaping walls. The walkway that connects the suites’ domain entrance with the adjacent hotel is paved with stone, a material that ascends vertically to hold the soils beyond the buildings’ area. Stone blends with the surrounding rocky terrain -being cut from it actually- as well as with the various enclosures and fences of old. Polished concrete of mostly white cement is used for the rest of the hard landscaping, in order to give a sense of a continuous ground.
The buildings make ample use of glass, making the interior spaces look as if it is one with the surroundings. The whole floor of each suite is laid with cement paste that turns vertical on the walls, adding to the continuity of space. The paste ascends to cover any fix-built furniture, as if they are part of the “ground”. The interior design is kept stripped-down yet sophisticated, with plenty of details in wooden surfaces, embedded window casings, ceiling, and lighting.
All-in-all, the project aims to offer to its’ residents a modern minimal space to live, cut into a natural minimal environment.
Facts & Credits
Project title: Hidden Ladies suites
Project type: Hospitality architecture
Architecture: InDetail Architecture
Text: provided by the architects
Completion Year: 2020
Gross Built Area: 180 m2
Project Location: Sfakia, Greece
Photography: George Anastasakis, South space for photography
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