In Agios Mattheos, in the hills of Chania, the designer Cari Giannoulias has designed the house where she spends her summers with her husband and three children. Set on a gently sloping plot, with panoramic views across the Aegean Sea and the White Mountains (Lefká Óri), this house was built from local stone, crafted by hand with nails and wire – as has been done for centuries on the island.
Organised around a central courtyard, with a ‘Π’-shaped layout – typical of Greek rural dwellings – the house is spread over three floors and approximately 370 m2, with five bedrooms, four full bathrooms and a service bathroom, a main living room, a cinema room, a private library and a large outdoor living area that extends the interior into the garden and swimming pool.
The concept of indoor/outdoor living is fundamental: large windows with minimalist frames open the house up to the light, while the swimming pool extends the terrace towards the landscape, with shades that mimic the sea.
The interior favours natural materials: walls with a hand-finished patiti finish (a traditional Greek coating with a handcrafted appearance) and solid wood, local marble, raw linen, ceramics, rattan and raw-finished metals. The neutral, earthy colour palette creates a calm, slow-living atmosphere where the landscape plays the leading role. Mirrors are almost non-existent, being replaced by windows that reflect the outside.