oblq reconfigures home in greece as vacation flats
Platforms & Roofs is a renovation project in Argostoli, Greece, by local architects oblq. It concerns the modification and reuse of an existing residential building into two independent vacation flats. New fixed height pitched roofs unify formal inconsistencies into distinct bars with openings redesigned according to the new interior layout. Formerly consisting of small studios, the architects reconfigured the volume and exterior spaces into a ‘difficult whole’ while simultaneously abiding by the same imprint, previous structural elements and desired program.
In the main bar, the roof forms a system composed partially out of timber truss and Roman clay tiles, covering most of the building, and partially out of a metal canopy and fabric, extending from its edges to provide shade. In the middle, oblq subtracted the former volume to demarcate the independence of the two flats.
metal canopy and fabric extend from the house edges to provide shade | all images courtesy of oblq
platforms & roofs unify existing residential volumes
Surrounding the building, the studio creates an artificial landscape of surfaces and steps that level the inclination of the site: an architecture that defines space without enclosing it. The platform is a mediator, a threshold that allows for smoother transitions from artificial/hard/clean/dry/domesticated interior spaces to natural/soft/messy/wet and mostly uncontrolled exterior spaces thanks to its abstract form. Thus, it has a paradoxical role, it extends the interiority of the flats towards its natural surroundings but at the same time it is also what restricts nature taking over, without the need of additional limits like fences or balustrades. In other words, the platform singles out and simultaneously enhances the surrounding context.
the roof forms a system composed partially out of timber truss and Roman clay tiles
the architects reconfigured the volume and exterior spaces into a ‘difficult whole’