The primary aim of the lighting design was to “tune in” to the dual character of the project. Outdoors, the lighting brings out the natural landscape itself, from which the quiet architectural form of the residence emerges. Indoors, it pulses at different intensities, entering into a dialogue with the artworks on display.
More specifically, outdoors the light is diffused in some places and restrained in others, so as to reveal the quality of the Greek landscape gradually and with respect. It works more like a canvas on which nature is imprinted than like a floodlight that invades aggressively and ends up dominating through sheer intensity.
With the planting itself as the main ally, the light sources are filtered to avoid any glare, while tracing routes through a landscape where the lighting scenes change with the time of day and with the mood of the user. Flexible programmes put the owner in charge of creating an atmosphere to suit any given occasion.
Water, stone and wood, the materials that define the architecture of the house, interact in a play of light.
Light, sometimes natural and sometimes artificial, is the element that turns the surface of the water into a mirror, sets the texture of stone against that of wood, and casts fleeting shadows of open and closed spaces over architectural and non-architectural forms, making the landscape fluid and ever-changing with the hours of the day, the seasons and the weather.
Inside the residence, the lighting is not merely functional, reinforcing the building programme; it also orchestrates the user’s choices at the level of decoration.
The intensity and direction of each source work together so that the organisation of the house unfolds and develops along routes between the artworks. At the same time, they handle the individual decorative elements, giving them the chance to take on sculptural volume within the space.
Finally, energy saving was a key concern of the lighting design. To this end, advanced LED technology was used almost exclusively. As a result, although the estate extends over 47 stremmata, the total power consumption of the lighting does not exceed 2.2KW.
Lighting design: IFI – Frederikos Anagnostakis & Co. OE
Text: Christina Moudara – MA Architectural Studies
Photographs: Yannis Kontos
