First Walkthrough of Aimasia Residence in Mykonos

We just arrived at the Aymashia residence where we're meeting the architect Praxiteles Kondelis. Hi Praxi, how's it going? Nice to see you in person. Nice to see you. Welcome. Thank you. Welcome. What an amazing location. Yeah. We're in Mykonos, Greece and this is our new project. Aymashia. Aymashia. That's how you pronounce it. Yeah, it's an ancient Greek word actually. It means dry stone wall. Okay. Yeah. Like in Spanish they would say piedra seca. Okay. So it is this kind of old technique, the one you see here. So yeah. So the inspiration was actually the hill over there that you see with the granites and the rocks and the old stone walls that you can see there. So they're very old. They're like hundreds of years old and they are protected by UNESCO. What you see here, you see the what we call the spine of the project, which is 62 meters of dry stone wall. That is impressive. Yeah. It starts from the beginning and ends at the end of the project. And the rest of the volume is also following the same curvature. Exactly. Exactly. Because those are the contour lines of the topography. So that's why those curves were actually projected. Yeah. This is an extension basically of the landscape. And then you have still, you know, the soul of Greek architecture, the wide facades. The wide facades, yeah. Minimal entrance that follows also the form of the lungs. And welcome to our residence. Thank you. Voila. Pivot door. Pivot door. God, I love it. Steel pivot door. Here you are guys. Wow. Yeah. The view is beautiful, isn't it? For sure. Very spatial as well. Yeah. Opening completely up. Opening completely up. And this was actually what we intended to do because we wanted to open the whole thing to the GNC. Yes. So that's why we have all this crystal facade here creating actually practically a canopy. For sure. Rather than a building, it's a canopy. Yeah. That has no obstruction at all. And you can see the blue sky, the GNC just here at the southern view. And at the eastern view, we wanted to showcase what I was telling you before, this beautiful hill and the beautiful rocks, the granite rocks that you've used in the project, not only creating the retaining walls or the exterior walls of the downer level, but we've used them also as elements inside the building. We'll show you afterwards. Makes sense. You can see the boulder there. Exactly. So this boulder was found inside the not exactly there, but somewhere here. And we said to ourselves that we're going to keep it and we're going to place it there. You're just going to place it there? Yeah. It was not so easy. What is the weight? Half a ton. Half a ton. Wow. That's something. That's something. Yeah. So you did it with crane? We did it with crane. We did a mechanical system in order to fix it over there. Yeah. It just fits so well with the green roofs as well, you know, native planting. It's native planting, Mediterranean planting. Of course it's, we did the landscape design once the project was finished and those were planted correctly and stuff, but it's Mediterranean. Yeah. Everything's Mediterranean theme and different other, you know. And you're bringing the whole feel, you know, into the living space, right? This is the main living room that we're seeing here with, you know, very cozy sofas that you can enjoy the view. For sure. Artistic too, right? Very artistic. Yeah. It's true. Very artistic. Tom Dixon was the one in charge. Tom Dixon. Yeah. Nice. In charge for the interior design and the FFME. And I think he did a brilliant job. And of course you can see, you know, some of his lighting features there and different elements that we're going to show you, you know, while we'll be seeing the house. And actually this sculpture is made by him. So he's the artist as well of the house. What is it? Well, believe me, I've been seeing this for months. I haven't asked him in person, but... To me it looks like someone who's riding a Segway or something. Yeah. It could be. It could be. Or a female figure. I really don't know. It's an abstract piece. That's the part of the art, right? You can sort of perceive how you... Whatever you wish. Exactly. Whatever you wish. Whatever you feel like, according to your, you know, perceptions, views, you know, experiences, you can perceive something. That's cool. Yeah. This is the dining room. Wow. Yeah. Is this cork? It's cork. It's Portuguese cork. This is also a piece of furniture designed by Tom in a few pieces. Actually, I think that this is the last one. So there are not any more of this kind of tables to be used in different projects. So how many wine bottles did you have to get through to make this one? I don't know if this is the way it was, but yeah, a lot of them. Or is it like one piece that you have to cut out? I think it's one piece that you have to cut out. Probably. Yeah. Or it's like laminate wood that you... I really do know. Yeah. This was also Tom Dixon, right? Tom Dixon and the shelves as well. Okay. And the shelf is the same. Look at this. Beautiful, isn't it? Oh, yeah. The texture and everything. And the curvature is also like following the same, you know, as the curvature of the building. Yeah. So there's the connectivity. Exactly. This is the connectivity and everything is coherent. So we started with the landscape. We designed the landscape and all the elements, fixtures and pieces of art that are inside this structure are following the same idea. So even this piece of art over there is also made by Tom Dixon. It could also be a terrain. For sure. It looks like the terrain. Yeah. It's like a 3D map or something, no? Is it a pool? Yeah, it could be. It's a very abstract, you know, piece of land, you know, a map, a 3D map. And it's interesting, this is the only thing here, you know, on this wall, it's just one piece grabbing the full attention. Yeah. And there is this beautiful carpet, I would say, made out of gold wool. Okay. Gold wool? Yeah, wool from goats. Nice. I hope you will see during today or the next day that you're going to be here, we have plenty of goats. Okay. So they might show up. It could be, they do show up. I want to see that. I hope you will see that. We are very proud that the goats are visiting us because this somehow shows that, you know, the habitat that we have created, which is an artificial one, of course, it's welcomed, not only by human beings, but by animals as well. So like the goats that are native here feel very comfortable with the new space. That's a true proof of knowing that, okay, nature and architecture, you know, works together. Yeah. I think so too. I mean, goats, people might lie, but the goats wouldn't. Exactly. The goats won't lie. So if they don't like our house, if they go somewhere else, they will go somewhere else instead of coming here. So when they visit us very regularly, so you might see them. I hope so. I love when they come. So yeah, here we are. That's the kitchen. That's the kitchen. That's the kitchen island. Wow. Also designed by Tom Dixon. Italian marble. Italian marble. Very, very, very correct. Nice. So it was, it was designed by Tom Dixon's design research studio and it was produced in Italy. The same way are also the lighting fixtures here that are designed by Tom himself. They're prototypes. They're made out of recycled aluminum. Yeah. Beautiful pieces that they, they are, they turn, they turn, they turn, they have. Oh, there's something with this sound as well. Like when they turn, when it's like the sound bounce back. Absolutely. So they interact with human beings and interact with the wind. So it's beautiful. That's cool. Yeah. Oh, and then some dark wood. Dark woods. Give a bit of warmth to the space. Correct. Correct. With the structure itself. Yes. Made out of concrete. Yeah. Which means that the walls, beams, the slabs and the floors are made out of concrete. In the kitchen area or in the bathrooms, we have used a lot of marble. This is Italian marble, but in the rest of the, of the spaces, the water spaces, we use Greek marbles and Greek stones. We also use some African granite as well. Okay. African granite. African granite in a spot in a couple of cases, but mainly we've used Greek marble, but you're going to see, we showcase six or seven different Greek marbles. Yes. In this project. Do I forget something? Well, okay. Glass and aluminum. Oh yeah. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. That's true. So should we go upstairs and visit? Yes, sure. Yeah. Oh wow. Okay. Oh, here we are. Okay. We've seen that. Yeah. Correct. A boulder. A boulder. Yeah. It's a boulder of the land. Suspended. It's also, the weight of it is more than half a ton, maybe 600 kilos or so. So how does that work? It's suspended. There is a plate. Okay. There is a steel plate on top. Okay. And it's fixed mechanically. The boulder is fixed mechanically. And the plate is suspended by those two sheer walls. Yeah. If you can have a view from the top, you can see, you can see how it works. And so it has this feeling of suspension, you know? It looks a little bit, you know, daring to walk down. Yes. Suddenly it just drops. When we first placed it here, it was like six months ago. The workers were afraid to walk under it. I could imagine. Yeah. And I had to walk first. You were the test bunny. Yeah. I'm they were afraid that it might fall, but of course we did all the structural progression. Yeah, exactly. Because we wouldn't, you know, risk anybody's life. Yeah. It's a piece of Meconian granite found on this land. On this land. Wow. Yeah. And we placed it there just, just to remind you that we respect the lands and we're inspired by the land. That's nice. We entered this first suite. There's a bedroom that has an independent door. From outside. From outside as well. Oh yeah. So please be my guest. Thank you. Thank you very much. This is a suite. This is a suite. Yes. This is a suite. An independent suite. Yes. Here you are. With the view. With the view. With the view. And even your own private pool. Your own private pool. Yes. And your own private garden. And here you really feel the relationship to the landscape. Like you're really part of it. I mean, okay. You've been here, right? You can go straight to the roof. Yeah. Actually this is the roof. This is the roof of the building itself. Of the main building itself. Which is a garden of course. And you can see the garden being here. You can like have a view of the garden. This is an artificial garden. Yes. And you can also have a look at the nature itself. Wow. So yeah. You're like you feel being inside nature. This is the whole point about it. These views are generous. Yeah. These views are generous. And this landscape is generous and beautiful. Yeah. It's a beautiful day as well. We were very lucky. Not windy at all. And of course you can see. A little bit hot. Yeah. It's true. It's true. It's a little bit hot. Yeah. It's not windy. That is why it's hot. Exactly. Yeah. Wow. Even, you know, this looks spectacular. Yeah. Oh, I don't want to drop into the pool here. Well, it wouldn't harm you. It would cool me down. It would cool you down. Wow. It's almost, yeah, double height almost. Yes. And the roof is inclined because it somehow ends at the land. So. Ah, okay. Yeah. So it's something I'm telling you. It becomes one with the landscape. That's nice. So the bathrooms are there. I don't know if you want to check them. Yeah. You can have a quick look. Yeah. How it looks. Yeah. Okay. So it's like in a box basically that you have separated toilet and. For example, as I was telling you, this is Dionysus marble. Which one? This one is Dionysus marble. Dionysus is a place very close to Athens. Okay. And this marble was used to build Acropolis. Oh, really? Yes. Wow. That's beautiful. Nice. Everything is curved. Everything is curved. The walls are curved. The roofs are curved. Yeah. Even this wall. Even this wall. So should we go downstairs now? Yeah. So downstairs we have, apart from the staff room, we have three suites. Yeah. We have a cellar. Okay. It's just in front of us over here. A wine cellar. I love the lights. The lights, the way they're placed. Yes. And we also have. A wine cellar? Yeah. The wine cellar is here. This is my guest. Try our wines. Oh wow. Wow. Okay. Look at the marble slab. This is Tinos marble. From the island of Tinos. Tinos marble. It's a green Tinos marble. Wow. It's beautiful, isn't it? I love how it's basically cut or broken. Yeah. Hand cut. Wow. So what is this thing for? Well, yeah. When you test your wine. Actually, this table is also made out of. It's the same one. It's the same marble. Oh, okay. See, you can tell. Yeah. So once you taste your wine, you don't want to drink the whole thing. You spit it. Yes, of course. So this is where you spit your wine. Yes. You sit here, you test, you spit. If you don't want to drink it. Makes sense. So I think I would want to drink it. Yeah, me too. But you know, some people do. For sure. No, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah. And it's beautiful. Oh, and another. Lighting. It's called melt because it melts. Yeah. It's beautiful. Salvador Dali kind of inspired. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. And also this one is made by himself. A mesh. Yeah. A mesh. And actually it's a bespoke lighting for this space. Okay. He also designs those. How would I call them? Like shelves. Yeah. They're like exhausts of the bikes or something like this. It's wild though. That's interesting. Yeah. It also creates this more dynamic feeling, right? Where you have the bottles that are sort of, you know, twisting in different angles. Correct. Kind of like the house itself. Yeah. It's also moving in different, different directions. It's true. Oh, that's really nice. So, uh, should we enter the first street? Yeah. Yeah. Quick market as well. From the same as, as the sub-stairs. It's the same, but different. There, there, there's some difference in the texture. Yeah. The colors are different. So you have two, two qualities of the same. Yes. Uh, be honest with smart. This one is a one like massive piece. It's a massive piece. Yeah. It's in one piece. Wow. Brass details. Brass details. And then we got, you see, this is, uh, Oh yes. The shower. Try to come over here. We can see this is the shower. It's like a walkway. Yeah. It's cool. No, that is cool. And then you have direct access to nice. You have the olive tree, which is a symbol of, uh, of the Mediterranean culture. And of course, Greek culture, it's, it was chosen place there by us. So it's, so you have your own olive oil from there. Maybe not enough. Yeah, it's true. And yeah, but you become a part of nature and this stone wall, dry stone wall that the project was named after is inside. So this is retaining wall as well. Yeah. Well, yeah. So it's a part of the, of the structure as well. It's a retaining wall and exterior wall of, of, uh, of the streets. Yeah. Because there's a duality here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's both outside and inside just the same thing. Yeah. And then because of that, it's just looking massive. Yeah, exactly. Very solid we can enter. Oh, okay. You can see the other sweets here. You could see the other sweets here. Yeah. That is nice. Yeah. Okay. So they are actually different. They're different. They're not the same. For example, this texture here, uh, is, uh, is cement and it's colored by the soil of the plot itself. So this, uh, this feels, uh, interesting. Yeah. If you touch it, it's also, it feels interesting. It's like as if it is frozen lands, frozen soil in a way. So it's like concrete, uh, mixed with the soil and with, uh, with the aggregates of the lands. And this is the color of the soil itself. Nice. Wow. So it cannot be done in another place. It's just in Mykonos. Yeah. So it even extends down to the whole bed frame. Yeah. The whole bed frame was done in the same way. And of course the sinks here as well, this wall. Wow. Is a part of, uh, is this the African? Yes. Correct. Okay. The African granite, the African granite, the black African granite, which is very interesting as well. That's nice. And of course you see this design by what is it called? Pylon, pylons, pylon chair, because the pylons of the electric, the electric pilot. Got it. Yes. That you see in highways. Yes. So he was inspired by that. It's one of his masterpieces. It's called the pylon chair. And is it comfortable? Well, it is. It's more, yeah, it's not bad. It doesn't look comfortable, but this is a, this is pretty good. Yeah. Iconic chair. And it actually follows, you know, the posture of the body. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. So let's go to the third one this way. Yes. We'll go to the wellness if you wish to. So here we are the third group. Nice. Is that wood? It's like charred wood or charred wood. It's a burnt charred wood. And this is a Japanese technique. Of course it was done in London though. Uh, but it's, yes, it's a burnt, uh, wood and curved and it has this sculpture form. Yes. So it's a, it's a table and a desk on the same time. You can sit here and enjoy the view and work. Um, yeah. Very nice. Also this piece of, uh, of art, uh, hung on the wall is done by Tom himself and it's very good as well. So everything fits together once again. And then it also makes sense. You have the same granite here for your shower. The dark. Yeah. Yeah. Even the, the back wall of the shower, because you have this black granite and here you actually have also the retaining wall is extending into the bathroom. So you can touch the wall. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's a, that's impressive. Yeah. I think so too. I love this bathroom. You can have a shower and touch, you know, the lights. Oh, here, the, the floor is also different than the upstairs. Of course the floor here is terrazzo. So it's concrete and the aggregate is, uh, is Meconian granite, Meconian pebbles. Yeah. So Meconian stones crushed. Yes. And, uh, uh, then afterwards they were, they were polished and, and, uh, you get this effect. It's a Meconian terrazzo. Beautiful. So all the small pieces of stone and pebbles are from the Meconians actually. Local, local, local. And you can see that it can also, uh, it's the floor is or the walls fall on the floor. So you see that they match. Yes. It's because, because, because they come from the same, uh, land. Exactly. The, the colors, everything like the tonalities, the colors, uh, are very similar. It was no effort at all. We just use, you know, the granite of the land. We didn't import things. Of course we have imported stuff, of course, imported lots of stuff, but we try to use as much as possible. Yeah. Coming from the small islands and then from the small country. So you use things from, from, of course, from all over the world. Yes. But heritage is also important to preserve, right? Absolutely. So we wanted to preserve as much heritage as possible. Yes. I see the boulder very clear here. I want to see it. We'll go downstairs. Actually there is a gym and there is a wellness if you want to see it, or we can meet that and we can go and see this last room. I want to see this. Fine. I would do the same. This is one of my favorite rooms. Wow. Be my guest. The pathway, the pathway, you feel like you're walking into the landscape. Yeah. And once you're here, you have to, you know, go under, you know, the, the grounds, the grounds. Like a bunker. Exactly. It's like a bunker, but it's also a way like you, you, to show that you're modest and you're, and you, and you respect the land. Yes. Which is on top right now. Wow. So we're under, under the ground. Here you are. Standing straight under the stone. I feel a little bit. Welcome. That's something on its own. Yeah. It's completely, uh, isolated from the rest. Yeah. Separate, separate entrance, separate entrance, separate, uh, it's a separate building. It has a different view. You're very close to the sea. You're closer to the scene than the rest that you're closer to, to the heel. And here you have the rich as well. Exactly. And you see the inspiration over there. The walls are so clearly seen right now, but I was talking about this dry stone wall and the boulders are there and the lines and the lines are there. The curves are there. The project is there. It's really, we got this image and we somehow replicated over there. This is the inspiration, the curves, the stone, uh, the textures, the boulders, there, those things were, uh, actually what inspired us in order to do the building. I see it. I think, I think, I think it's obvious, isn't it? For sure. For sure. Wow. Yeah. I still remember the first day I came here four years ago. Uh, the owner was like a bit hesitant. He didn't want to, the owner of the proprietor of the plot, he didn't want to really, he was not into, into the project a lot because he said like, we have a very strange, uh, uh, inclination. So, so we don't really, we face the sea, but, uh, Duran is, is, uh, is inclined not towards the sea, but towards the hill. And I told him, look, Alex, I'm going to do it. We're going to do it. And, um, um, we're going to, you know, respect the place, uh, give the views that you want to the sea and to also, uh, do a nice building. And this is what we did. The result is, I think the result is good. For sure. For sure. But I mean, building into a hillside like this, that's not easy. It's not easy at all. It's not really not easy at all. Especially a project this magnitude. Yeah. It's a big project. It's a project that it's almost 920 square meters. 920. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. It's a big, it's a big project. That's quite a program. And all, all the details, uh, the chair here that you see is another famous holiday as well, or were designed by Tom and decided by Tom. So, uh, we'll start with this, uh, beautiful S chair. It's an iconic chair, uh, designed by Tom Dixon's by Tom Dixon back in the nineties. This is one of the first original pieces, uh, done back then 30 years ago. So we're very lucky to have it here. That's interesting. Yeah. Even, you know, the, the material, the material of it. Yeah. The materiality. What is the, what is the material, you know? Uh, uh, well, yeah, I should have known. I have no idea. I should have known. I should have told you. Anyway, this is still, uh, this is a beautiful, um, uh, lighting designed by Jean Paul. Does it turn? Yes, it does. Wow. The lighting here, here are also designed by Tom. They're also mailed in this, uh, it's a similar as in the wine cellar. Yes, it's true. A beautiful Arne Jacobsen's, uh, lighting, uh, it came all the way from Denmark. I'm from Denmark. Yes, I'm very proud of that. Yes. You should be very, very represented here. And Fritz Hansen is a bronze. And what do we have here? We have, uh, this, the shower, uh, the light is not on. It should be on. And we have the sinks that are made out of, uh, black overnight. And we have this amazing British craftsmanship. They were craftsmen that came from great Britain and this, uh, and is it steel? Yes. They still work. Nice. So it's a steel box actually. Oh, you can walk all the way around. All the way around. And that's different functionalities. Oh, the sound. Yeah. Sound. It's like, it's if you're in a ship. Yes. Yeah. That's always how it is. And you should see also the perforated. It's perforated. It's the same steel, which is perforated. You can even, you can still smell. Yeah. It's beautiful. And the handles are amazing. Yeah. It even has texture. Yeah. Yes. So you can, you can, you can open it easily. And then we have a small kitchenette even here. So you've got everything here. You can live here forever. You can literally live here. But, uh, but yeah. So you're ordering. You're ordering. I mean, no time for cooking. You enjoy, you enjoy the view and the sea. It's a beautiful, small kitchenette. And so we go all around this metal box and we're again. Back to where we started. Back where we started. So it's a box within a box that, that has all these functional uses like, uh, the loo, the, the carpentry, the, the, the, the cabinets. Yes. Shower. Shower. Kitchenette. Kitchenette as well. All in one. All in one. And then another small. Oh, closet as well. Closet space. Yeah. Yeah. Just to put your toothbrushes. That's nice. Razors. Whatever you wish. So yeah. Oh, that boulder. You know, when you get out here, you just, yeah, it's daring. It's true. Exactly. But I guess you get used to it. You get used to it. Nothing will happen. We'll stay there forever. Even with an earthquake, it won't fall. I hope not. Yeah. Otherwise I will end up in jail. Yeah, exactly. That's, uh, let's, let's not do that then. Yeah. Even here, this view. Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah, it's true. It's going to be great. It's going to be so much for, for being here with us. For sure. We're going to have, we're going to have fun. We're going to have a lot of fun. Okay. Thanks. You're welcome. Call to action. If you didn't see the full episode of this house tour, go and watch it. Our channel or something. Yeah, exactly. Yes. Okay. Uh, what did you say? If you didn't see the full episode of this house tour, go and, you know. Yeah. I can say like, you can click up here. Uh, and you will put notification? Yeah. We can put it up there. Oh, okay. In the left corner. Okay. Right corner. Okay. If you like this project, watch the full house tour up here.