The project site is a steep former terraced olive grove formed with dry stone walls, overlooking the bay of Ambelaki, Meganisi island. It belongs to a family from the island, who used the grove for producing their olive oil. The abandonment of this activity led to a dense mixture of large olive trees, 7-meter-tall kermes oaks, and a few tall cypresses spread across the slope, which in some areas is nearly impenetrable.
The two siblings of the family envisioned two small underground summer houses, with the desire to intervene as little as possible in the landscape, as they had experienced it as an olive grove during their childhood. The primary design direction was to weave the composition into this system of olive trees, oaks, rocks, and terraced plateaus, preserving the sense of living in the former olive grove, which had now become a “forest.” All significant trees were carefully documented, as were the existing dry stone walls and some rocks.
The existing linear plateau along the narrow side of the plot was preserved, as it connects to the plot’s entrance from the provincial road and leads to the underground dwellings via stone staircases. The two small guesthouses are located on the lower side of this internal path, within the dense forest of oaks and olives, where the sea view is mediated by the tree trunks.
Each guesthouse is composed as a tripartite concrete structure of main spaces with vaulted ceilings/arches, which seem to pierce through the reconstituted dry stone walls, creating space behind them. The unusual shape of the floor plan for the two guesthouses arises from the effort to avoid cutting down the century-old olive trees surrounding them.

Design team: hiboux ARCHITECTURE
Contributors: Charilena Karavota, Thanos Paliatsas, Thodoris Kaloudis(architecture student), Sophia Kalakou(architecture student)
3D visualization: Thanos Paliatsas
Year: 2022
Location: Meganisi
Type: Residential
Area: 90m2
Status: Building permit / issued
Civil engineer: Panayiotis Christopoulos. Melstat.
Mechanical engineer: Apostolos Katagis