KHI House and Art Space in Greece by Lassa Architects

khi house and art space IIHIH

The newly completed KHI House and Art space in Methoni, Greece by Lassa Architects is 200 m² of modern, minimalist, organically shaped white surfaces that act like a canvas for the art inside while private courtyards and gardens offer sanctuary to the inhabitants.

Khi House and Art Space

Khi house greece 1

Commissioned by an art collector couple the Khi House and Art Space and combines the elements of a public art gallery with the privacy of enclosed gardens. Located in a gently sloping olive grove in the southern Peloponnese, the home is formed by a single continuous rippling wall that frames a series of protected courtyards at the extremity of each wing.

khi house overhead

The X-shaped structure divides the site into four distinct areas providing the eastern gardens with visual intimacy and variable shading throughout the day.

khi house x shape greece

KHI combines two extreme conditions which complement one another – the courtyards that provide meditative enclosure, and the west wing and roof that, in contrast, offer unobstructed panoramic views towards the sea.

private courtyards khi house

The wall surface is animated by cast concrete ripples whose amplitude diminishes along the length of the facade. The course of the sun creates a play of shadows throughout the day. The rippling wall acts as a backdrop for tree shadows.

The height of the home is constrained to the peak of the surrounding olive trees, while maintaining panoramic views to the sea from an accessible roof terrace. In its deployment, the wall elevation varies as it is gradually sunken into the terrain, tapering the height of the facade to 1.2m at the end of each wing.

modern house lassa greece

The excavated earth was recuperated to create a tapered transition enabling a softer integration of the project within the agrarian landscape. The west wing contains the public areas as well as a large opening towards the sea and the south terrace.

modern house and pool in greece

Internally, each room is extended by a terrace and courtyard. The room wall projects outward and folds to frame a lemon tree.

khi house lemon tree

The absence of corners and the continuity of the wall provide spatial expansion. The curved walls frame the changing sky colour and light, inducing a strong presence of the sky within the interior.

The project was constructed by local contractors supported by LASSA’s experience with digital design and fabrication of non-standard parts. The architects collaborated with a company specializing in polystyrene products ranging from infrastructure to the fishing industry.

khi house construction

This strategy enabled the off-site production using digital hot-wire cutting of important constructive elements such as the concrete formwork used to cast the rippling wall, bespoke lighting elements contained within the ceiling, landscape formers as well as bespoke furniture items. The lightness of the formwork enabled ease of transport and installation in a couple of days by a reduced team. Following the casting of the concrete, all the formwork was then re-cut into sheets and reused as insulation within the wall cavity and ceiling. This strategy allowed for a minimal use of industrially produced building parts, instead favouring a local supply chain. The project made use of locally sourced materials such as concrete, and terrazzo amongst other products from the local marble industry.

Khi House site plan
Khi House site plan
Khi House floor plan
Khi House floor plan

Type: Commission
Programme: House & Art Space
Total Area: 200m2
Status: completed
Date: 2021
Design Team: LASSA – Theo Sarantoglou Lalis and Dora Sweijd, with Jonathan Cheng (Project Architect) , Nikolas Klimentidis, Jocelyn Arnold, Raz Keltsh
Executive Architect: V. Kosmopoulos
Photos: Naaro

images and information courtesy of Lassa Architects and ArchDaily