PAGONA HOUSE
The house of Pagona transforms the market limitations of cheap construction as well as certain wishes and references of its inhabitant’s characteristics, into architecture.
The residence is situated at Vari, a coastal suburb of Athens, beyond the Attica Basin, near the foothills of Mt. Hymettus. With a local climate of mild winters and hot summers, and a flat topography of an ancient salt-bed surrounded by hills, the building is surrounded by low density, contractor-built, single-family residences.
The design of the project is defined by low-cost, sustainability and low-energy use requirements. It uses the materials and standard construction techniques of local contractors in non-standard ways.
The project uses low-energy consumption and storage systems based on a time- vs. cost-effect ratio. Its environmental design is based on passive exposure and protection systems supported by solar energy collection and storage. The building volume is laid out so as to manage – protect from, expose and filter – direct solar radiation.
As a result, the inhabitants experience vertical and horizontal sequences of different types of spaces, through various opening mechanisms. There are no surrounding exterior or typical garden spaces in the house of Pagona, only a variable progression of oriented, potential exterior, covered or uncovered spaces.
The architecture of the House of Pagona stands against the Modern movement: it translates the desires, needs and possibilities of specific individuals into a complex spatial sequence of experiences and an architecture of the everyday, sensually exciting, responding to the seasons through forms, proportions, scale and movement. It can be different space, every day.
