This sculptural and minimalist luxurious holiday villa evokes Mykonos' famous Cycladic vernacular style while adding contemporary touch into the structure, designed by Kolonaki-based architecture and interior design practice Maria Kardami Design Studio.

The villa, located on the shore of Ornos Bay, Mykonos, Greece was transformed from an existing house into a new holiday home including guest quarters and a separate spa, set into a series of stone-walled terraces.

Presenting itself like "a modern stone-age" villa, its smooth and creamy white-washed walls dominate the landscape where is situated and acts as a sculptural element.

Called Villa Sebastian, the house is placed according to the site's orientation and topography, rising on a series of terraces that descend to the waterfront. 

The internal program of the house, scattered with different volumes inside, is designed at the main house, located on the property's highest level. 

In addition, a separate building on the other side of the main residence, gently blended in the landscape, houses the new spa, which has its own terrace, small pool, and gently curved seating area. 

Maria Kardami Design Studio renovated and modified the original building's interior and designed the additional structures, fusing contemporary minimalist architectural elements with the clean white surfaces and cubist forms of traditional Cycladic building styles to create a fresh, new complex of structures harmoniously integrated into the stone and natural vegetation of the local landscape.

The main residence features flat roofs, white sculptural shapes and wooden doors, inspired by Mykonos' famous Cycladic vernacular style.

Another design component is an attached terrace, featuring a traditional slatted wood pergola supported by massive wooden beams, overlooks a large swimming pool which has been built over the new guest quarters, set into the hillside one level down.

"Wide, shallow steps flanked by low stone walls lead from the main house down to the lower guest level with its terrace and seating area, and then descend further to the broad terrace on the waterfront," said Maria Kardami Design Studio. 

"This provides an ideal space for relaxing and entertaining, with generously proportioned dining and seating areas sheltered under wooden pergolas on either side of a free-form swimming pool sunk between palm trees." 

"Further steps go down to the jetty where the client's boat is moored," the studio added.

For the architectural language of the house, the studio wanted to translate its outer language into the interiors, which combine the straight lines and gentle curves of local design with a contemporary, minimalist aesthetic. 

The house's sculptural appearance is shaped by smooth and rounded corners that are made of a traditional mixture of lime, stone, marble dust and pigments. The materials were applied in multiple layers then waxed and polished.

As the studio highlights, "the material has a depth of colour and luminescent quality which creates a sense of cool, elegant spaciousness." 

"Blonde wood ceiling beams in the living and the spa areas, and areas of native stone which have been left exposed, provide a textural and colour contrast."

Villa Sebastian is conceived as an example of what can be achieved when an enlightened architect and sympathetic client work together. 

In this project, the architects aimed to bridging the past and the present — incorporating the local architectural vernacular and the contemporary aesthetic. The project also respects Mykonos 'spirit of place', its landscape and climate.

Floor plan

Maria Kardami Design Studio was founded by Maria Kardami in 2015 in Kolonaki. The practice’s project portfolio ranges from interior design and architecture to landscape, custom furniture, and lighting design.

Project facts

Architecture: Maria Kardami Design Studio 

Interior Design: Maria Kardami Design Studio 

Styling: Maria Kardami Design Studio 

Landscape: Maria Kardami Design Studio 

Construction company: Malo Development 

Engineering: Malo Development

Gardening: Eco Scapes

Lighting: Thomas Gravanis

Wooden Structures: Kakarountas 

Electrical Equipment: Moda bagno 

Wooden Pergolas: Kalia Eleutheriou 

Door Frames: Haufen

Wall Styles: Electa/Tsokas

Sanitary Ware: Bagno Y Bagno

All images courtesy of Maria Kardami Design Studio 

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