TOURIST ACCOMMODATION IN KOKINO CHORIO
This study concerns the creation of nine residences, which will operate as tourist accommodation, in Kokkino Chorio, Chania. The basic principles of this architectural composition have been the integration of the buildings in the landscape, the creation of different types of residences which though share a same identity and the offer of clear sea view to all of the buildings.
The layout of the buildings is designed following two basic axes which are then transformed into stone walls. These walls fragmentally traverse the plots and the buildings and they are vertical to the inclination of the ground. In this way the transversal walls unify the plots and create a feeling of continuation between them. The stone element is repeated in the composition through the form of walls used for the enclosure of the plot, for the support of the ground and even at some parts as walls of the buildings, parallel to the inclination of the ground. So the buildings discreetly emerge from the wild landscape and become one with it. The composition of the building volumes follows a cubical form, so each building is divided in smaller volumes with flat roofs, as it happens in traditional Cretan architecture. Many of the roofs are planted with wild local plants, intensifying the integration of the buildings in the landscape and contributing to their better insulation.
A path paved with slabs that follows a stone wall is the way of entrance into the residences. The entrance leads to the communal spaces which always continue to an outdoor space orientated to the north or the west, where one can have view to the sea. In this point of the outdoor space the swimming pools are placed, sometimes at one level and others using two levels and overflow. The communal areas are situated on the ground floor. They have large openings and visual retreats towards the sea, the west and the north. The volumes of private spaces are separated from those of communal areas, most of the times placed on a different level or on the first floor. This way the bedrooms can keep their privacy and use the ground floor’s flat roofs as their verandas. The basic materials used are concrete and brick walls covered with traditional plaster in natural colors, stone, wood and glass for the openings.
