Polygon House Residential Architecture by Ioannis Panagiotou is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 Bronze A' Design Award in Architecture, Building and Structure Design Competition Category.
BronzeArchitecture· 2022
Polygon House Residential Architecture
Client: Ioannis Panagiotou
Bronze A' Design Award Winner in Architecture Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #129080The Design
About Polygon House Residential Architecture
The building is dominated by the broken geometries created by the reconstruction of the architectural form while maintaining at the same time the capacity of the lines and volumes, the desired functionality and the tranquility that the users of this holiday home are looking for. The open field of view both indoors and outdoors adds elements of visual comfort and relaxation to users who can see the horizon around them unobstructed. The relationship of the building with the environment is characterized as provocative in terms of highlighting its volumes.
The Recognition
About the Bronze A' Design Award
Polygon House Residential Architecture is a Bronze A' Design Award winner, a highly prestigious recognition granted to outstanding designs distinguished by creativity, ingenuity, and astuteness. Bronze winners are amply skillful and strikingly creative artifacts that authenticate the vast experience, imagination, and resourcefulness of their designers. Polygon House Residential Architecture is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished object that is notably professional and innovative. This Bronze A' Design Award-winning design incorporates best practices in art, science, design, and technology, and is excellent for its attention to detail. Polygon House Residential Architecture splendidly satisfies needs, touches desires, charms feelings, and appeals to curiosity.
Interviews
Design Interview
What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
The idea was based on the division of the building volumes and its opening to the sea, in a way determined by the natural lines of the ground, without the absolute correlation of the construction corners, creating a complex polygon in plan view. The layout of the building volumes seems random, but it is not. They are placed so that each area of the house has an unobstructed view of the sea from wherever the observer stand.
What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
The main goal was to create a holiday home with a strong extroversion and a relatively low budget on a plot with a steep slope. So the architectural design had to focus on the correct placement of the building on the plot in such a way as to allow its users to relax enjoying the unobstructed view of the open horizon and at the same time to design the open spaces around the house in a way that do not increase the construction budget.
Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
This concept was assigned to our architectural office by a family of Belgians who especially love Greece and the beauties of the place, who had confidence and supported our design concept for their new home, since the design comprehensively met their needs.
Grand Interview
Your innovative approach to integrating broken geometries in Polygon House Residential Architecture while maintaining functionality has earned recognition with a Bronze A' Design Award - could you elaborate on how these dynamic forms emerged from the natural lines of the terrain?
The site's natural topography dictated the positioning of the building within the plot and simultaneously informed a key compositional element of its architectural form. The fractured geometries that articulate the design echo the morphological characteristics of the surrounding landscape, particularly the angular rock formations found on the island of Skiathos. These monolithic masses with sharp protrusions inspired the building’s tectonic articulation, expressed through acute angles and a sculptural approach to massing.
The placement of Polygon House Residential Architecture at 350 meters above sea level presented unique challenges - how did this elevated position influence your design decisions regarding the unobstructed views and the division of building volumes?
Building on a piece of land located both on an island and within a mountainous setting presents distinct construction challenges. When this condition is combined with the need to build on a steeply sloped site, the complexity increases significantly. However, a site with a pronounced incline offers unobstructed panoramic views, and particularly on an island like Skiathos—renowned for its natural beauty—this translates into architectural strategies that aim to organize the building’s volumes in such a way that every part of the residence maintains a visual connection to the sea and the horizon.
The interplay between industrial materials and local traditional architecture in Polygon House Residential Architecture creates a striking balance - what inspired your choice of materials like metal sunshades and glass railings without intermediate supports?
The selection of materials in an architectural project is influenced by various factors, including inspiration drawn from local resources, durability, functionality, and more. In this case, the choice of metal canopies was driven by the need for expansive overhangs on the building’s southern façade, providing essential solar shading during the summer months, as the residence is designed primarily as a seasonal vacation home. Metal allows for the creation of large cantilevers without the need for vertical supports that would obstruct the invaluable views. Painted planed timber cladding was applied to the underside of the metal canopies, creating a balance between natural and industrial elements. Additionally, frameless glass balustrades were used to ensure uninterrupted visual access to the surrounding natural landscape, reinforcing the design’s commitment to openness and seamless integration with the environment.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- The building is dominated by the broken geometries created by the reconstruction of the architectural form while maintaining at the same time the capacity of the lines and volumes, the desired functionality and the tranquility that the users of this holiday home are looking for.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The project is made of concrete beton, brick masonry and plaster. The other materials used refer to the purity of the place (local stone for stonework) and to simple industrial materials such as the concrete of the exterior floors. The simplicity and austerity of the volumes of the building without unnecessary decoration materials are a characteristic for this vacation residential.
- Tags
- Polygon House, The Polygon House, P9 Arch Studio, Skiathos, unobstructed view
- Production Technology
- The residential building is developed on two levels at is oriented on the north-south axis with the main facade southeast.
The dynamic lines of the building volumes delimit the internal functions of the building. The two levels can function as two small different houses. The constructed space around the house is limited and organizes the necessary functions on one level, while it includes a relatively large pool for the area of construction. Part of this area is shaded by the pergola and the volume of the triangular prism of the first floor that protrudes.
The simple industrial materials such used meet with the purity of the place as the metal sunshades and concrete of the exterior floors. All railings are made of glass without intermediate supports, so that there is no obstruction between the eye and the horizon.
The austerity of the lines without unnecessary decoration materials combined with the dynamic volumes of the building in this work meets the simplicity of the local traditional architecture and to create low-cost contemporary architecture. - Design Challenge
- The house has been built on the island of Skiathos in Greece, at Profitis Ilias on a plot with a large inclination slope located 350.00m above sea level. It is in the limited zone allowed by law and within this zone in the smoothest part as possible. The difficulty concerned the placement of the house on a sloping plot at the same time as the desire of the owners to have a unobstructed view and low cost budget construction.
- Research
- The research of the design solution was based on the geomorphology of the area and the natural relief. The natural features of the place and the anthropomorphology defined the design goals. These are the need for the continuous visual contact of the users of the building with the environment, as well as the oncoplastic harmonization of the building with the intense tourist rhythms of the island. The method followed includes the mapping of the terrain, and the users needs through interviews.
- Inspiration
- The idea was based on the division of the building volumes and its opening to the sea, in a way determined by the natural lines of the ground, without the absolute correlation of the construction corners, creating a complex polygon in plan view. The layout of the building volumes seems random, but it is not. They are placed so that each area of the house has an unobstructed view of the sea from wherever the observer stand.
- Project Duration
- The project started in June 2018 and finished in August 2020 in Skiathos Island in Greece.
- Operation Flow
- On the upper level there are the functions of the night zone, which in combination with the office created in the inner balcony. There also exist a semi open space that allows users to go outside if they do not want to go at the uncovered pool area. The view from this level is unobstructed and panoramic. Through the staircase go to the ground floor where there is a single space for the daily functions (day zone) and the second night zone of house. The sea view is unobstructed thanks to the large overlapping window that develops throughout the exterior wall of the living room and bedrooms. Part of the ground floor such as the living room and the kitchen are open at full height of 2 levels of floors. In the ground floor night zone, there are the other two bedrooms with their own bathrooms and a WC for tenants and guests. The outdoor areas have a swimming pool and areas where one can sit. The uncovered space is shaded with a pergola and the triangular building volume of the first floor that protrudes.
- Team Members
- Ioannis Panagiotou
- Image Credits
- Image #1 Ioannis Panagiotou
Image #2 Ioannis Panagiotou
Image #3 Ioannis Panagiotou
Image #4 Ioannis Panagiotou
Image #5 Ioannis Panagiotou
Sponsored
Explore Beyond Designers.org
Discover products, services and opportunities from our advertising partners.
More to Explore
Related Designs
Explore more award-winning designs from the same category, selected by merit.
