Bronze Hospitality, Recreation, Travel and Tourism Design · 2025
Izanagi Project Villas
by Vassilis Siafaricas and Garchitects
- A' Design Award 2025 Bronze Winner in Hospitality, Recreation, Travel and Tourism Design
- Awarded April 15, 2025
- CLIENT: Ecléde
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 36,984
- Verification code 36732D58A7 · Verify this award
About Izanagi Project Villas
The Izanagi Project is a subterranean villa complex located in Lefkada, Greece. This development seamlessly combines luxury, sustainability, and design inspiration. Led by Eclede and G Architects, the project emphasizes earth sheltered energy efficiency, significantly reducing its environmental impact. Characterized by a minimal aesthetic and use of organic materials, the Izanagi project redefines harmonious living architecture, achieving natural cooling enhanced by Greek influences within a visionary Japanese architectural framework.
Izanagi Project Villas represents a sophisticated engagement with contemporary hospitality architecture's ongoing exploration of the dwelling as both prospect and sanctuary, situating minimal rectilinear volumes within the irregular topography of a Mediterranean hillside to create a terraced sequence of transparent pavilions that dissolve conventional boundaries between interior habitation and panoramic landscape experience. The design demonstrates notable compositional intelligence in its calibrated response to site conditions, positioning two principal structures at staggered elevations along the natural contour to maximize visual access to distant views while embedding built mass within the protective embrace of existing vegetation, achieving a delicate equipoise between architectural assertion and environmental discretion. The architect's formal vocabulary draws upon modernist precedents of horizontal emphasis, flat roof planes, and dematerialized glass walls, yet avoids dogmatic replication through contextual adaptation, employing warm-toned natural stone that echoes the Mediterranean vernacular of dry-laid masonry and terraced agriculture, creating visual and material continuity between constructed elements and the geological substrate from which they appear to emerge. The transparency of the primary living pavilion, articulated through floor-to-ceiling glazing systems that transform entire elevations into permeable visual thresholds, suggests a phenomenological interest in framing landscape as inhabited picture, positioning occupants as privileged observers of daily atmospheric transformations across sky, vegetation, and distant topography. Particularly successful passages include the geometric counterpoint between the turquoise rectilinear pool extending from the lower structure and the organic irregularity of surrounding vegetation masses, creating a chromatic and formal accent that simultaneously announces human intervention and activates dialogue between orthogonal architectural order and biomorphic natural growth patterns. The integration of water as reflecting surface, cooling element, and chromatic punctuation demonstrates sophisticated understanding of Mediterranean architectural traditions that employ aquatic features for thermal modulation, sensory enrichment, and symbolic evocation of precious resource in arid climates. The spatial organization across multiple terraced levels responds thoughtfully to sloping site conditions, avoiding monumental retaining wall structures in favor of incremental stepping that maintains visual and experiential connection between upper and lower zones while creating intimate outdoor rooms sheltered by vegetation and architectural volumes. This design appears to invite consideration of how contemporary residential architecture might honor site-specific landscape character while providing modern spatial and environmental performance, how transparency and enclosure can be calibrated to serve both prospect and refuge desires, and how material choices might root innovative form within cultural and climatic context, ultimately proposing that luxury hospitality environments emerge through sensitivity to place, restraint in formal gesture, and the careful choreography of prospect, threshold, and retreat across a sequence of architecturally mediated landscape experiences.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The Izanagi Project is a subterranean villa complex in Lefkada, Greece, seamlessly integrating luxury, sustainability, and nature inspired design. Developed by Ecléde and G Architects, it employs earth sheltered architecture, ensuring natural cooling, energy efficiency, and minimal environmental impact. Featuring minimalist aesthetics, organic materials, and panoramic views, it redefines harmonious living, merging Japanese and Greek influences into a visionary architectural residence.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The Izanagi Project features subterranean villas designed for energy efficiency and minimal environmental impact. A plus energy-filtered windows with Alumil Supreme Phos and s 630 profiles ensure superior insulation. Granite tiles r 9 for indoors and r 11 for the outdoors, to waterproofing membranes, standalone A/C systems, and certification guarantee durability and sustainability.
- Tags
- Subterranean architecture, bioclimatic design, energy-efficient villas, sustainable luxury, passive cooling, geothermal heating, A++ energy-filtered windows, thermal facades, eco-conscious living
- Production Technology
- The Izanagi Project was developed using bioclimatic design principles, integrating subterranean architecture for thermal efficiency and minimal environmental impact. The villas employ earth-sheltered construction, reinforced concrete structures, and locally sourced stone, ensuring durability and sustainability. Advanced geothermal systems, solar panels, and passive cooling techniques optimize energy use. The design follows parametric modeling and environmental simulations for precision and efficiency.
- Design Challenge
- The greatest challenge in the Izanagi Project was balancing subterranean architecture with luxury and sustainability. Structural reinforcement was crucial to withstand soil pressure while maintaining natural light and ventilation. Socially, shifting perceptions on underground living required a strong design narrative. Strict energy laws, material sourcing, and integrating A plus energy filtered windows, thermal facades, and tpo waterproofing tested production limits, demanding innovative, site-specific solutions.
- Project Duration
- The project began in August 2024 and will conclude in 2026. It is situated in Sivota, Lefkada, Greece.
- Operation Flow
- The Izanagi Project operates as a self sustaining, subterranean living space, utilizing bioclimatic design to naturally regulate temperature and energy use. The earth sheltered architecture ensures passive cooling and heating, reducing energy demand. Standalone A/C systems provide individualized climate control, while A plus energy filtered windows and thermal facades enhance insulation. The integration of tpo waterproofing, solar panels, and geothermal heating optimizes efficiency, creating a high-performance, eco-conscious living environment.
- Research
- The Izanagi Project is based on applied architectural and environmental research, focusing on sustainable subterranean living. The goal was to design energy efficient villas that blend with nature while ensuring comfort and luxury.
Using bioclimatic principles, the research analyzed earth sheltered structures, thermal insulation, and passive energy systems. Data was collected through climate simulations, material testing, and energy modeling. Experts in architecture, engineering, and environmental sciences collaborated to refine the design.
Results showed that subterranean architecture significantly reduces energy consumption, while A plus energy filtered windows, thermal facades, and standalone A/C systems optimize performance. The project enhances eco conscious architecture, setting a benchmark for sustainable high end real estate.
In real world impact, this approach reduces urban heat, energy costs, and environmental footprint, influencing business models, societal awareness, and future design trends in luxury sustainability. - Inspiration
- The Izanagi Project was inspired by the philosophy of coexistence between architecture and nature, drawing from both Japanese and Greek traditions. Named after Izanagi, the goddess of earth and creation, the project embodies harmony, balance, and sustainability. Our motivation was to redefine luxury living by integrating subterranean architecture, ensuring minimal environmental impact while enhancing thermal efficiency, passive cooling, and energy conservation.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Studio Trikaliotis, Izanagi Project, 2024.
Image #2: Photographer Studio Trikaliotis, Izanagi Project, 2024.
Image #3: Photographer Studio Trikaliotis, Izanagi Project, 2024.
Image #4: Photographer Studio Trikaliotis, Izanagi Project, 2024.
Image #5: Photographer Studio Trikaliotis, Izanagi Project, 2024.
Video Credits: Video by Angel Blend, Izanagi Project, 2024.
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