The Ring House
Info
The Ring House is located on the southern coast of Crete. The house and its garden are designed to form a temperate microclimate, an oasis within an intensely beautiful but physically demanding environment.
Two concrete beams follow the topography of the hill to define the outline of the house and an interior garden of citrus plants and aromatic shrubs. All the interiors lie between the two beams underneath a flat roof. The roof provides a surface for solar collection panels. On both ends of the ring, the roof is pierced to create well shaded exteriors. The form of the ring allows for views that pan the entire horizon and good natural ventilation for all inhabited spaces.
At a broader scale, the house is a landscape preservation effort. In the past, the land had been severely scarred in an effort to carve roads. We covered the scars and erased the roads with the excavation material extracted during the house’s construction.
Once the earth was restored, the plants needed grow again. During the spring, prior to construction, seeds were collected on site and cultivated in a green house to grow more seeds. These were then sowed over the traces of the old roads and three months later the local plants gradually reappeared, hiding any trace of the old roads.
Credits
Awards
The Interior Garden
Landscape Restoration
This project involved the movement of 12.000m3 of earth.
The excavation material was used to restore the morphology of the earth that had been scarred in the past to create an elaborately useless network of roads on the land.
Step by step, guidelines for all the earthworks were produced to help us visualize and communicate them to the excavation crew.
Sowing Seeds
Once the earth was restored, the plants needed grow again. During the spring, prior to construction, seeds were collected on site and cultivated in a green house to grow more seeds. These were then sowed over the traces of the old roads and three months later the local plants gradually reappeared, hiding any trace of the old roads.
The Pool
Planning and Management
For a small minority of our projects, we assume the responsibility for the planning and management of the construction. We usually do this when the complexity or novelty of the project requires special attention. Nothing like the Ring House had been built in the neighborhood.
We interviewed over 50 crews before determining the craftsmen that would comprise the construction team. It was an opportunity for us to meet many people and make some good new friends.
International Architecture Awards 2019
The Ring House has been awarded with the International Architecture Award 2019, powered by Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. On Friday, September 13th, 2019, The Chicago Athenaeum, together with The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, will open a special exhibition of all awarded buildings projects, “The City and the World” at The Contemporary Space Athens.
DOMES AWARDS 2018
The Ring House was distinguished in the “Best Built Project of the Years 2013-2017” in the 2018 Domés Awards. The annual institution of Domés Awards, which has been organized for the ninth time this yea is highlighting modern Greek architecture supported by jury architects from around the world.
ARCHITECTURE PODIUM
The Ring House won the first award in the category “Residency (Built)” of the 2018 International Architecture Awards, given to projects showcasing excellence and innovation in architecture & design.
ABB LEAF AWARDS
The Ring House has been shortlisted in ABB LEAF Awards 2018, an institute running for over 17 years, among projects that set the benchmark for the future of the architectural design.
THE WORLD’S BEST ARCHITECTURE
The Ring House in Crete has been featured in the A+Awards book, entitled “The World’s Best Architecture”, published by Architizer, in partnership with Phaidon. Judged by more than 400 experts and thousands of public voters.
The Ring House@IW Magazine
In May 2019, the ‘Ring House’ was published in IW Magazine, a bimonthly publication focused on aesthetics of living space and contemporary design space, originating from Taiwan.
The Ring House@ DOMES Yearbook of Greek Architecture
In 2018, the ‘Ring House’ was included in the 9th architecural yearbook, edited by Domés International Review of Architecture. An archive published every year attempting to contribute in architectural experimenting and perfecting.
The Ring House@DOMES Awards 2019
The ‘Ring House’, in Crete has been published in Domés Awards 2019, in honour of its distinction in the category ‘Best Built Work of the Years 2013-2017’ in the awards of the previous year.
The Ring House@eko kuca Magazine
On the southern coast of Crete, Greek architectural firm decaARCHITECTURE has turned a commission for a modern residence into an opportunity for land preservation. Named the Ring House for its rounded shape, the house was created to follow the existing topography and looks like an extension of its hilltop location. The site had been scarred by environmentally insensitive infrastructural development but has now recovered its original morphology and has been replanted with native flora.
