Homa Vagia / MOLD Architects

Architect: MOLD Architects

Place: Vagia, Serifos Island, Cyclades

Year: 2023

Photographer: Panagiotis Voumvakis, Ioanna Royfopoulou and Mold architects

Homa Vagia is a small 180 m2 boutique hotel located in Vagia Serifos, Greece and designed by MOLD Architects. It consists of three independent lodgings, with 2 bedrooms and a small living area each. The outdoor areas -proportionally much larger than the indoor ones – include kitchens, living / dining areas and private swimming pools for each unit. The context in which the project was created is the South of Serifos – an area scarred from an intense mining activity. Traces of the mining facilities are scattered throughout the wider area and signify the existence of a “second level of habitation” – a rich subsoil and a very important cultural heritage.

The room-sized voids resulting from the excavations indicate the entrance into a second – underground – network of galleries below the ground level. On the surface, the cobbled paths as well as the network of railway lines of the wagons, create sharp linear cuts that emblematically integrate into the natural landscape. These linear configurations produce broad flat surfaces acting as artificial extensions of the sloping terrain. The acknowledgment of the remnants of those configurations and the intention to revive a housing scenario below the ground surface formed the core idea of the design.

Taking advantage of the natural curvature of the plot, we designed two angled lines that are assimilated into the landscape. These lines define two flat platforms respectively, on which the lodgings are placed. (One on the first and two on the second). Each lodging is positioned with a slight rotation, ensuring privacy and variable sea views. The lodgings are approached from the roof, through linear staircases which define the entrance to a “new ground” of habitation, below the surface. Analogous to the adits – from Latin aditus, entrance – (which were the only source of light in the dark galleries of the mines) the patios, stairs and pools, result from the substruction of square and orthogonal masses from the planes.

These sequences of voids and fulls, create functional and welcoming living spaces bathed in natural light. Homa – from Greek χώµα, soil: The earthen mineral pigment in the plaster, the built furniture from white polished concrete, the wood and the natural rocks which frame the construction, underline the monolithic nature of a composition which derives from the sculptural processing of the natural soil.