Avlakia House in Antiparos, designed by ARP, is a white box transformed into a sculptural building, like a Cycladic temple

Avlakia House is situated between two gorges (avlákia in Greek) on Antiparos Island, Greece. It benefits from views of the Cycladic archipelago to the west but is exposed to the strong northern winds. The brief called for a rather extensive program: a main house and guest house with seven bedrooms in total, two pools, generous exterior areas, and substantial support spaces.

Avlakia appears deceptively small from afar because much of it is concealed underground and builtwith local stone. A hybrid between a building and an earthwork, the house’s form required carefully deciding what to reveal and what to conceal beneath the ground. This became a balancing act between human experience and environmental and cultural preservation.ARP’s intention was to preserve the immediate topography and the cultural and ecological landscape of the broader Cycladic region. Emerging from the landscape as a stone retaining wall, Avlakia House appears as a monumental white volume resting above it.

Specific formal operations —proportions, inward inclinations and the repetition of openings —respond to the site’s relation to the sun and transform the white box into a sculpted architectural form. The white monolith and an organically shaped pergola host the public areas. Meanwhile, subterranean stone volumes comprise the bedrooms and wrap around a courtyard in a village-like arrangement. The amphitheater acts as a viewing platform, with its sole purpose being to take in the rest of the site.The project draws on vernacular building traditions while elevating spaces into contemporary forms. Local materials such as stone and marble were sourced, local crews were employed, and craftsmanship traditions such as terrazzo flooring were reinterpreted.

Thick natural shading, thermal insulation without bridges, and the maximization of solar energy reduce the building’s overall energy consumption. Planted roofs, courtyards, and cross-ventilation strategies contribute to the interior climate of the house and reduce the need for intensive cooling systems.