Recently a couple of soulmate friends from abroad invited me to assist them in realising a Greek house in Eastern Peloponnese. But what exactly is and what should it stand for, a “house”, and moreover, a house in the context of Greek territory?
Let’s have a look at architect’s Georgios Kandylis dicussion with Alexander Rodakis about the latter’s, now legendary, house:
Quotes from the book “Georgios Kandylis, Life & Work” ERMIS 1985:
“G.K. -Did you built this house?
Α.Κ. – Of course, here everybody build their houses themselves.
G.K. – I have been told, however, that your house differs from the rest…
A.K. – It surely does, since each one of us is different too.
Rodakis had carved out a long and winging road to access the house with a lot of lazy turns that turned round the house before finally reaching the entrance. When asked by the architect about why he didn’t choose a straight path instead, he whimsically replied…
A.K. – I see that you are young… with no life experience. Learn now that when you love a woman you wander around her, you hug her, kiss her. Well, I love my house as if it was a woman. Every time I come back to it, I roam around it, hugging it, instead of going straight in, harshly and with no emotion, the way you think it’s supposed to be done..”
Visit rodakishouse.org/ for more info about this unique approach.
