yinjispace

BRAND
Villa Mandra
INTERIOR
K-Studio
PHOTOGRAPHY
BIJISPACE
EDITOR
Collection

When the Aegean monsoon sweeps over the Aleomandra ridge, Villa Mandra, like an unfinished poem, humbly blends into the texture of Mykonos Island. This six-bedroom villa, sculpted by rocks and light and shadow, is not an abrupt architectural declaration but the most elegant interpretation of the Mediterranean soul - it gives way to the scenery yet gently embraces the sunset of Delos, the blues of the Aegean Sea, and the rhythm of the entire Greek summer.

We visited this villa on a quiet early morning. The rough volcanic rocks spread out a geological epic at the entrance, and each mottled pattern tells the thousand-year-old memory of the island. The Karampatakis brothers and their numerous team of K-STUDIO, with the acumen of modern architects, respect and continue these ancient material grammars. They have transformed the stone walls from mere boundaries into a medium connecting the earth and the sky. Those seemingly random builds are actually precisely calculated frames for viewing. When sunlight penetrates the stone crevices at a specific Angle, the entire entrance hall turns into an installation art piece interwoven with light and shadow.

Two pure white volumes lie on the ridge like calm sculptures, and their simple geometric lines form a delicate tension with the jagged rocks. This architectural language is not a simple replication of minimalism, but a poetic translation of the traditional Greek "cave house". When the shadow of the chestnut pergola casts precise diamond-shaped light spots at noon, and when the branches and leaves of the olive tree sway on the lime wall to create a Byzantinian-style gold foil effect, we suddenly understand what it means to "capture light with stones".

The central courtyard can be regarded as a lyric poem of Mediterranean life. The open-air living room covered with light pergolas presents a materialized representation of a slow-paced lifestyle. The designer uses an exquisite and mischievous step design to create a visual continuity between the swimming pool surface and the distant sea level. When the setting sun dyes Delos Island amber, three layers of blue gradually unfold in the eyes - the cobalt blue of the pool water, the azure of the near sea, and the indigo of the distant sea - just like the layers of color gradations in Monet's paintings.

Entering the interior, the arrangement of the spatial sequence also conceals a mystery. The public areas embrace the scenery with an open attitude, while the private dormitories are embedded into the mountains like pearls. This "rise first and then fall" rhythm control enables people to switch freely between the hustle and bustle of social interaction and the tranquility of solitude. It is particularly worth noting those transitional Spaces - the dappled light and shadow filtered out by the wooden grilles and the light trajectories flowing upstream on the lime walls all present the melting of the boundaries between the inside and outside.

The choice of materials is simple and natural, yet with a rough and delicate touch - the warm touch of Cretan olive wood forms a tactile texture contrast with the rough texture of volcanic rock. The hand-plastered walls capture the changes of light at different times of the day, sometimes presenting the luster of mother-of-pearl and sometimes transforming into the texture of parchment. K-STUDIO's obsession with the "sense of incompleteness" reaches its peak here - those preserved stone joints and woodwork that retain tool marks all speak of the dignity of "handcrafting".

The arrangement of furniture is also like a carefully arranged chamber music. The Extrasoft sofa designed by Piero Lissoni, with its modernist and simple lines, engages in a cross-temporal dialogue with Hans J. Wigner's J16 handcrafted wooden stool. The black chandelier of Serge Mouille casts dynamic silhouettes on the lime wall, like an improvisation of abstract expressionism. The most touching part is the bathroom space - when the dawn breaks through the alabaster partition, the entire bathing ritual is elevated to a watercolor painting of light.

Villa Mandra at dusk is closest to the appearance of heaven. The skylight broke down the last ray of sunlight into golden dust. The texture of the Fredericia oak chair became increasingly clear in the afterglow, and the church bells in the distance formed a wonderful harmony with the rhythm of the waves. The flow of time here seems to be altered by the climate of the Mediterranean - when gazing at the setting sun sinking below the sea level in front of the frameless glass door, when fingertips trace the patterns of the century-old olive wood dining table, and when the linen curtains are lifted and lowered by the evening breeze, one suddenly understands: so-called luxury is nothing but sharing the same breathing frequency with nature.

When we left, in our eyes, this villa was like a cat leisurely resting in the dense forest - not a showy consumption made of marble and gold, but rather through the exquisite balance of materials, light and shadow, and space, guiding and teaching us how to "dwell" - how to make every dawn and dusk worth gazing at, and how to make every breath full of poetry. When the last star is nailed to the night sky of the Aegean Sea, Villa Mandra completes the final ritual of the day: it transforms itself into a warm lantern, illuminating the deepest night of the Mediterranean.

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