old stone house in greece gets renovated reusing most of its original materiality

Blue Daisy house in Kallergos, Crete, restores its infrastructure

Designers Uri Regev and Aliza Ashkenazi renovate a 200-year-old stone house in Crete, Greece, turning it into a vacation residence after slight restoration and minor modifications. Located in a small village called Kallregos in the center of the region, the building presents many typical characteristics of rural living, such as a well, a wine press for treading grapes, niches for storing olive oil, a wooden fireplace and stove, weaving tools, and various other accessories for animal care. The village along with other nine small towns of central Crete is preserved by UNESCO and declared as World Heritage site. The first building of the property dates back 200 years ago, while two more houses are built on the plot 50 years later. In 1985, the houses are abandoned and sold leading to their dismantlement. The reconstruction of the ‘Blue Daisy House’ project follows three main principles; the design should maintain the original shape and main plan, sustain the ‘spirit’ and traditional features, and reuse the materials disassembled during the renovation.

old balcony | all images by Uri Regev and Aliza Ashkenazi

main old building elements are reformed to fit the new house

The residence renovates the infrastructure to comply with earthquake standards and dismantles the wooden ceiling and flooring replacing them with concrete casts where the condition demanded complete restoration. A new tile roof is built and new wooden windows are applied, while old plaster and crumbling clay filling between the stones are cleaned revealing the wall of cobblestones. Aiming for a sustainable approach, the plan repairs most of the house’s building elements and reuses disassembled original materials. Most of the wooden floor’s structure is cleaned and returned to its former position, as roof beams are modified to form stairs, railings, pergolas, and a bed frame. Timber boards from the bottom of the tiled roof shape new interior partitions.

Distributed throughout the space, former doors transform into kitchen cabinets, shelves, and fittings, while even an old bed frame is remodeled into an internal door. The interior displays weaving tools, handyman tools, and old kitchen utensils, while wood slabs of wardrobes and doors construct old-style travel crates. The decoration attends to local motifs and a selection of artworks by one of the designers, Aliza Ashkenazi, adorns the space. Wherever new furniture is needed, the creative duo turns to second-hand objects breathing new life into unused goods. Moving to the exterior, the landscape forms a garden with 25 olive trees and reuses stone structures for watering animals into flower planters and pots. The renovation of the holiday home reconstructs the volume only when necessary and upcycles materiality into new furnishings, see more for the project here.

old front facade

north facade

front door

bedroom

kitchen and dining room

living room

old kitchen

old courtyard

old wine press

old upper floor

project info:

name: Blue Daisy House
designer: Uri Regev, Aliza Ashkenazi | @bluedaisyhouse

location: Kallergos, Crete, Greece

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edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom