September 5, 2026 | DESIGN & INTERIORS
LAND, MEMORY, HOME
words Noah Mercer
photos Mirto Iatropoulou
stylist Anestis Michalis
For a family returning to land held for generations, this holiday home in Greece is shaped by memory, material and the rhythms of the surrounding landscape.
In the wild landscape of Arcadia, this holiday home begins not with the idea of escape, but of return. The land has belonged to the Haretos family since the Greek War of Independence in 1821, giving the project a history that reaches far beyond the construction of a new house.
The architectural design is by Office Twenty Five Architects, while Athens-based studio Stones and Walls, led by co-founder and Design Director Afroditi Bonatsou, developed the interiors around this sense of continuity. Rather than recreating the past, the studio looked for ways in which memory could remain present without becoming nostalgic.
“The main inspiration for the interiors was the idea of belonging — belonging to a landscape, to memory, and to a quieter rhythm of life,” Bonatsou says. “We were drawn to materials and tones that feel elemental and lasting, and we wanted the rooms to carry a sense of calm rather than visual noise.”
That relationship with the site finds its most literal expression in the family’s original stone cottage. Built with clay mortar, the small ancestral structure was reconstructed in its historical dimensions using the original stones and now serves as a guesthouse.
For Bonatsou, negotiating this history was also the project’s central challenge. “It was not simply about constructing a new house; it was about reinterpreting a deeply personal story, connected to the ruins of the owner’s ancestral home,” she says. “Respecting this memory, without resorting to a literal or nostalgic reconstruction, required a high level of architectural sensitivity.”
BETWEEN SHELTER AND OPENNESS
The main house is organised across two levels, moving between enclosed, more protective spaces and generous communal areas facing the landscape.
“This translated into interiors with soft tonal layering, a very tactile material palette, restrained forms, and a strong relationship to natural light and views,” says Bonatsou. “The design is not driven by ornament, but by texture, proportion, atmosphere, and the emotional quality of the spaces.”
Throughout the house, smaller architectural moments temper the scale of the open spaces. Built-in window seats create places to pause within the architecture, while a spa terrace with a hot tub is screened by vertical timber slats. Outside, a circular firepit with curved built-in seating creates another place to gather directly within the landscape.
STONE, WOOD AND MINERAL TONES
Materials carry much of the interior character. Local stone moves from the exterior façades onto selected internal walls, where it meets custom timber joinery, plaster, soft textiles and dark metal details.
“We would describe the mood as quiet, grounding, tactile and understatedly luxurious,” Bonatsou says. “To achieve that, we worked with a restrained palette of natural materials, soft textiles, warm woods, textured stone surfaces, and dark metal details that give definition without harshness.”
Colour follows the same restraint. Chalky neutrals, mineral greys and taupe plaster tones form the base, punctuated by bronze and black and, occasionally, deeper shades of blue, umber and rust.
“The design element that best expresses our point of view is the material layering — especially the relationship between stone, wood, plaster, textile, and dark metal,” says Bonatsou. “That combination allowed us to create interiors that feel restrained but rich, contemporary but not cold.”
The furniture follows this measured approach, bringing together pieces from Nitsolas Furniture, Bombyx, Pols Potten, Soho Home, &Tradition, Andreu World and Ferm Living, alongside antiques and bespoke elements. Rugs by Brita, Vanghent, Delphine Cobbaer and Kristina Lassus add another tactile layer, while works by Alexandra Bissa appear against the quieter material backdrop.
A CONTINUITY OF PLACE
Ultimately, the project is less about creating a holiday house than establishing a place to return to. Designed for shared meals, long stays and different generations of the same family, it returns to Bonatsou’s original idea of belonging — to a landscape, to memory and to a place with a history of its own.
