Voula Masterplan
A sustainable, landscape-led residential development rooted in the climatic and cultural context of the place.
Client: Confidential
Location: Athens
Scope: Housing and community amenities
RIBA Stages: 1-2
An attractive and desired, exclusive and safe residential neighbourhood where people live out of choice and not necessity – setting a new benchmark for sustainable living. It prioritizes a landscapeled sustainable approach to innovative architectural solutions that capitalise on surrounding assets such as sea-views to maximise experiential value for the target market.
Key project themes include:
Maximising views and development value
Buildings with rich hierarchy of spaces
Modular architecture
Maximising views and development value
The existing topography limits views to the sea. This can be transformed into an opportunity by capitalising on local high points that orient to the sea views. Therefore, the proposed response orients the built form on higher ground with building facing sea-view; creating value through design. The lowest lying areas are transformed as green landscaped oases that double up as bio-climatic natural ‘coolers’ for residential living.
Buildings with a rich hierarchy of spaces
Sea-views and optimal bio-climatic orientation presents constraints on where the best locations for proposing new buildings will be. This can transform into an opportunity through innovative architectural solutions that create spatial layering of spaces from public to semi-public and private spaces. These spaces maximise the opportunity for bio-climatic design and conducive microclimates using landscape treatments.
Climate-responsive form and layout
The overall masterplan form and layout optimises the solar orientation of the site for microclimate benefits and thermal cooling. A soft landscape-led approach to the treatment of open spaces and amenity greens further contribute to mitigating harsh summers with high temperatures. Breeze corridors are created with the site open to the direction of cool winds. At a building scale, fenestration size and type is aligned with orientation to amplify impacts of designing with climate.
