MYKONOS AIMASIA — a hillside residence in Mykonos, designed by A31 Architecture and filmed in-house by ARC3 PRODUCTION.
This architectural masterpiece is shaped by the raw, untouched character of the island: granite hillsides, historic dry-stone terraces, Cycladic light, and the open Aegean Sea.
AIMASIA takes its name from the ancient Greek word for the island’s terracing system—the dry-stone field walls that enabled farming across the Cyclades. Set on a 14,000 m² plot, the house turns south toward the water while engaging a granite hill lined with culturally protected terraces.
Founder and lead architect Praxitelis Kondylis (A31 Architecture) describes a vision of coexistence with landscape: honoring age-old construction techniques while meeting contemporary comfort. Materiality is deliberately local—granite, white plaster, fair-faced concrete—paired with native planting to create a calm, mineral palette.
Island forces shaped the brief: the Meltemi winds, the mythic proximity of Delos, the coastline’s light and rock. Structural challenges—steep terrain and the suspended monolithic boulders in the staircases—became defining features. Interior design and art direction by Tom Dixon / Design Research Studio bring a restrained, tactile layer.
AIMASIA is presented as a residence born from its site—where history, nature, and contemporary living align.
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CREDITS
Film: ARC3 Production Photography: Mike Kelley (Los Angeles, USA) Architecture: Praxitelis Kondylis | A31 Architecture Interior Design & Art: Tom Dixon | Design Research Studio
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ABOUT
ARC3 shares the visions behind the built environment through editorial films and studio conversations. Based in Kempten (Germany), filming worldwide.
Emasia Residence is a contemporary home in Mykonos designed by architect Paxtelis Kondylis. The project focuses on the harmony between modern luxury and the island's natural landscape, drawing inspiration from ancient dry stone wall techniques to create a sustainable dwelling that respects its UNESCO-listed surroundings and the Aegean environment.
Emasia residence is a place that invites you to smell, breathe, enjoy the untouched beauty of Mykonos.
Emasia derives from the ancient Greek word emasia, meaning the dry stone fence wall constructed throughout the centuries by farmers
in order to cultivate wheat, grapes, grain and vegetables in the steep and arid landscape of Cycladic islands complex, including of course the island of Mykonos.
My name is Paxtelis Kondylis, I'm the principal architect and the founder of A31 Architecture, an architectural studio based in Athens, Greece, and I'm the lead architect of Emasia residence in Mykonos.
The 14,000 square meters plot that we are in right now faces the south and has beautiful vistas to the Aegean Sea, while from the east it faces this granite hill full of dry stone walls built throughout the centuries.
This is a listed monument for UNESCO, it's an intangible cultural heritage.
Living, respecting, coexisting in harmony with nature has always been our main concern and the main vision of this project.
Emasia residence represents, according to our point of view, an exploration of how we can honour old ancient building techniques like the dry stone wall,
while addressing contemporary needs of sustainability and comfort living within the Mediterranean context.
At the beginning the client didn't want to purchase this plot in the first case.
The slope was facing the hill and not the sea, he insisted.
So it was just after we visited the plot together that I convinced him to buy it.
I told him that I would definitely create a house that would face south and the sea and part of the house would face the hill.
And so he accepted and we went on three and a half, four years ago.
And so here we are, the building is constructed and he likes it a lot and we're all proud about it.
So the project's materiality consisting of local granite, white plaster, fair-faced concrete, meaning that exposed concrete surface as the final finish,
and of course vegetation and plantation, local ones, create a sophisticated palette which respects the architectural vernacular,
while at the same time pushes the boundaries to a contemporary architecture.
Mykonos has this special energy that everybody knows about it, even since ancient years.
Mykonos is very close to the sacred island of Dilos, which is the mythical birthplace of Polo-Antartemis.
And Dilos used to be a religious center in the ancient years.
Mykonos also has this amazing, beautiful, scenic, I would say beaches and this imposing granite formations.
But also it has this very strong winds that we call them Meltemi.
All these elements have influenced the design process of the house that you see here.
The biggest challenge we had both in the design and the construction process was how to tackle the steep and uneven terrain where the building had to be placed.
Another challenge we faced during the construction process was how to suspend those huge rock boulders that we placed both at the outdoor and at the indoor staircase.
I think those were the two main challenges we had to face.
So Imagia Residence has been for our office a study case, an exploration of how a project can be born from the landscape itself.
It has also been a study case of how history, nature and modern way of living can coexist in an effortless harmony.
