Architect - DesignerSelected Project · 10
Apokoronas Senior Living
The Project
A 64-bed senior living community conceived as a familiar Cretan village: humane in scale, fully accessible and closely connected to landscape, memory and everyday social life.
Inspired by the traditional architecture of Vamos, the 2,526-square-metre above-ground complex steps gently across a 3,576-square-metre olive-covered site, following a ten-metre change in level. Warm lime plaster, local stone, tiled roofs and timber pergolas reinterpret familiar domestic forms, while six-per-cent ramps connect every level with dignity and ease.
The existing former school is retained as a day-care centre and becomes an anchor for the new composition. Around it, residential wings, shared kitchens, music and art workshops, a library, gym, cinema, games areas and gardening plots create a varied daily rhythm. At the heart of the residence, a sheltered therapeutic garden acts as a contemporary cloister: a calm, secure place for contact with nature, conversation and restorative solitude.
Architectural Scope
Architecture at scale.
The drawings reveal the full breadth of the study - from the organisation of a 64-bed community to its careful integration into a steep Cretan site.
- Beds
- 64
- Site Area
- 3,576 m²
- Above Ground
- 2,526 m²
- Basement
- 563 m²
- Level Difference
- 10 m
- Accessible Ramps
- 6%
Level 01 Plan
Residential wings, shared spaces and the therapeutic courtyard are composed as one continuous, fully accessible community.
Longitudinal Section
The section reveals how the complex follows a ten-metre terrain difference while keeping every level connected with dignity and ease.
Therapeutic Landscape
A contemporary cloister at the heart of daily life.
Landscape as Care
The therapeutic garden is conceived as the social and restorative centre of the residence - never as residual landscape. A protected circuit of shaded paths, aromatic planting, seating and water supports gentle movement, orientation and everyday contact with nature.
Small gathering areas encourage conversation and shared activity, while quieter pockets offer privacy, memory and retreat. The result is a secure garden that gives residents both freedom and a reassuring sense of place.
Project Gallery
Space, material and light in detail.
Design Intent
A home within the Cretan landscape - architecture that supports care through familiarity, community, accessibility and nature.