In The Summer Refuge series, curated by Archt. for Archisearch, we focus on summer houses that shelter time, memory and dreams closely connected to nature, to rural landscape, to vernacular architecture, and to notions such as ‘summer idleness’, ‘disconnection’, ‘slow living’, and Martin Heidegger’s ‘Dasein’ namely the art of being present in the world.
The fifth episode, follows ANAKTAE in the recent restoration of a traditional summer house (=kalyva) in the rural valley of Merichas, on the island of Kythnos, so rooted in memory and the spirit of land that makes an ideal refuge for those who can feel it, a shelter for restless travelers who learn by heart.
-text by Melina Arvaniti-Pollatou
Not every summer house is a summer refuge but this one brought back to life by ANAKTAE is the definition of that.
Summer here is more a psychic state than a slither in time. It’s not endless yet it’s endlessly layered, deep and derives from the heart.
Located in the rural valley of Merichas, on the island of Kythnos, this summer house relates much more with the ground than with manmade manners and plans.
By recognizing this, ANAKTAE not just noticed but they listened thus creating a peaceful refuge for the mind, body and soul closely related to memory, nature, and land.
The tone here is given by the change of seasons, the wisdom of harvest, the daily rhythms of the creatures meaning the goats, the lizards, the cats, the dog, and the man. Built in the late 19th century, three scattered stone structures echo the remnants of a self-sustaining way of life when the house functioned as an autonomous unit for working the land and feeding the needs of the man. The home sheltered the people, the mantra sheltered the animals, the shed was meant for storage and production reasons what we may now call the house’s lab. Local vines gave the grapes that were turned into wine at the nearby patitiri – the small wine press of the house that remains intact.
Dry-stone walling, the traditional construction method called xerolithia, makes the buildings happen directly out of the hand, without mortar, as an indigenous marvel born out of vernacular knowledge, innate skills and the need to build along with the landscape and not against the land.
In this handcrafted universe, ANAKTAE restored meaning and purpose.
“Nothing is added without need. Water is drawn from the well. Electricity powers a single fridge. Life unfolds with the sun and fades with the dark. No screens, no signals, just silence”, say the architects. The past summer house is rejoined as a summer refuge providing self-alignment and rest from urban dust.
Approaching the three-building complex as a coherent whole, ANAKTAE made the necessary functional additions and structural repairs so as to deliver an earth-sculptured living terrain performing as “a composition of terraced platforms, retaining walls, and simple volumes” as the architects put it.
Centuries old dry-stone walls are stabilized, native plants are introduced, timber frames are built for shade under the sun.
Unleashed in the face of earth, life here meets a feeling of eternal return in a motherly womb, in a place of the heart.
Cave-like interior spaces lead to outdoor terraces like private and common, enclosed and open are interweaved throughout this home’s everyday living experience expanding time and space to their maximum capacity, clarity and natural rhythm.
Yellow mustard and old rose pink flooring meets reed-lined ceilings, traditional furnishings and heirlooms from another era in an outer shell made out of stone, lime, and wood.
“Rooted in land and memory” as the architects put it, this summer home in Kythnos defines a refuge for those who can feel it, a shelter for restless travelers who learn by heart.
Facts & Credits
Project title The Summer Refuge, Episode 5
Location Merichas valley, Kythnos island
Typology Summer House, Restoration, Residential
Status Completed, 2025
Architecture ANAKTAE
Photography ANAKTAE
Communication agency OPUS
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