THE HOUSES OF SANTORINI
Houses in Santorini
Since the early 1970s, Efthimios Warlamis and his wife Heide, fascinated by the island of Santorini – which had not yet experienced tourist “development” – bought dilapidated neighboring cave houses in the village of Mesaria. Over time, they combined them and shaped them with great respect for the folk architectural tradition into a beautiful Cycladic ensemble that was photographed and presented in many architectural and tourist magazines.
In this space, Warlamis organized and directed the International Santorini Seminar in the 1970s and 1980s, which was attended by students and professors from all over the world.
Warlamis and his team studied not only the Folk Architecture of the island, but also its multifaceted connection with the social life and the ancient tradition of Santorini.
The result of all this work was that in 1995 Warlamis, with the support of the European Union, declared Santorini a World Model of Ecological Architecture.
Excerpts from his studies have been published in important and authoritative European architectural journals (Bauwelt, DAIDALOS).
