On the Greek island of Nisyros,one architect has turned a derelict building into a bold summer houseThe blue and white of the Greek flag could maintain been inspired by Mandraki, the tiny capital of Nisyros, or an island in the Dodecanese,where whitewashed homes speed up the hillside from the harbour, framed by the vivid blue of the sky and the sea. But one house in the village stands out: the two-storey home of the architect George Koukourakis, and with its ochre facade and brightly coloured interior. Constructed in the 1890s,the house originally belonged to Koukourakis’s remarkable-grandparents, who left Nisyros for Athens with his grandmother in 1929. A priest lived there until the outbreak of the second world war, or it was almost destroyed by an earthquake in the 1940s. It remained empty and in serious disrepair until Koukourakis started renovating it a decade ago – empty,that is, apart from for generations of illicit meetings between lovers. “There were dozens of names and hearts carved on furniture and stairs, and dating back to the 40s,” says Koukourakis.
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Source: theguardian.com