Architect Alexandre Pavlidis has completed Within the Earth, a house on the Greek island of Sifnos that is embedded within a series of sunken stone terraces along a coastal hillside. Drawing on the island’s agricultural landscape, the project seeks to make the residence almost invisible within its surroundings.
The Paris-based architect references Sifnos’ traditional stepped terraces, which were historically used to grow olives and grapes. Rather than introducing a standalone architectural object, Pavlidis extends this landscape language into the house itself.
“The site is part of a Cycladic landscape structured by agricultural terraces and retaining walls,” he told Dezeen. “These walls are not decorative elements; they are what allow the land to be cultivated, to retain soil, and to resist erosion in a rocky and exposed environment.”
“In this beautiful nature, the core concept was to create a house that would not appear as a new object in the landscape, but as a continuation of the existing agricultural terraces,” he added.
A House Beneath the Landscape
Visitors enter Within the Earth through the base of an existing shepherd’s hut at the top of the site. From there, a staircase descends into a skylit atrium containing a shallow pool of water between the bedroom and living areas.
The communal spaces extend lengthwise along the slope, echoing the linear geometry of the agricultural terraces. Meanwhile, the living, dining, and kitchen area opens onto a large terrace, creating a direct connection with the coastal landscape.
The bedrooms sit farther into the structure behind substantial stone supports. As a result, each sleeping space gains access to a smaller private patio while maintaining a sense of shelter.
At the rear of the house, the increasingly subterranean plan receives natural light through open-air patios planted with trees. In the bathroom, a cylindrical shower sits beneath a deep skylight, bringing daylight into an otherwise enclosed space.
Stone, Shadow and Framed Views
The lower level extends the relationship between architecture and terrain. A pavilion-like shelter rests on drystone columns beside a swimming pool, positioned within another expansive terrace.
“The visitor leaves the exposed landscape and gradually enters a cooler, darker, more protected world. The house is revealed slowly, through stone, shadow, patios, and framed views of the sea,” Pavlidis said.
Materially, the project combines rough drystone walls with exposed concrete ceilings and polished stone floors. Oak frames, furniture, and joinery introduce a warmer counterpoint to the mineral surfaces.
Pavlidis said the oak helps make the interiors feel “inhabited rather than purely excavated.”
Consequently, within the Earth, the visual weight of its stone construction is balanced by carefully positioned openings, natural light, and domestic materials. The result is an architecture that is both embedded in the hillside and open to expansive views.
The project joins a growing body of Aegean architecture that reinterprets traditional stone construction and terraced landscapes through contemporary residential design. On neighbouring Serifos, Mold Architects has similarly explored low-lying, site-responsive architecture through its Perma guest retreat and the sunken NCaved house.
Within the Earth, however, takes the idea further by treating the agricultural terrace not simply as a reference, but as the organizing principle for the home’s structure, circulation, and relationship with the landscape.
