Between the Dry Stone Walls

There are sites where the first instinct is to level the terrain.
This was never one of them.

On the steep hillside of Kali Island, generations of dry stone walls have shaped a landscape of terraces, making life among the olive trees possible. Rather than replacing them with a single massive retaining structure, the new house embraces their logic. The terrain is not treated as an obstacle to overcome, but as a blueprint that already existed.

The architecture does not simply sit on the site.
It grows out of it, becoming an integral part of the landscape.

Each terrace continues the natural rhythm of the hillside, while the new retaining walls reinterpret the role of the historic dry stone walls in a contemporary structural language. The house is therefore not an object placed on top of the hill, but part of a sequence of terraces that guide the eye towards the sea through the olive groves.

Instead of relying on a single dominant gesture, the building is composed of several simple volumes. The pitched roofs echo the traditional silhouette of the village, while the flat canopy defines the living area and shelters the main terrace from the Mediterranean summer sun. Two architectural archetypes coexist without conflict—one rooted in the memory of the place, the other responding to contemporary living.
The material palette is equally restrained.

A textured white render reflects the Dalmatian light, stone shapes the terraces and retaining walls, while timber brise-soleils filter both sunlight and privacy. Nothing seeks attention for its own sake. Every element exists to reinforce what has always been the site’s greatest value—the terrain, the olive trees, and the light.

The house does not end at its walls.
It extends through the garden, the stairways, and the cascading stone terraces that connect the different levels of the site. Moving towards the entrance, the terrace, or the lower garden is not separated from the landscape; it becomes a natural continuation of it.

This architecture was not created despite the hillside.
It exists because of it.