Villa Zephyria

An Architectural Pair on Milos’ Dramatic Aegean Coast

With the angular, contemporary Cliff House situated at cliff’s edge, and its sister home, the stone-and-glass Orchard House nestled into an inland olive grove hillside, this villa combo does double duty—offering coastal living with two varied architectural styles responding to the rugged landscape.

Cliff House’s light limestone, futuristic walls contain two bedrooms with en-suite baths featuring sinks in white Greek marble, ample common areas (guest bathroom, basement, laundry room, pool house), a Bulthaup kitchen, and seafront terraces with uninterrupted coastline views. Built around four courtyards, the house is made up of five distinct spaces, each offering different views of the Aegean, under a sloping roofline inspired by a sea creature. The 18m x 4m infinity pool sits at cliff’s edge next to the independent pool house with its own bathroom. A small path from the pool leads to private pebbled beach only about five minutes’ walk away.

Orchard House is a two-bedroom, three-bathroom, stacked stone-and-glass-residence tucked deep into the island’s largest olive grove that produces organic, extra virgin, cold pressed, Koroneiki variety oil. With views into the olive grove and glimpses of the Aegean beyond, the house is set intentionally in a berm, its stone-and concrete space melding with the land. Surrounded by Mediterranean flora, including grape vines, vegetables and aromatic herbs, the house is protected by a winding stone wall that curves for 700 meters from the sea.

Around

Created to respond to the landscape of Southern Milos, the homes occupy two distinct locations: chalky cliffs and a cultivated orchard within a Cycladic forest void. Herbs and shrubs surround both properties, a rich ecosystem that was found by a project botanist to host nearly 90 different species. The properties are two in a greater grouping of five award-winning “corrals,” built environments within the landscape constructed according to the geometrical grids defined by the Russian mathematician Georgy Voronoi, and ideally suited to integrate into their surroundings.

A volcanic island, Milos is one of the Cycladic islands, with a coastline counting some 40 beaches. One of the lower-key destinations within the Cyclades, Milos offers unpretentious fishing villages, and a uniquely lunar landscape, its white volcanic rock creating vivid contrast with the crystal clear Aegean waters. The rock formations of the island have created sea caves and chalky cliffs, sandy white coves and gleaming beaches of otherworldly outcroppings. Pirates once hid away at Kleftiko, an island landmark of towering rocks and emerald waters. And Sarakiniko Beach is one of the most notably moon-like, with pocked volcanic rock formations and turquoise waters. The island’s fishermen’s homes in towns like Klima and Firopotamos are brightly painted, with trademark boat “garages” right on the water that greet the colorfully photogenic fishing vessels.

Location

Milos, Cyclades, Greece. Nearest airports: Milos (15 minutes), Athens (25-minute local flight to Milos or 2.75 hour ferry from Athens’s Piraeus port)

Best time to visit

Year round