AERIE
ART RESIDENCY
During our first trip to Aegina together, as we explored the island and the site, our clients shared a personal story that shaped our understanding of the place. At a time when the island was already being considered for a new chapter of life, they spoke to us about a necklace with strong emotional value. Its chain belonged to one client’s grandmother, while the eagle pendant, dating back to 1910, marked the beginning of our clients relationship. The necklace had been lost in the sea of Aegina and later, unexpectedly, found again. This experience was not felt as coincidence, but as a meaningful connection between memory and place. It created a strong emotional bond with the island and became the starting point of the architectural thinking. As the design evolved, the story was not treated literally. The chain became a way of thinking about space through sequence and repetition, unfolding gradually across the sloped landscape. The eagle introduced the idea of an aerie — a place that stands high, looks out to the horizon, and offers retreat. It suggests safety, warmth, and shelter, shaping an architectural experience where one can both observe the landscape and feel protected within it.
AAR — Aerie Art Residency is conceived as a continuous architectural landscape, unfolding as a fragmented sequence embedded into the steep terrain of Aegina. Rather than a single object, the project develops as a chain of connected spaces shaped by the land and its contours. A series of repeated, partially subterranean monolithic loops forms spaces for living, working, and artistic production. Solid and clearly defined, the loops are separated by voids that create courtyards and moments of pause. Subtle shifts in orientation frame long views toward the sea and the island of Moni, establishing a clear spatial sequence. Finished in a soft red powder tone and clad with small flat reddish tiles, the loops create a quiet continuity between building and ground. All communal spaces shared living areas, stone paths and stairways, outdoor rooms, wellness spaces, and the infinity pool are carved into a continuous stone datum that follows the site’s contour lines. Formed from Aegina’s volcanic red stone, this stone landscape becomes both ground and architecture, absorbing the project into the hillside. In contrast to the heavy stone and solid volumes, lightweight wooden shading structures, conceived as fragments of an eagle’s wings, extend across rooftops, paths, and open spaces. These elements filter light, create shade, and frame views, while maintaining a low, horizontal presence and a strong connection between inside and outside. Wellness unfolds throughout the landscape beneath these wing-like structures on rooftops, along stone paths and steps, and within shaded outdoor rooms experienced through movement, stillness, light, air, and uninterrupted views to the sea. The architecture is experienced as a calm spatial journey along the slope. Like a chain laid gently across the hillside. The presence of the eagle is diffused throughout the project shaping shade, movement, and view and gradually gathering into its aerie, a place of elevation, observation, and retreat that merges back into the mountain.
For more information about the AERIE project please visit circearchitecture.com
PROJECT CREDITS:
Principal Architect: Kirki Mariolopoulou
Design Team: Stylianos Axiotakis, Giannis Adrianos, Nefeli Kourinou, Daphne Gkogka
INFORMATION:
Location: Aegina, Attica, Greece
Area Total: 400 sqm
Project Year: 2026