Casa Brutale: the concrete cliff-face villa

Designed by Holland- and Rhodes-based architects OPA (Open Platform for Architecture), the one-of-a-kind holiday villa has been proposed for construction in a cliff face in Greece and would offer spectacular views of the Aegean Sea.

Though designed to go unnoticed by those who look towards it from land, it would also offer plenty to impress the few who were given an opportunity to stay there. In place of a conventional ceiling the property has been designed with a rooftop, glass-bottomed pool at its peak. Dappled beams of light would shine to the living area beneath, which would include a bedroom at mezzanine level, and a cool and minimalist lounge, dining area and kitchen below.

Outlining their inspiration, the architects behind the project, Greeks Laertis Antonios Ando Vassiliou and Pantelis Kampouropoulos, make some bombastic claims about the significance of the villa’s design. It is "a geometrical translation of the landscape… an unclad statement on the simplicity and harmony of contemporary architecture [and] a chameleonic living space.”

Despite those supposed attributes, they claim the building itself would be a fairly simple structure. Glass, wood and concrete are the predominant materials; thermal insulation would be derived from the ground enveloping it. With the top of the building aligned with the surrounding cliff, its construction wouldn’t detract from the seawards panorama enjoyed by people on land.

Its design was inspired by Casa Malaparte, which stands on the edge of a cliff in the Isle of Capri. The property, which featured heavily in Brigitte Bardot’s 1963 film Le Mepris, is considered one of Italy’s most significant modern buildings.

The building also shows clear similarities with Australian architectural firm Modscape’s proposed five-storey Cliff House. Inspired by a barnacle clinging to the hull of a ship, it’s another holiday villa that this time is clasped on to the cliff face. That building remains undeveloped and, unsurprisingly given current events in Greece, OPA has yet to confirm that Casa Brutale will be constructed.

(telegraph.co.uk)