Once the Black Sea was a landlocked sea for the Greek civilization, which generated a lot of fascinating architectural structures. One of such ancient typologies has become a prototype for the Super Patio residence. A museum of history and ethnography in Prymorsk, a small Crimean town, exhibits an exciting reconstruction of a development from a Greek colony in Eastern Crimea: it is a combination of a citadel and a freestanding residence with a patio.

In its first original version, the Super Patio residence used to have an inner terrace and a swimming-pool. The elevated side of the patio integrated its volume into the garden and the seascape, while the swimming-pool was the ‘wet tongue’ linking the inner court and the garden. The water-mirror of the swimming-pool seemed to rush towards the open space, while keeping the patio private. The edge of the house overlooking the sea goes up, forming a two-layered structure.

Eventually, the new owner of the house changed the concept and the structures were disassembled. The terrace with its swimming-pool has become the central family zone. The atrium/peristil was preserved, but turned into a closed inner feature of the house. Such a broadly open structure welcomes any scenarios: from children’s performances to huge parties, which are common for this house. This space has become a stage for performances of every possible kind.

All major rooms maintain a relationship with the sea: both the bedrooms upstairs and all the common spaces for the family use on the ground floor. To create a holistic form, the facade is covered with lock-seamed zinc-titan plates; its open parts are glazed.  The internal elements are made of steel, wood, and glass.

An important part of the project is insolation control: the sun beams fill the house in winter and are deflected during the summer heat by the eaves and awnings which fix the glazed part. The second layer has a common terrace, so the personal spaces of all the family members are linked together at different levels.