This holiday villa complex is built on the East side of Paros, in Isterni, close to the cosmopolitan city of Naoussa. The owners created luxury villas where no expenses were saved and had very high expectations for the gardens. As the plot is almost level with a meagre degree incline, making the most of the sea views over the pools was the priority. Our brief also specified that the 3 gardens belonging to should have a common theme, to make the grounds unified but they would also have to be individual. Summer flowers and fruits were a must, and three large olive trees that give the name (Elia Villas Isterni, “Elia” means “Olive tree” in Greek) were planted at the entrance as three muses welcoming visitors.
All gardens feature a circular area which is the point of interest and invites you to further explore the grounds. In the first garden, the circle contains two white marble benches, the second a sundial and the third modern planters with colourful annual flowers. As the villas have an elevated basement level we were also asked to create a green out-view from the windows of bedrooms which are in the basement and get natural light through the “cour anglaise”. This was not an easy task as the light tunnels are covered with glass and this makes for a hot and stuffy environment for plants so choosing the right species was of outmost importance,
How it was made
