Building Mikro Horio
Year by year
We purchased a tract of land on Kythnos in 1972, and began building in 1974. It was slow going because we had full-time jobs in the United States and could tackle the task of building our Mikro Horio only during summer vacations.
1974
Our first year, we camped out on the Gastromeni site in tents.
1975
Our first structure was a polyhedron of masonite panels. it housed cooking/ dining spaces. We still slept in tents.
Although we now had a shelter from the wind and sun, we still slept in tents. We had neither running water nor other facilities. A friend mockingly dubbed our place "the Gastromeni Beach Bungalows." That tickled us—and we adopted it for this and for all our subsequent buildings, shortening the name to GBB I, GBB II, GBB III and GBB IV.
1978
The masonite panels of GBB I disintegrated over the ensuing years.
1980
We removed the masonite and ferro-cemented this first structure
1981-85
GBB II, the second polyhedral structure, provided bedrooms, a study and a bathroom.
1990-94
As increasing numbers of family and guests visited, we added a third structure, GBB III.
Over the next half-dozen years, we enjoyed our vacation home during summers only. In 2001, we retired and moved to Greece permanently, and immediately embarked on improvements to our little village to transform it into an all-season home.
2001-03
We began building GBB IV to house a workshop and space for photovoltaic batteries and other utilities.
2004
GBB III became our main bedroom, and we embarked on an addition for a bathroom and closets.
2005-6
Additions were completed and the buildings prepared for electricity.
2006
Terracing began to define our compound, and included photovoltaic panels to provide electricity.
2007
Our water supply was secured with the building of a 150-cubic meter rainwater cistern in the ravine.
2009
An outdoor kitchen on the back patio included a wood-burning oven and barbeque spit.
2013
A gazebo on the expanded front patio provided shade.
2014-24
The work of building Mikro Horio was essentially completed by 2014, but we continued with small projects and with maintenance up to the present day.
1974 1994 2014
Christos' work has been recognized with awards from professional associations:
1987 Iowa AIA Design Award
1996 North Carolina AIA Merit Award
2012 IA Architect 25th award anniversary