After witnessing the master builder Kairis (as he was called) in action as he worked on the GBB I interior, we decided to hire him for our next big project, GBB II, which was launched in the summer and fall of 1985, when we were both on sabbatical leave from our university positions. Work continued through the summer of 1986, and was completed in the summer of 1987. Invaluable to us in this project was our fisherman friend Manolas Psaras, who ferried workers and building supplies to our land on a daily basis.

With this second building, we initiated the idea of expanding by free-standing structures, which eventually led to the village-like compound of present-day Mikro Horio. We also established the principle of rooms opening directly to the outside with no internal circulation (a feature commonly encountered in village houses). The interlude of communion with nature when one moved from one room to another was an invigorating experience from the outset — an experience that has become even more invigorating now that we are often there in wintertime, sometimes in cold, rainy weather.

If minimalism is the guiding design principle in GBB I, in GBB II particularization is in evidence, especially in the size and shape of the windows, which vary to provide views, light, and ventilation as needed.

In section, there are three levels. The lowest is a storage room accessed from the entry courtyard. The main space is a 15 sq. m. sitting room (initially intended as a study), which is identical in floor plan and section. A ladder connects the sitting room to a sleeping loft just large enough to accommodate a queen-sized bed. 

Visual access of a large space from a much smaller one, especially from a higher vantage point, adds to its perceived spaciousness; at the same time, the small space does not feel confining.