Adventures in Santorini

The last week I had the great opportunity to spend my time in Santorini, Greece. Santorini is an island in Greece whose architecture is very different from that of London. The island’s architecture is categorized as Cycladic architecture. The small villages are white painted and white washed to stand against the high red-colored cliffs. Small churches are slightly different where the roof is actually a bright blue colored dome. The motif of these churches is repeatedly seen throughout the island, so churches are easy to spot.

            Fira, the main town of Santorini, because it is the largest in population, is located at the edge of the caldera, and gives breathtaking views to the volcano. The architecture of Fira’s traditional houses blend with the Venetian characteristics, such as the arches and the colorful stairs. The island is mainly built from vernacular, sustainable architecture, built off steep cliffs. The old Santorini settlements were forced to build away from shores, on the cliffs or in the valleys, for fear from pirate ships. These locations were better defense or were harder to spot from the sea. There is a high density, where many parts of the island is empty and focused in a handful of small towns, this is density and the narrow streets and small buildings are due to the shortage of safe land, mutual protection from the wind and the solar heat, security, family growth, and saving of construction material, as well as the community spirits of the old societies.

The buildings in Santorini resemble that in other Greek islands with solid volumes, thick masonry walls, with small openings, and whitewashed plaster skin that covers almost everything with an integrative power. These elements have produced organic urban and building for.s, evolving through a long response to climatic conditions using the locally available resources, and at the same time, imprinting the social evolution through time. The main building material is the plentiful red or black lava stone, used with or without mortar and covered with plaster that protects the joints from the decay caused by the wind and rain. Timber is a costly element in Santorini, so it is only used to construct smaller elements in the area, such as boats, furniture, or doors, rather than building elements like roofs, lintels, or wall ties.