Within the scenic Gökova bay in Southern Turkey, Keklik Tepe (Partridge Hill) is home to a tiny 19th-century rural house embedded in a small hill. The landscape features cool gray marble boulders with scattered olive, oak, and carob trees set against dominating mountain ranges. The house and olive groves miraculously survived the devastating fires of summer 2022, with tender saplings now growing from century-old roots.
The half-demolished house, likely belonging to Greek peasants, had been long-abandoned. This minimal 7m cube with thick masonry walls is built from the very rocks around it. Its restoration created a tight, simple plan—the result akin to a small boat moored in an olive grove.
The design remained faithful to the original, preserving main rooms, two fireplaces, and the flat roof while adding an earth layer and thin bamboo pergola over the terrace. Deeply recessed windows frame rock outcrops and trees. A small window captures the sea view from the master bedroom through the glazed living room.
A spacious shaded terrace extends the living room into the landscape, framing mountain views north and olive groves cascading to Gökova bay south. Time suspended in this untouched Aegean landscape.