Hosting Focused Retreats and Strategic Gatherings at Villa Koukouvayia
“A place should go beyond shelter. It should excite you, calm you, make you think.” — Architect Zaha Hadid
Combining intimate indoor facilities with outdoor spaces that overlook the Mediterranean Sea, Tyflos Valley, Crete’s southern mountains, and a green embrace of agricultural groves, the campus can platform inspired breakout discussions, multi-media presentations, artistic practice, and social activities that reinforce collaboration, experience and results. WiFi access points serve the entire campus at highest available speeds and bandwidths, allowing modern connectivity to join the estate’s traditional architecture and ambience. Most importantly, the campus accomplishes all this while lodging your group onsite amid informal luxury.
Constructed Outdoor Spaces:
- Over 90m2 of shaded verandas for presentations, yoga & health practice, entertaining, and communal dining.
- Over 100m2 of open terraces & patios for yoga & health practices, entertaining, performances and social events.
- A dedicated 77m2 platform for performances, presentations & yoga or health practices set among adjacent olive groves.
- Two large-scale elevated terraces of 54m2 and 35m2 for performances, entertaining, presentations, health practice, and larger-scale communal dining.
- Over 55m2 of smaller elevated balcony and roof garden areas for small-group discussions, including a 27m2 roof garden with bar facilities for entertaining.
Natural Outdoor Areas:
- 90m2 & 325m2 areas with natural presentation slopes, suitable for performances, presentations, fitness and/or celebration activities. (Audience capacities 25 & 90 respectively.)
- 85m2 & 49m2 areas with level lawns (one with elevated stage) also suitable for performances, presentations, fitness and/or celebration activities. (Audience capacities of 20 & 25. Respectively.)
And during the days prior to (and after) the ceremony, the villa has the equipment and opportunities to host activities that foster camaraderie and build strategic relationships:
- Pool & Patio for relaxing among smaller groups, and exercise.
- A 36m2 multi-purpose game room for personal exercise or social gathering.
- Equipment for croquet, badminton and other lawn games; interior board games, bicycles, snorkeling, beach & picnic gear, kayaks and even a small racing dinghy for experienced sailors.
- Additionally, Villa Koukouvayia’s gates open onto a network of safe walking-trails that traverse the acres of olive groves and hills surrounding the estate and offer valuable opportunities for small groups to retreat from the larger group and return to the program’s work and focus recharged.
Bedrooms & Baths:
- Eight formal bedrooms provide accommodation levels to match a variety of attendee desires and budgets. Three rooms have king or queen bedding. Two rooms have multiple chambers. Two rooms have single or multiple single beds—all adult sized and engineered. And an additional three rooms have integrated cabinet beds, allowing customized configuration as queen-beds hosting couples, single-beds hosting up to four individuals, or bed-free areas for meetings, project-work, or private health consultation like massage or counselling, should the program demand it. All rooms have air-conditioning and full climate control. Total sleeping capacity with all rooms fully utilized is 20. Additionally, one semi-private room boasts a large cabinet bed easily deployed to host a staff or chaperone couple, increasing accommodations to 22. And finally, if staff or participants can join with children, three rooms can host those guests, too, without any loss of participant beds.
- Seven bathrooms ensure even busy programs provide participants with comfort and care. Five baths are dedicated to bedroom areas, with one bath en suite. Three baths are sited to serve living areas, and three baths (one in each of the Villa’s three lodging residences) have integrated laundries so attendees can easily address clothing needs during longer programs, and so programs themselves can provide bedding and towel services if desired.
Dining Areas & Kitchens:
- All three of the villa’s residential homes have fully equipped kitchens—two with the preparation space, pantries, and equipment suitable for communal meal provision, culinary lessons, catering and special dietary cuisines. Two large outdoor grills service the terrace & pool areas and allow for evening BBQs. Additionally, all kitchens are open and home-styled, comfortably accessed during off-hours for private beverage & snack prep by individual participants.
- Three interior and three exterior dining areas provide seating from 4 to 24 and allow siting meals outdoors in sun or shade, or indoors during Crete’s cooler months. A fully accessible roof terrace with wet-bar and spectacular views can further extend social, cocktail, and light-dining options during special events or evenings.
Living Rooms & Salons:
- Three living rooms of 20m2, 18m2 & 15m2 comfortably seat 12, 8 & 6 persons respectively. Two have cabinet-hidden media centers, and one has a piano. These salons can host intimate performances, presentations, discussions and collaborative planning, and at the same time provide a warm place for ad hoc social interactions and informal participant gatherings, reinforcing the estate’s home-friendly ambience.
Practical Arts, Crafts & Vocational Instruction Studios:
- Central 39m2 work studio providing over 20m2 of workstation area for up to 20 practitioners, with 3-phase 100-amp service disbursed across workstations via 40+ electrical outlets. Loading door & ramp to facilitate large-equipment delivery (including vehicles), and/or access to the olive groves & natural light.
- Adjacent, fully tooled 27m2 workshop, organized for instructing groups and monitoring independent projects.
- Fully stocked hardware & parts area.
- Service washroom for cleanup.
Other Areas, Spaces & Features:
- Three dedicated office areas are available, two within bedrooms and accessible for participant use. A third fully private office with networked computer docking, printer, monitor and other peripherals can support facilitation prep, and will provide efficient communication links with corporate offices or other organizational entities during a program’s run.
- A 39 m2 multi-purpose interior studio capable of hosting:
- Media or oral presentations, or direct instructional sessions for up to 20.
- Yoga and Fitness practice during inclement weather.
- Off-task and off-hours social games, or personal exercise for individual-participants.
- Recreational gear including bicycles, kayaks, lawn games, interior board games, hiking, snorkeling & beach gear, a professional table-tennis space —all allow off-hours play & extracurricular activities, either informal or planned, among program participants.
- Additionally, Villa Koukouvayia’s gates open onto a network of safe walking-trails that traverse the acres of olive groves and hills surrounding the estate, offering valuable opportunities for individuals or small groups in any intense program to find time to retreat, reflect, and return recharged.
+30 (698) 486-9490 
+1 (207) 513 0133