Objective of this project is the renovation of a tiny, 35 sqm micro-apartment in Athens, Greece. The apartment will have a dual use: firstly, as a short-stay space for the two owners and their partners, and secondly, as a place to host friends and family when visiting the city. We designed a space with lots of character and colour that expresses the creative personalities of the two owners, both working in the arts industry. With this in mind, we selected a varied palette of materials which makes the apartment unique and original.

The apartment is located in a conventional, every-day building of the 1980s. The existing floorplan of the unit lacks ninety-degree straight angles and parallel walls because of the overall building’s unorthodox shape which is a result of the plot’s geometry. This difficulty resulted in inefficient spaces and corners, as well as the usage of small furniture. These challenges of the existing condition made us simplify the project’s interior design and led us to the creation of an open kitchen, where the island is the centre of the apartment’s daily life.

We wanted to create a feeling of openness in this small space, therefore we decided to remove the bedroom’s partition wall. We suggest replacing the latter with a custom made, opening, wooden partition - a series of four doors that, when closed, can isolate the bedroom offering privacy, and, when open, completely unify the bedroom with the sitting area. The varnishing of this woodwork, in concert with the design’s colours enhance the sense of coziness and warmth in the apartment. Three are the characteristics that attracted both the owners’ and our interest, and we decided to preserve and incorporate in the new design: the ceiling’s wraparound decorative gypsum work, the large marble fireplace cladded with firebrick, and the real wood floor parquet.