In the Anaktora part of Kolonaki, in a listed mid-war building of the 1930s, the penthouse apartment – loaded with urban history - was transformed by Constantine Bouras Studio through a meticulous renovation that aimed to preserve the apartment’s past Athenian glory, while introducing contemporary design elements - creating a space that bridges past and present in a homogenous new visual narrative.
The idea of preserving as many elements of the original structure as possible, while transforming the interiors with an emphasis on contemporary living needs, guided the design process and resulted to a meaningful composition.
The historic elements, such as the existing floor parquet in the main living areas and bedrooms, the cement tiles and the terrazzo floor in the corridors, the oak wood sliding doors, the plaster ceiling details, were combined with new elements, to create a mix of historical grandeur and contemporary luxury. New floors were added in the kitchen and the two bathrooms, with a materiality compatible to the existing original floors, in a balanced colour palette, thus achieving a visual calibration of all spaces, regardless of the intense pattern of each of the individual floor finishes.
In the living room, an energy-efficient fireplace was added, in a wall composition, while the existing bookcases were rearranged in space, in the living and dining room, to meet storage needs for books and other items.
The wall that existed between the dining room and the kitchen was replaced by a glass partition with a passage door, connecting the two spaces, functionally and visually. This visual extension of the kitchen allows unobstructed views to Lycabettus hill, and at the same time, the dining room is now lit with more natural light. Transparency, through the glass, and reflection, through the mirrored kitchen backsplash, are key elements in the space perception.
The new kitchen entrance is now placed in such an axial relation with the apartment’s main entrance, so that the spectacular view to Immitos mountain from the kitchen’s window would be immediately perceived upon entering the apartment. In this same direction of capitalizing the apartment’s great urban views, the pantry received a glass service door, offering direct view onto the main avenue and the building’s service staircase, creating a visual event of this auxiliary space.
In the master bedroom, the en-suite bathroom was designed like a glow-box, creating a harmonious interplay of light and shadow, with references to Japanese architecture, avoiding cliché tendencies seen in recent restorations.
In a similar way, the closets in the bedrooms received curtains instead of doors, to be framed and defined as the lit parts of the space composition, giving indirect light to the room and thus creating this soft dreamy atmosphere needed in these parts of the apartment.
Architectural Design: Constantine Bouras Studio
Construction: Constantine Bouras Studio
Location: Athens, Greece
Year: 2024
Photography: Valentina Vagena
Text: by the architect
