This project redefines the ubiquitous, Athenian, mixed-use housing typology in one of the densest urban neighborhoods of the city center, Patissia. A simple, L-shaped plan is dictated by site orientation and adjacent building mass, creating a small garden in the back part of the lot. The vertical arrangement of different programs, which is the typical housing block is integrated behind a uniform façade of duplicate floor levels, is articulated here as a “sectional” façade, whose individual floor levels appear to extend different lengths along the street, varying the relationship of closed to open space at each floor. At the sidewalk level, the majority of the building is lifted to provide a broad visual connection between the public space of the street and private garden in the back, while simultaneously offering space for two vehicles. Accordingly, the office space on the first two floors, the apartment on the third, and the “house” on the upper levels each contribute to a series of open or transparent living spaces that connect the street to the backyard along the West party line; whereas the most sheltered interior spaces are concentrated along the opposite party line. The end result is a more horizontal than a vertical reading of the city, where dense urban infill coincides with connectivity and permeable movement.

Team:

Architects: AREA, Architecture Research Athens
Styliani Daouti, Giorgos Mitroulias, Michaeljohn Raftopoulos

Structural Engineer: Thanos Giannimaras

Mechanical Engineer: Panos Kamboukos 

Landscape: Katerina Gkoltsiou

Photographer: Vassilis Makris

Materials Used:

Exterior Thermal Insulation System:  Caparol Paints (Carpenters Association of Paros) 
Window Frames: Alumil
Tiles: imola, tint collection
Marbles: Kavalas, category a