This work is about the renovation of an 85 sqm ground floor apartment in the Lycabettus area, at the city centre of Athens. The apartment is the home of a couple of art collectors that live between Athens and London. Before initiation of the project studies, we received from the assignee a particularly thorough and targeted brief which facilitated and reinforced the design process.

We decided to remove the apartment’s longitudinal partition wall, therefore enlarging the entryway, sitting area, dining hall and kitchen, as well as eliminating, yet sustaining, the corridor. With this movement we reduce the corridor’s space and transform it into a more open, connected and fluid space. An important element in this apartment is the utilization of the natural light.

Therefore, we designed the opening of two interior transom windows: a single-glazed transom window which brings additional natural light into the bathroom that faces the airshaft, and a wooden transom window that illuminates (through one of the bedrooms) the apartment’s entryway. The design specifies the preservation and restoration of all existing wooden, marble and terrazzo flooring as well as the creation of new designs from Volakas marble onto the marble flooring of the sitting area and dining hall. Cooking is an important daily ritual for the couple.

Consequently, we place an L-shaped kitchen island between the dining area and the kitchen, this way connecting the two spaces. Simultaneously, the island’s shape creates a small yet comfortable working zone for the couple, where daily activities take place in parallel with cooking, as the kitchen’s stove is placed nearby, onto the kitchen island.