A Demanding Transformation in Kolonaki

In the heart of Kolonaki, Kokosalaki Architecture renovates a 170 sq.m. apartment, shaping a contemporary urban residence around art, objects, textures and refined domestic atmosphere. The project, originally titled Refined Luxury, is set within a 1950s apartment building in central Athens and responds to the particular character of the existing shell.

The renovation was guided by the owner’s important personal art collection and distinct vision of modern luxury. The aim was to create a calmer, cleaner and more contemporary environment, without sacrificing the warmth, atmosphere and personality of the home.

Art, Objects and Contemporary Urban Living

The apartment is organized as a layered interior in which art is not treated as a later addition, but as an active part of the overall atmosphere. Works of art, objects and textures are integrated into a composition that allows the residence to remain personal while retaining a sense of order and clarity.

Through this approach, contemporary urban living is understood not as a neutral background, but as a daily experience with character. Surfaces, furniture, lighting and details are brought together to support intimacy, privacy and the presence of art in everyday life.

 

Working Within the Existing Shell

As is often the case with the renovation of 1950s apartment buildings in central Athens, the project involved a series of technical and construction challenges: outdated infrastructure, restricted site access, complex coordination requirements and the constant need to balance contemporary intervention with the character of the existing shell.

These limitations were absorbed into the design process in a controlled way. The new architectural language does not impose itself on the existing apartment, but develops through it, allowing the residence to acquire a more contemporary identity while preserving its memory and scale.

Light, Contrast and Atmosphere

From the bright, sun-filled living areas to the intentionally darker and more atmospheric WC, the apartment unfolds through contrast. Softness is set against structure, natural textures against refined detailing, openness against intimacy.

These contrasts do not operate as conflicts, but as complementary conditions that give the residence depth, rhythm and internal balance. The result is a domestic interior that is calm, composed and quietly expressive.

Understated Luxury and Personal Character

Luxury is approached through restraint rather than excess. The sense of quality emerges from precise choices, the relationship between materials, the atmosphere of the spaces and the way the apartment supports daily life.

Apartment Renovation in Kolonaki by Kokosalaki Architecture forms a home that feels both contemporary and deeply personal. Art, texture and contemporary urban living coexist in balance, shaping a residence of understated luxury in the center of Athens.

A Top-Floor Apartment Reopened to Light

In Vouliagmeni, Athens, D Flat by Virginia Malami transforms a top-floor apartment open on three sides into a clearer and more luminous domestic interior. In the existing layout, the living areas were oriented in a single direction, leaving the depth of the apartment underlit. The renovation opens the plan from end to end, allowing daylight to travel the full 14.5 metres of the interior from morning to evening.

The project establishes a renewed relationship between active shared spaces and quieter private rooms. Rather than treating the apartment as a sequence of separate rooms, the redesign introduces a continuous spatial order, balancing openness, privacy and the changing presence of light throughout the day.

Three Longitudinal Zones

The plan is organized into three longitudinal zones: a living zone, a central service and infrastructure zone, and a sleeping zone beyond. This division creates a contrast of tempo and atmosphere. The common rooms remain open and flexible, designed to host everyday life in different forms, while the bedrooms are more serene and contained.

The middle band becomes the threshold between these two conditions. It gives thickness to the plan, defines transitions and holds the more technical parts of the apartment, allowing the living areas and bedrooms to retain a sense of calm and clarity.

An Oak Spine for Domestic Infrastructure

At the center of the project is a continuous oak construction that runs along the length of the apartment. It is both furniture and space, a precise architectural element that gathers almost everything newly introduced by the renovation into one continuous system.

The oak spine contains the kitchen, entry coat storage, concealed bedroom doors, a utility cabinet with washing machine, WC, bookshelf and media cabinet. By consolidating these functions, the rest of the plan remains open and uncluttered. A continuous linear light follows the length of the element, turning it after dark into the apartment’s protagonist: an illuminated spine that gives the new program a single, unmistakable presence.

Material Continuity Through Marble and Oak

The material strategy is based on continuity rather than replacement. The existing beige Ioannina marble was preserved as a datum, while new oak was introduced in dialogue with the apartment’s earlier wood presence.

Together, marble and oak create a measured rhythm along the plan through pattern, joints and repetition. Red-and-white striped awnings were also reintroduced, echoing the original elements and carrying their graphic presence into the renewed apartment.

Reuse and Spatial Memory

Reuse forms an integral part of the project’s approach to sustainability and to the respect of what was already there. Where new marble was required in the kitchen after removing parquet, the material was sourced from the demolition rubble of a nearby renovation.

This decision reduces waste while extending the life of an existing material by giving it a new role within the apartment. The renovation therefore works not only with new elements, but also with fragments of material memory that are absorbed into the project’s contemporary organization.

Greek Atmosphere and Swiss Precision

D Flat also reflects the architect’s own trajectory. Raised within a Greek cultural context, with its particular relationship to light, materials and everyday outdoor living, and architecturally formed in Switzerland, where precision and functional clarity are fundamental, the project brings these two registers together without hierarchy.

Local atmosphere and familiar domestic cues are paired with a Swiss-inflected discipline of organization, concentrated infrastructure and concealed transitions. The result is an apartment that feels calm and usable, while retaining a strong relationship to its setting and history.

New Life for an Inherited Apartment

The renovation also acknowledges the personal history of the apartment, which is set within a structure originally built by the architect’s father. Its existing character and spatial memory are treated as material to be worked with, sharpened and carried forward rather than replaced.

Ultimately, D Flat is a project of alignment: plan with sun, new work with existing matter, and contemporary life with inherited character. Through a continuous oak spine, preserved marble and carefully organized light, the apartment is transformed into a calm and precise domestic interior.

A 1970s Apartment Reimagined Through Curved Geometries

In Glyfada, Grozopoulos+Associates undertook the complete renovation of a 100 sq.m. apartment dating from the 1970s. The original residence carried the typical spatial and material characteristics of its period: separated rooms, standardized layouts, parquet flooring, mosaic surfaces and a fragmented domestic organization.

The owners requested a full redesign that would transform the apartment into a contemporary and welcoming residence, suitable both for private use and short-term rental. Rather than erasing the memory of the existing interior, the design upgrades the apartment according to the needs of contemporary living, while preserving traces of its original atmosphere and material character.

Reorganizing the Plan for Contemporary Living

The renovation involved a significant reworking of the apartment’s layout. The positions of the bathroom and kitchen were exchanged, the corridor was opened up, and the floors and finishes in the kitchen, bathroom and WC were fully replaced.

This reconfiguration allows the apartment to function with greater clarity and fluidity. The former segmentation of the plan gives way to a more open domestic sequence, where the main living areas are visually and functionally connected.

Curves as Spatial and Functional Devices

The central design gesture is the introduction of curved geometries throughout the apartment. These curves appear in the ceilings, in fixed furniture and in movable elements, establishing a consistent spatial language across the residence.

Rather than operating only as a formal motif, the curves also organize the interior. They integrate lighting, soften transitions and define functional zones with subtlety, giving the apartment a sense of continuity without relying on rigid divisions.

A Green Marble Bar-Counter as a Focal Point

The unification of the kitchen, dining area and living room is organized around a linear bar-counter clad in deep green Indian marble. Positioned as both a focal point and an everyday functional element, the counter anchors the open-plan living space.

The natural stone, with its distinctive color and depth, introduces a sense of understated luxury. It is balanced by the wooden surfaces of the new kitchen and by the restored parquet flooring, creating a dialogue between new interventions and the apartment’s existing material memory.

Restored Parquet and the Continuity of Material Memory

The original herringbone parquet was carefully restored and sealed, allowing it to function as a timeless surface that connects the apartment’s past with its new identity. This decision was guided not only by aesthetic and historical considerations, but also by sustainability.

By preserving and reusing the existing floor, the intervention significantly reduced the need for new materials. The restored parquet becomes both a visual foundation and a subtle reminder of the apartment’s former life.

Earthy Tones, Organic Forms and an Urban Retreat

The material and color palette is composed of soft, earthy tones, warm off-whites, natural and dark wood, with stronger accents introduced through furniture and selected details. Contemporary lighting fixtures, furniture, artworks and decorative objects with organic forms reinforce the apartment’s overall character.

Through curved geometries, natural materials and contemporary lines, the renovation establishes a balanced relationship between old and new. The apartment is transformed into a flexible and refined living environment: a quiet urban retreat shaped by clarity, warmth and restraint.

Domestic landscape

The redesign of this compact urban apartment emerged through close and meaningful collaboration with its users, aiming to create an environment that responds to contemporary needs for living, working, and everyday flexibility. The project is grounded in the idea that spatial quality is not determined by size, but by clarity of organization, the flow of natural light, and the conscious integration of functions.

 

Spatial Organization

The original layout was reconsidered through a process of spatial reprogramming, with the primary strategy focusing on the creation of a unified open-plan environment. The selective removal of walls allowed new visual connections and spatial relationships to emerge, enhancing both the penetration of natural light and the continuity of movement throughout the apartment.

A key element of the composition is the custom-designed opening between the entrance and the dining area. This architectural gesture functions simultaneously as a light filter, a transitional threshold, and a spatial organizer, introducing clarity to the spatial sequence while reinforcing the perception of depth within the interior.

Material Palette

The material identity of the project is defined through a restrained yet expressive palette of natural materials. Wood and marble are combined in specially designed built-in constructions that accommodate storage, work surfaces, and everyday functions.

Furniture is approached as an architectural component rather than as independent objects. In this way, it becomes organically integrated into the spatial composition, reinforcing the sense of coherence and visual clarity within the interior. These integrated solutions enable the efficient use of space without visually overwhelming the environment.

 

 

Custom Elements

Particular emphasis was placed on flexibility and multifunctionality. Office furniture, storage units, and adaptable surfaces are carefully integrated so that the space can easily transform to accommodate different scenarios of use – from working from home to everyday living and social gatherings.

The final result is a bright and balanced domestic environment, where the clarity of the design, the consistency of the material palette, and the careful detailing transform a small apartment into a flexible and contemporary living landscape. Through targeted architectural interventions, the project demonstrates how compact living can be reimagined as a refined and cohesive spatial experience.

 

Radical layout

The project involves the renovation and complete reconfiguration of a penthouse apartment, situated on the top floor within a recessed area. The 50m2 apartment is part of a 1960s Athenian polykatoikia and includes a 50m2 balcony.

 

Open-Plan Layout

Over the decades, changing needs and lifestyles have underscored the importance of radically redefining the apartment’s layout. A primary modification is the repositioning of the entrance, creating a welcoming “threshold” that invites residents to gradually explore the space. The existing kitchen is replaced by the entryway, where a built-in storage area on the right functions both as seating and a compartment for the washing machine.

An oversized storage room -previously disproportionate for the apartment’s size- has been converted into a combined kitchen and dining area, which now serves as the central axis of the apartment’s design. At the heart of the open floor plan is a custom-designed living room sofa, a versatile, multifunctional piece around which the layout revolves. This redesign integrates the kitchen with the living and dining areas, creating a flexible, multipurpose space tailored to the demands of modern life.

 

Design Gestures

Given the limited square footage, the apartment is designed to minimize visual clutter through a single cohesive spatial gesture: the kitchen cabinetry extends and clads the bathroom volume in a defining blue color, which also becomes definitive for the project’s name, ” Kyano”. This blue structure also serves a functional purpose, concealing the air conditioning unit, which is the primary source of heating and cooling, and discreetly integrating all electrical appliances.

In order to take advantage of the spacious balcony, the main living room opening is extended in both length and height, further merging the interior and exterior space. In parallel, the existing outdoor mosaic flooring is polished, preserving a touch of the apartment’s original character, while a water feature transforms the outdoor space into an urban garden.

 

Material & Color Pallet

The project’s material palette draws inspiration from the Kallimarmaro Stadium, a historic landmark in the Pagrati area. White Dionysos marble was selected for the kitchen counter, complemented by off-white lacquered wood for the cabinetry. Custom-designed furniture pieces -such as the bathroom vanity, bedside tables, and living room coffee table- are crafted from raw sheet metal, treated with anti-scaling varnish for durability.

The bathroom is clad with small tiles, while a glass block wall defines the shower area and allows additional light to flow in from the bright living room. The bedroom, designed as a private sanctuary, features soothing off-white tones that offer a respite from daily life. The original reinforced concrete load-bearing structure is also exposed, adding character and texture to the space.

Harmonic space

The project aim is the renovation of a 46m2 apartment situated on the 4th floor of a traditional Athenian polykatoikia built in the 1970s, with unobstructed views of the city and an abundance of natural light and ventilation.

 

Functional Organisation

The aim of the design is to create a fully equipped, modern apartment for Airbnb uses with an open plan concept that offers a coherent architectural effect, while at the same time maintaining a high level of privacy. This is achieved through the integration of the kitchen and living area and the demolition of the wall that separated the living room and the bedroom. The new layout allows a large amount of sun light to enter the space and enhances the natural ventilation of the apartment.

 

Balanced Material Palette

The material and colour selection follow the same open-plan concept. More specifically, wooden flooring is used throughout the space, seamlessly integrating with colourful geometric kitchen tiles, complemented by an array of custom furniture in beige and wooden tones, thus creating a warm and cozy atmosphere.

 

Interior Lighting

The lighting design further enhances the idea of a unified, cohesive space. Elegant wall fixtures and distinct hanging ceiling lights are chosen for indirect and direct lighting, respectively. The lighting fixtures and decorative elements are painted in earthly tones -terracotta, golden, brown, and green- adding intensity to the space.

Uninterrupted flows

The “One Athens” residential complex situated at the foot of Lycabettus hill, constitutes an iconic building for the city and its architecture. The modernist building was designed in 1957, by the prominent Greek architect Constantinos Doxiadis, and was fully completed in 1971.

 

Design Philosophy

The building served as the Doxiadis Associates headquarters till the late 1990s. In 2014, the listed office complex was transformed into a residential development, introducing a new building type and scale to the city, which is primarily dominated by the ‘polykatoikia’ typology. The complete renovation of the 5th-floor apartment aspires to accommodate the needs of contemporary living, while respecting the existing architecture.

 

Spatial Organization

The reorganization of the ‘L’-shaped plan is simple and explicit: an open public zone, includes the dining, living and kitchen area as well as an office extension that leads to a private zone, which includes a master bedroom with en-suite bathroom and walk-in closet as well as a secondary a guest bedroom. The intentional absence of walls enhances the idea of a fluid, flexible and continuous space. Scattered full-height, translucent sliding panels made of glass and timber divide the rooms offering enclosure and privacy. In parallel, the large terrazzo floor slabs delineate a seamless surface enhancing the space’s continuity.

 

Existing Facade

The building’s original, modular façade design used to serve corporate office needs by filling the space with abundant yet filtered Mediterranean natural light and controlled natural ventilation. Today, the new open plan organization connects the two glazed wings of the ’L’ shaped apartment: the one facing towards the central atrium and the other towards the street. As a result, the apartment enjoys the unobstructed immediacy to the eminent Athenian context and the lush Lycabettus hill as well as the southeast views of the Acropolis and the Saronic Gulf, visible through the polykatoikia rooftops.

Colorful functions

The project’s aim is the renovation of an apartment situated in an old 1980’s Athenian building, which faces a large park. The apartment’s linear organisation as well as its southwestern orientation, allows an abundance of natural light to enter the space.

 

Spatial Organization

The design objective is to create a multi-functional space that includes a kitchen, a dining and living area and an office, while maintaining an open central area. During the demolition works, the wall separating the kitchen and living room of the original layout is removed. Furthermore, the furniture is positioned along the edges of the reconfigured open space, becoming visually integrated with the walls, through similar colour tones.

 

Central Design Element

For the kitchen and office space, contrasting colour shades were carefully selected -deep red and dark green colours respectively- to distinguish between the two functions. The kitchen island is clad in black stone and birch wood and acts as the new divider in the living room as well as a versatile space for gathering, dining, meal prepping and office area.

 

Material Palette

The interior floor is clad with Ioannina marble and the exterior with Aliveri marble. The material’s high reflectivity, diffuses and enhances the natural light entering the apartment. In contrast, the wooden floors in the bedrooms exude a sense of warmth and relaxation. The use of pink marble tiles for the bathroom floor preserves the apartment’s material continuity, which, combined with grey metallic elements, gives the space a luxurious character.

Dark contrasts

This 260m² apartment is located in the city of Curitiba, in the State of Paraná. The project’s aim was to create an interior, versatile space that combined different functions for both work and leisure.

 

Design Philosophy

The inspiration behind the renovation was to select high quality materials and furniture elements that were in tune with the client’s design preferences. The design was complemented with bold, dark tones and the integration of contemporary furniture. The main space is organised as an open-plan layout, where the living room becomes harmoniously integrated with the kitchen, dining and barbeque area. The apartment also has four private bedrooms -one of which is flexibly tranformed into an entertainment room- as well as a private office.

 

Bespoke Elements

A series of bespoke elements were designed to complement the flexibility and versatility of the space. A custom sliding door that separates the kitchen from the rest of the living room as well as an elegant light fixture, which hangs above the dining table, become focal pieces, adding a layer of sophistication and exclusivity to the space.

 

Color Pallete

The overall aesthetic of the apartment disseminates a contemporary ambiance, complemented with dark shades of grey and black tones and lighter natural materials, such as the kitchen’s stone flooring. The material composition as well as furniture that serve as focal elements throughout the space, strike a careful balance between subtle tones and darker colours. Wood flooring and grey tapestry is used in the bedrooms to create a cozy and comfortable ambiance.

Contemporary Thresholds

Located in a quiet neighborhood in Kipseli, this 1970s apartment was renovated and converted into a contemporary residence. The project involves remodeling a space that holds sentimental value for the client, honoring the existing space while also embracing the opportunity for a modern reinvention.

 

Design philosophy & layout

The 65 m² apartment is organized in an open-plan layout, consisting of the kitchen, dining, and living areas, and is transformed into a unified place of gathering. Several walls were demolished in order to take advantage of the apartment’s eastern orientation and unify the adjacent spaces. A new, wide opening is created between the dining area and the kitchen, connected by a long solid, white countertop used for cooking, dining, and social interaction.

 

Multi-functional structures

A series of customized furniture were designed to address the need for storage, while becoming seamlessly integrated with the aesthetics of the space. Ribbed wooden cupboards, white skirting, the bedroom’s distinct headboard and the kitchen door’s white minimal metal frame with ribbed glass material composition, follow classical references that are reinterpreted into contemporary designs.

 

Material Palette

The material selection was based on the existing palette found in the apartment. Oak herringbone flooring, white marble tiling as well as pink and white terrazzo are used to give the space a cohesive, modern aesthetic. The material finishes were also used to restore the cracks and gaps following the extensive demolition of the walls. Alongside the natural materials, pale color accents used on furniture, lighting fixtures and wall edges highlight specific corners within the space.