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.

 

Multiplying space

“Humans are endowed with great versatility as a species, because we are adaptable to any kind of space.”

 

Design Philosophy

Designing for a specific client, always entails personalized approaches to functionality and taste. Talking with the owner of this 42m² apartment in Taiwan about his own desires and needs, made us feel that the space available was simply not enough.

 

 

Interior Layout

To accommodate the program, we made a site-specific classification of activities into “predictable”, “unpredictable” and “adaptable”. An example of space assigned to predictable activities is the kitchen and the dining table, which involve standard functions. Unpredictable activities are structured around leisure, such as watching TV, dining and having a conversation; those always involve active decision-making by the users.

Adaptable activities are the most interesting ones, considering their requirements for space: we lie down when sleeping, or sit when working and reading, but stand up when walking. Predicting the positions of a body in such a framework, provided the key to our design.

 

 

Custom Structures

This strategy was helpful but still inadequate, therefore we suggested multifunctional configurations: our design approach integrates different uses. For example, we combined the open kitchen with a rotating dining table: Besides working as a unit, they may function individually, to accommodate separate needs. So does the wall, that provides mobile storage to meet with the owner’s temporary usage needs.

 

Fluid Movement

This high-end residential development is adjacent to the famous golf course, in Glyfada. The articulate form with the playful geometries of the street-facing façade, derives from the interpretation of local planning regulations, creating a wireframe that engulfs the volume of the building.

 

Architectural Language

Curvilinear balconies with alternate directionality, create a lively, fashion-forward rhythm on the façade. This rhythm spreads around the side façades, incorporating the architectural extrusions of the building onto the same design language, providing a sense of movement. The architectural language of the balconies re-emerges on the exterior walls.

 

Façade Design

The corner towards the golf course, interpreted as curved glazing, serves as a nod to the landmark of the neighborhood. The sense of movement is kept throughout the design. The double-height living area of the penthouse apartment intensifies this perception, briefly interrupted by a fly-bridge connecting the mezzanine to the balcony.

 

Interior Layout

The feeling of openness on the ground floor is achieved by a double-height interior, connected to the adjacent private garden. On the interior, vertical louvers are used as a functional shading device that highlights the vertical geometry. The overall sense of elegance is enhanced by custom-made space dividers and furniture, with the combined use of materials such as wood and marble.

Local materialities

In Plaka, one of the oldest districts in Athens, an apartment on Lempessi Street is renovated, blending modern aesthetics with traditional references and materials. This two-bedroom apartment, situated on the first floor of a typical post-war building, showcases a harmonious fusion of contemporary design and historic charm.

 

Interior Layout

The floor plan features an open layout centered around a main area that includes the living room, kitchen, and entrance. This central space is connected with the two bedrooms and utility rooms, enhancing the apartment’s ergonomics. Every room has access to a balcony, allowing seamless transition to a semi-outdoor living area.

 

Material Palette

The selection of colors and materials respects the traditional Athenian houses of the area and earth tones and textures are used throughout the interior. In the open-plan area, light terracotta ceilings complement off-white walls and ceramic tile floors. The entrance wall is clad with reclaimed old bricks sourced from material yards. The kitchen, designed with traditional elements, features a modern cooking area and a distinctive dining table.

The floor is covered with wood, while the walls are painted in soft tones, creating a warm atmosphere. The two bedrooms and bathrooms follow a cohesive design approach, each utilizing different ceramic tiles in various colors, shapes, and patterns to distinguish the spaces from one another.

 

Decorative Elements

A divider made of perforated ceramic elements with triangular patterns separates the kitchen from the living room while maintaining a visual connection. Wooden doors with black metallic fixtures, handles, and faucets contribute to a modern aesthetic, creating a contemporary home that references the region’s historical past.

Creative flexibility

The new 1000m² offices were designed from the ground up to ensure that every corner within the space encourages collaboration, ideation and brainstorming at any given moment.

 

Spatial Organization

The layout is organized in a rectangular shape with a 100m2 interior courtyard at its center. The reception’s design conveys the idea of an unconventional working environment, with minimal aesthetic and guided by the company’s brand colours. The ceiling is defined by an industrial blue sky, while the reception area offers additional space for short meetings or work. The concept of maximum flexibility is carried out throughout the office, where spaces are organized in different typologies.

 

Exclusive Designs

Marketing and sales are the first departments to be distinguished in the space. Specifically designed webnests, featuring custom metal structures, accommodate 6 to 8 cozy workstations, complete with TVs and whiteboards. This setup facilitates seamless problem-solving and brainstorming sessions and enables each team member to share information on the screens at any time.

Bar marketing is the first brainstorming area, consisting of a large table and a series of seats arranged in a bar layout. The first meeting room has whiteboards on the walls and a custom-made ping pong table seating 8 people. Several think tanks become ideal for isolated work, private calls or even as an alternative workspace.

 

Custom Elements

Drawing inspiration from the word “disrupt”, a term prevalent in cloud companies, the main meeting room’s design embodies innovation since half of the room seamlessly extends outwards towards the courtyard creating a dynamic space that blurs the boundaries between interior and exterior. The meeting room is clad with vertical panels and includes a 12-seat table as well as a 16-seat sofa. Its walls are lined with whiteboard as well as a custom-made structure with hidden lighting.

The brainstorming room is designed as a small theatre, with the opposite wall also covered in whiteboard. The theatre is constructed in such a way that allows space for stools, which can be used for large group meetings. Adjacent to the brainstorming room is another private office, a four-person meeting bar with a TV and the RnD area with an additional 8-seat webnest. Finally, there is an additional office space filled with workstations with a central sliding mechanism that allow employees to move their desks around.

 

Innovative Uses

TV screens are installed in all workspaces, allowing employees to share information via a wireless network. A series of tripod desks offer twelve additional seats for workers and have a special moving mechanism installed that serves as storage as well as a temporary seating for a colleague.

Entertainment plays an important role in the office environment. Throughout the space there are several board and video games, including two large Score 4’s as well as a dedicated playroom illuminated with hidden lighting and clad with high-strength fabrics. The kitchen-dining room features 360o doors and small house-shaped structures with TV screens for enjoying a casual lunch break or impromptu work discussions. The courtyard becomes an extension of the dining room and includes indoor and outdoor seating to accommodate all employee needs.

Spaceship Earth

On 3 November 1957, a stray from the streets of Moscow became the first living organism to orbit the Earth. Laika, the pioneering cosmonaut, although rather unnecessarily sacrificed -looking at the scientific impact of her hasty journey- on the altar of the competition between the two space superpowers of that time, can, today, be glorified again as the sub-object-symbol of a new era, that of the Anthropocene.

“No! We are in the Anthropocene era.”

Eugene F. Stoermer

Starting from the famous Trinity Experiment at the American nuclear test site, geologists, biologists, and other experts place the milestone of this new geological period, molded by the dominant participation of human activity in the formation of the planet’s geology and ecosystems, on 16 July 1945 in New Mexico. The atomic bomb is the point of no return, which has given man the ability to annihilate himself, in a few seconds, according to Buckminster Fuller’s “Spaceship Earth”.

Several decades later, Eva and Carlos, two Belgian Malinois dogs, Harris the cuckoo, five families of terns and six falcons and twenty sparrows, live and learn together in a new building, located thirty kilometers west of Madrid. Situated amidst rural fields that have been altered in recent decades by urban development and intensive agriculture, the architecture of the Educan School represents an integrated experiment in restoring the local ecosystem and reversing the negative impacts of human activity.

Educan’s architecture is a design for multiple types of “users”, including but not limited to humans. In the two classrooms, dogs and trainers practice sports that require dexterity, timing, and precision, such as Schutzhund. Meanwhile, birds gather in nests formed by the facade, enjoying the view and orientation as well as other benefits that particularly attract them. Small birds feed on rodents, contributing to the ecological balance of the neighboring fields. Smaller species and bats – which inhabit the south façade sign – feed on insects, such as mosquitoes, which can carry certain dog diseases, while also participating in the pollination cycles of flowers and plants in the area. Sparrows made an impromptu appearance in this self-regulating ecosystem, uninvitedly settling in the circular holes of the structure’s containers.

 

 

Non-humans (not as the opposite of humans, but as all species beyond humans) are at the center of the design. Ηas this, then, sparked a third architectural revolution following the theocentrism of the ancient and medieval periods and the anthropocentrism of the Renaissance and modernity? Form, an awkward yet fundamental criterion for determining the architectural identity of a new project, does not provide the answer. Educan is not necessarily different from a (well-designed) rural warehouse or an ordinary productive infrastructure for people and machines. Typologically and functionally, the differences in this new architecture are subtle. However, what is critical is the scale of the animals themselves, in what is usually called “detail.” The floors, typically designed for humans and their shoes, are adapted for the paws and joints of dogs’ feet. The training rooms feature removable rolls of PTE synthetic turf approved for dog training, while the theory rooms are covered with semi-polished, exposed, inert concrete made from river pebbles.

The average height of the architectural space drops from the typical 1.60 meters (the eye level of the average standing person) to just half a meter. Internal openings are raised to over one meter to avoid distracting trained dogs. Blinds shadow the south-facing openings, allowing enough space for the dogs to move. Rainwater is collected from the roof into large troughs for dogs and birds, while interior surfaces are lined with sound-absorbing foam insulation to minimize noise and reverberation.

The building employs a wide range of materials and construction practices, both conventional and digital, integrating various techniques, scientific knowledge, and production systems. This approach connects the building, from its production to its eventual demolition, to the natural environment and neighboring human activities. The materials used are either recycled or fully recyclable, while paying special attention to minimizing waste during their production, life cycle, and disposal.

The thermal capacity of the in-situ concrete mass contributes significantly to the energy efficiency and behavior of the structure, while the wavy sheets of the formwork are produced from recycled trusses. The optimization and standardization of the industrial metal sheets and the precise cutting and joining of the glued timber on the CNC, together with the reuse of HC 40 containers and the handmade iron construction with customized joints, follow a philosophy of minimal resource management for achieving the maximum result.

Unique elements such as the legs of specific furniture, light fixtures, and large sliding doors, as well as manual bioclimatic features like perforated shutters and blinds, have been designed, commissioned, and assembled. From the weight of the foundations and reinforced concrete walls to the lightness of the dry-structure elements, everything is conceptualized with two primary considerations: the behavior and perception of non-humans and environmental sustainability. This approach influences both the tectonic adequacy and morphology of the structure.

Educan is the tangible proof of a new architecture that responds to the demands of the Anthropocene. The basic components of architecture (of people for people) are reformulated based on a new, universal method, motivated by a totally innovative purpose: life on Earth beyond our own species.