A 1970s Apartment Reworked for Contemporary Living

Located in a prominent 1970s building in the city of Ioannina, Thalen Apt by Pantazi5 Architects is a 74 sq.m. apartment renovation designed for a sociable couple. The project brings together childhood memories, the existing character of the apartment and a forward-looking approach to everyday domestic life.

Rather than erasing the memory of the original space, the redesign acts as a bridge between what the apartment already carried and the future patterns of living it now needs to support. The result is a compact interior that combines hospitality, practicality and carefully controlled material contrasts.

One Intervention, One New Living Core

The project focuses on the apartment’s living areas. A single change to the existing plan allows previously separated rooms to merge into a more connected and functional layout, creating an extended naturally lit space that becomes the center of the home.

This new living core accommodates everyday use, gatherings and flexible domestic routines. It is organized not through rigid partitions, but through material definition, visual continuity and a clear relationship between open, transparent and enclosed zones.

 

 

Open, Glass and Wooden Areas

The unified space is visually divided into three distinct areas: the open area, the glass area and the wooden area. These correspond respectively to the living room, the kitchen and the service zone, which includes storage and a WC.

Although strongly differentiated in tone and texture, the three areas flow into one another. Existing uses, such as the dining area within the kitchen and the arrangement of the living room, are preserved and reworked, while new functions are introduced to support the apartment’s more practical and hospitable character.

Green Marble and a Parametric Mirror Installation

The open area forms the main living space of the apartment. Closely connected to the kitchen, it also provides access toward the private areas through the service zone.

Clad with green marble flooring, the bright living room includes furniture made from reused materials of the existing apartment. A parametrically designed mirror installation becomes the space’s most distinctive intervention, framing specific views toward the neighboring neo-Byzantine monument of the Zosimaia Educational Academy.

 

 

The Kitchen as a Transparent Room

The kitchen is part of the same unified living area, but it is defined through a glass screen that maintains visual contact and interaction between the two zones. Transparent and opaque cupboards form a flexible arrangement that supports both cooking and dining.

Black granite worktops give the kitchen a strong material presence, while light grey tiles and black steel shelving complete the palette. The shelving adds a sculptural quality to the room, while also functioning as storage.

Iroko Wood and the Introverted Service Zone

Next to the transparent kitchen area, the wooden zone is the most introverted part of the apartment. Finished with upcycled iroko wood from the original apartment, it accommodates storage and a WC, while also mediating access to the private rooms.

Through this compact service core, the renovation adds functionality without fragmenting the new living area. Thalen Apt therefore becomes a careful study in how a small apartment can be reorganized through one precise spatial move, turning existing materials, memory and contemporary use into a coherent domestic environment.

A Contemporary Café in the Alpine Borderland

In Tarvisio, a town shaped by its position between Italy, Austria and Slovenia, Caffè Nazionale reopens as a contemporary space of gathering and social interaction. Designed by Elisa Mansutti Architetto, the project brings back to life a name deeply rooted in the town’s collective memory, reinterpreting it through a language of arches, timber, marble and greenery.

Tarvisio lies within a border landscape defined by exchange, transit and arrival. Located between the peaks of the Julian Alps and the Tarvisio Forest, the café draws on this condition of passage and encounter, translating the forms and materials of Alpine tradition into a refined interior for everyday use.

Reinterpreting the Historic Café

The project occupies a large vacant retail unit along the town’s main street, fully glazed toward the exterior and internally structured by a sequence of existing columns. Rather than treating these columns as constraints, the design incorporates them into a rhythmic architectural system that organizes the entire space.

The result is an interior that balances openness and intimacy. The café remains visually connected to the street, while its internal composition introduces a more layered sequence of spaces, allowing different forms of use to coexist throughout the day.

Arches as Permeable Thresholds

The first design gesture was the transformation of the existing columns into a wall articulated by a continuous series of arches. Beginning at the entrance, this arched sequence extends across the length of the interior, filtering the space and establishing a clear spatial rhythm.

The arches distinguish the bistro area from the more intimate lounge without fully separating them. Regular and measured, they operate as permeable thresholds: architectural elements that suggest division while preserving visual continuity and movement.

A Modular Fir Wood System

At the rear of the café, a fir wood backdrop recalls the native tree species of the Tarvisio region. Warm and tactile, this wooden system separates the service areas from the public space, while introducing a material presence directly connected to the surrounding Alpine landscape.

The system is based on a 60 cm module. Vertical timber elements clad the walls and define open shelving for the display of wine bottles. Following the same rhythm, they extend upward into the ceiling, becoming beams and panels that integrate the lighting system. Walls, furniture and ceiling surfaces are therefore linked through a continuous modular order.

Green Marble and the Operational Heart of the Café

The counter forms the operational heart of Caffè Nazionale. Designed in an L-shaped configuration with a central island, it brings together materials that evoke the Alpine environment: fir wood and green marble.

The layout provides generous work surfaces, a raised ledge for quick service and direct access to the basement and staff areas. Functional clarity is combined with material intensity, making the counter both a working element and a visual anchor within the café.

Lounge, High Table and Scenic Greenery

Along the glazed façade, a wooden bench runs parallel to the windows. Upholstered in green leather padding, the seating reinforces the material palette of the interior while offering a comfortable place to linger. Heating elements are integrated behind slatted timber panels, preserving visual continuity while allowing warm air to circulate.

In the lounge area, a large high table in marble is fixed to the floor as a sculptural presence. Solid yet refined, it transforms the area into a place dedicated to conviviality. At the back of the lounge, a raised linear planter clad in glossy green ceramic tiles introduces a living backdrop, bringing the presence of the surrounding landscape into the interior.

Flexible Hospitality for Different Moments of the Day

The layout is designed to support multiple uses, structured around the rhythmic sequence of arches that divides the café into two main zones: the bistro and the lounge. Each area can host different activities while maintaining a coherent overall atmosphere.

From morning breakfasts and brunches to afternoon aperitifs and evening live music, the café can adapt to changing social and cultural programs. The combination of modular elements, open plan and adaptable furniture allows Caffè Nazionale to remain inviting and functional throughout the day.

Alpine Materials and a Renewed Local Identity

The project begins from the existing marble flooring, characterized by shifting tones between forest green and deep reddish brown. This material base informs a wider palette that reinterprets the Alpine context: fir wood for walls and ceiling structures, green expressed through marble, glazed ceramic tiles and textured plaster, and living vegetation completing the composition.

Through these elements, Caffè Nazionale becomes more than a renovated hospitality interior. It is conceived as a place of encounter and identity, in constant dialogue with the town, its landscape and the memory of Tarvisio as a borderland of movement and exchange.

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.