A series of light-touch interventions transforms a ground-floor apartment in Kolonaki into the architecture practice’s first permanent workplace, retaining the existing timber floors, glazed doors and arched entrance.

 

The Local Local workplace occupies a 77m² ground-floor apartment in Kolonaki, Athens. Designed by Local Local as the practice’s first permanent headquarters, the project adapts an existing residential interior through a series of non-structural interventions that preserve its previous architectural layers.

Before moving into the new office, the growing team had been working from founder Sofia Xanthakou’s own Plaka House. The new space provides a dedicated setting for collective work while translating the studio’s wider interest in context, material history and reuse into its everyday working environment.

 

Working with the existing apartment

As the property is leased, the intervention was deliberately restrained. Instead of substantially altering the existing plan, the design works with the qualities already present in the apartment.

The original timber floors were repaired and lightened to compensate for the limited direct sunlight reaching the ground-floor interior. White walls further increase luminosity, while the existing timber doors with rippled glazed panels were restored and finished in a slightly darker tone.

The arched entrance was also retained. Together, these elements preserve the domestic origins of the space rather than concealing them behind a conventional office fit-out.

The L-shaped plan is divided primarily between the main workspace and a meeting room with access from two sides. This simple organization allows the small office to accommodate different patterns of individual and collective work without introducing new permanent partitions.

 

Furniture as part of the workplace

A large solid-cypress table in the meeting room became the point of departure for the furniture designed specifically for the office.

Drawing on its material and proportions, Local Local developed a large communal worktable and two window-facing desks. Solid timber is combined with Formica to withstand the heavier daily use associated with the workplace.

The new elements coexist with chairs retrieved from storage rather than replaced with a complete new furniture set. This combination of bespoke pieces and existing objects gives the office an intentionally cumulative character.

The meeting room itself was formerly a bedroom. Its original wardrobe was retained, but its doors were removed and replaced with roll-up blinds. The simple alteration transforms the existing joinery into open storage for material samples and project documentation while keeping another layer of the apartment visible.

 

Books and collective design work

A Vitsœ shelving system occupies one of the main walls and holds Sofia Xanthakou’s architecture library, assembled over almost a decade of study and professional work.

Previously kept in storage, the books now form both a working resource and a visual backdrop to the studio. Their prominent position reflects the practice’s continued use of printed material as a tool for research and design.

Another wall is occupied by a long perforated-metal pinboard finished in pistachio green. Designed by Local Local, it allows drawings, references and work in progress to be displayed and reviewed collectively.

The element establishes an analogue counterpart to screen-based work. Projects can be pinned up, compared and discussed at a larger scale, turning the wall into an active part of the design process.

 

A more distinct entrance

The entrance was treated as an opportunity to give the workplace a clearer identity. The existing lobby had little natural light and lacked a distinct spatial character.

Local Local invited artist Theodore Psychoyos to create two site-specific marble pieces for this area: a sculptural console and a seat. Marble, already recurrent in the practice’s architectural work, introduces a denser material presence against the lighter background of timber floors and white walls.

The pieces are functional objects but also establish a more deliberate threshold between the street, the shared building and the studio.

Lighting contributes another precisely selected layer. Ceiling fixtures by Michael Anastassiades are used in the principal workspace, while a freestanding light by the same designer completes the meeting room.

 

An office designed to accumulate

The project does not pursue the image of a finished, immutable workplace. Existing architectural elements, restored furniture, new joinery, books, material samples and artworks are deliberately allowed to coexist.

This approach leaves space for the office to change as the practice develops. Objects and references can accumulate, work can occupy the walls, and individual areas can adapt to new routines without requiring substantial alterations to the apartment.

Through a limited number of interventions, the Local Local workplace demonstrates how an ordinary residential interior can acquire a new function while retaining its previous character. Rather than erasing the apartment, the design uses its existing features as the framework for a workplace shaped by collaboration, material research and gradual occupation.

Two concealed storage volumes organize the apartment into public and private zones, while visual axes derived from the building’s façade grid reinforce the transparency and architectural identity of the former Doxiadis headquarters.

 

Located in the One Athens residential complex in Kolonaki, the apartment occupies a building of distinctive typology and architectural significance that formerly housed the headquarters of architect and urban planner Konstantinos Doxiadis.

The renovation by Proplusma Architects approaches the interior with respect for this existing architectural identity. Instead of imposing an unrelated formal language, the design emphasizes the visual axes, transparency and structural elements already embedded in the building.

 

 

Two zones defined by concealed storage

Two continuous storage units run transversely across the floor plan and establish the principal organization of the residence.

The first zone contains the shared living spaces: sitting room, dining area and open-plan kitchen. The second accommodates the more private programme, including the children’s bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and the principal bedroom with its walk-in wardrobe and bathroom.

Rather than functioning simply as cupboards, the storage units operate as architectural boundaries. Their scale allows them to organize circulation, conceal secondary functions and separate the two parts of the apartment without introducing a conventional sequence of corridors and isolated rooms.

 

A grid derived from the existing façade

The design takes the geometric pattern of the building’s façades as a point of departure. Imaginary axes derived from this grid determine alignments both horizontally and vertically throughout the interior.

These lines coordinate openings, joinery, ceilings and fixed elements. As a result, individual interventions remain connected to a larger ordering system rather than appearing as independent objects.

The strategy also reinforces the relationship between the renovated apartment and the architecture of the original complex. The building’s exterior logic is translated into the organization of its interior, establishing visual continuity across the plan.

 

 

Exposed concrete and continuous timber flooring

In the living room, a recessed ceiling exposes the original concrete beams. Their rhythm remains visible as a recognizable element of the building’s construction and becomes one of the defining features of the shared space.

Concealed lighting around the recess emphasizes the depth and repetition of the beams without visually separating them from the broader composition.

A herringbone timber floor runs continuously through the apartment. Its warm material character contrasts with the exposed concrete and the predominantly monochromatic joinery, while its uninterrupted pattern reinforces spatial continuity.

At the centre of the living zone, the kitchen island becomes a focal point. Its substantial marble countertop establishes a material counterweight to the darker cabinetry behind it and connects the kitchen with the adjoining dining and sitting areas.

 

White and black storage surfaces

The two concealed storage bands are clad in timber finished in white and black lacquer. A regular grid of vertical grooves organizes the long surfaces and subtly marks the functions hidden behind them.

On the lighter side, the television and a bar adjacent to the dining area are integrated within the white cladding. When closed, the units become part of a continuous architectural surface rather than individual pieces of furniture.

On the opposite side, black lacquer gives the storage wall a denser character. A concealed door within the same surface provides access to the private part of the apartment, allowing the transition between the two zones to remain visually discreet.

 

 

Individual character within the private rooms

The more private areas introduce greater variation while remaining within the overall design system.

The children’s bedrooms respond to individual requirements, with bespoke elements and distinct colour palettes extending into their bathrooms. This allows each room to develop a recognizable character without disrupting the wider material coherence of the apartment.

In the principal bedroom, the composition places greater emphasis on depth and reflection. Mirrors, transparent wardrobe doors and concealed lighting create overlapping visual layers that expand the perception of the space.

The combination of transparency and reflection continues one of the central ideas of the residence. Boundaries remain legible, but they are repeatedly softened through visual connections and changing degrees of opacity.

Through a controlled palette of timber, marble, lacquered surfaces, glass and exposed concrete, the renovation establishes a contemporary domestic environment while retaining references to the original building. The design is defined less by added decoration than by alignment, concealment and the careful management of transparency.

 

The project was first published in print in Apartments 2025, an annual edition by ek Architectural Publications.

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.