Nestled between Exarcheia and Kolonaki at the foot of Athens’ Lycabettus Hill, a typical 1970s apartment has been transformed into a luminous, art-filled home for two professionals working across the arts and communication industries. The 85-square-metre space now serves not only as a living environment, but as a curated reflection of its residents’ global sensibilities and creative practices.
From the beginning, the brief was unusually specific, a request to design around an extensive, evolving collection of artworks, objects, and inherited pieces. The design team embraced the opportunity to balance preservation with transformation, restoring original features like brown marble and terrazzo floors, while removing internal partitions to invite in natural light and spatial flow.
A defining element of the renovation is the integration of custom-designed, sculptural furnishings. One of the first interventions, a white metal structure placed where a hallway wall once stood, now frames favorite artworks against a preserved section of original brick, turning the apartment’s entry into a curated moment.
In the kitchen, a large tiled island becomes the functional and social centrepiece. Its layered design includes marble shelving, built-in nooks, and a suspended white frame that casts soft, shifting shadows, a subtle choreography of form and light. Cooking is central to daily life here, and the island invites lingering, gathering, and creativity.
Warm oak cabinetry wraps the perimeter of the space, shaped around original airshaft windows and newly added transoms that filter sunlight into previously dim rooms. These quiet architectural moves link spaces together, bringing depth and softness as the sun shifts from the northeast-facing bedroom and study to the southwest living areas.
More than just a renovation, this Athenian apartment is a study in thoughtful composition, a space where architecture quietly supports art, and every gesture reflects a life well-observed.
