INTERIOR

Apartment in Glyfada

YEAR

2022

LOCATION

Glyfada, Athens

CATEGORY

Residential

SHARE PROJECT

This project concerns the renovation of a 120 sq m apartment located on the second floor of a 1986 building in Voula. The owner is a family with two children.

The pre-existing layout was radically modified as the owners’ main concern was to create an additional bedroom and to organize the spaces in a way that favors gathering and interaction.

One of the main priorities of the design was the increase of natural and artificial lighting and transparency in the common areas.

Therefore, the central part of the floor plan, where the daycare areas are developed, was for us a core of operations and a family gathering center and all the other areas of the apartment were placed around it. This core of shared functions was opened on the North-South axis achieving the expansion of the visual field, the maximum brightness and light diffusion during the year and the orderly positioning of the functions.

The pre-existing corridor that led to the bedrooms was removed and now access to them, as well as to all the individual rooms, takes place directly from the central living room. To the east of the common area is the guest toilet, the master bedroom and the small child’s room, while to the west we find the older child’s room for which relative isolation and independence was requested.

The booth designed in the dining room plays the role of a filter between the shared and private spaces, but at the same time its central placement testifies to the importance of the hearth, the family gathering.

The kitchen now faces the inside of the house and is connected to the living areas.

In this central section, sub-spaces with a different function are created, but you don’t come across underlit and isolated spots. It is a unified and cohesive space that promotes interaction and shared experience, a social space that is introverted and extroverted at the same time.

Regarding the aesthetic approach, we chose to combine the Danish style with some elements of the architecture of the 40’s.

The glass blocks on the back of the booth allow natural eastern light to pass through, while at the same time giving a vintage feel.

The curve that pre-existed as a gesture on the plan level, was preserved as an element – a trace of the previous situation – in the morphology of the dining room booth and the kitchen island, but also in the beam that acts as a passage from the living room to the kitchen.

The composition near the fireplace as well as the door leading to the older child’s bedroom were lined with oak veneer, creating a unified whole. All the doors around the living room have a hidden frame, so that they are integrated each time with the adjacent surface and create the border to the sleeping areas.

Colors were chosen in natural tones with strong accents in predetermined points and furniture, while the plants located in every corner of the house give the space a sense of freshness and warmth.

An important role for us and the family was played by the energy upgrade of the property by replacing all aluminum with modern thermal switches and replacing the oil heating system with a heat pump/fan coils.

The whole result is framed by the lighting study carried out by the Office, which aimed to create different scenarios for each space and for each occasion and highlight the design gestures.

Project: Renovation of an apartment in Glyfada

Architectural Study: Labarch Architects – Lighting Study: Labarch Architects – Decoration: Labarch Architects – Construction: Labarch Architects