Art1 Office is an Athens workspace with a twist

(Image credit: Lorenzo Zandro)

published 25 October 2022

A tired, 40-year-old commercial building in the city's northern suburbs has been reborn as a fun, contemporary Athens workspace by London- and Athens-based architecture studio Neiheiser Argyros. Named Art1 Office, the project, for design-led developer Hellenic Properties, offers a fresh take to office architecture by blending sharp geometric shapes, bright colours and quality materials that balance elegance and a playful, vibrant atmosphere.

Led by the studio founders Xristina Argyros and Ryan Neiheiser, the architecture team worked with the building's existing bones, revealing existing surfaces while adding bold elements that transformed both the exterior and interior of the original structure. ‘What used to be a confusing muddle of geometric clashes is now untangled and rearticulated as if the building is composed of twelve separate buildings, each with its own cladding logic and interior atmosphere,' the team explains.

Subtle colour variations of white, grey, black, and gold highlight the building's exterior and celebrate its modern shapes and discrete volumes. In a similar vein, inside, strategic splashes of colour throughout mix gracefully with the existing black marble flooring that has been restored, and the exposed concrete formwork ceiling structure. The juxtaposition of rawness and polish of these elements creates a well-balanced whole that draws the visitor in and showcases dynamism and a thoroughly contemporary attitude.

Neiheiser Argyros' redesign was not just about aesthetics. ‘The building incorporates a range of sustainability strategies – high-performance insulation and windows, the use of local natural materials, low-energy MEP systems, charging stations and bike parking, and integrated photovoltaic panels – and achieves the local A+ highest energy efficiency grade,' the architects said. Meanwhile, a green roof and a circular pergola crowning the top of the building invite users to connect with the green outdoors and the cityscape beyond this modern Athens workspace.

geometric shapes in openings in athens building

concrete, marble and plants in athens workspace

Green planters and plants in roof terrace of athens workspace

neiheiserargyros.com (opens in new tab)

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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture Editor at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018) and Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020).