This 1970s apartment in Kifisia, in the leafy northern suburbs of Athens, sits among Beverly Hills-sized mansions and Michelin restaurants, and is itself located within a piece of cutting-edge 20th-century architecture. Rising above the capital’s ubiquitous graffiti-covered walls, the residential complex features a pair of twin towers that cantilever from central pillars like concrete umbrellas. In one of these is the newly remodelled home by Georgios Apostolopoulos Architects, as innovative as the building itself.
‘The apartment is part of the Stroggyli Polykatoikia (‘Round Apartment Building’) designed by architect Nikos Despotidis and built between 1973–1974,’ says Apostolopoulos of the pioneering building. ‘Despotidis explored new typologies of collective living, combining expressive form with rational construction. The concrete frame, continuous balconies and carefully choreographed circulation created a strong architectural identity – one that offered both structural freedom and spatial generosity.’
To complement this unusual site, Apostolopoulos reimagined the original one-bedroom apartment by completely reconfiguring traditional domestic boundaries. The process began with subtraction: all partitions were removed to reveal the apartment’s spatial potential and expose the existing structure.
The original layout comprised two long, narrow corridors leading separately to the bedroom at one end and the kitchen at the other, with the bathroom at the centre of the plan, and the living spaces confined to a small, elongated space with limited natural light. ‘Overall, the apartment felt fragmented, the bedroom was overly enclosed, the rooms were small, and daylight struggled to penetrate the interior,’ explains the architect. ‘Each function existed in isolation, reinforcing a sense of separation rather than continuity.’
The client’s challenging brief required fitting a kitchen, living and dining areas, plus two bedrooms, one bathroom and one toilet into this compact floor plan. For the architect, the answer lied in questioning the conventional role of room-making, resulting in a home conceived as ‘a continuous interior where light and movement flow without interruption’.
‘The client wanted to have a calm space within a busy part of the town and next to a busy road – a ‘cave like’ space that would accommodate all the functions that he needed,’ says Apostolopoulos. ‘To achieve this, we had to rethink how an apartment can be inhabited, questioning whether privacy is needed at all. This meant pushing the boundaries of conventional domestic layouts and exploring a more fluid, adaptable way of living.’
‘This idea required a high level of precision,’ says Apostolopoulos, which was only made possible by turning joinery into a key architectural element. ‘Danelis, the joiners we collaborated with, played a crucial role in realising this vision. Their craftsmanship made it possible to execute the movable elements and create the flexibility that we wanted,’ he continues. ‘The complexity increased further because all the air conditioning is hidden within the joinery, something that required careful co-ordination between design and construction.’
Equally key was the client’s willingness to agree to an unconventional concept with flexible, flowing spaces. The new floorplan includes a main bedroom that feels like a natural extension of the living area, with wardrobes acting as ‘layered filters’. On the other side of the apartment is a versatile space that can be used as a dining room, guest room or study thanks to an entire wall of joinery hiding a fold-down bed, integrated desk and storage.
‘When the joinery is closed, it reads as almost the room doesn’t exist, allowing the apartment to feel open and uninterrupted,’ says Apostolopoulos. ‘When needed, sliding doors create a private space, and the dropdown desk and fold-down bed allow it to shift effortlessly between a workspace and a bedroom. It is a room that appears only when required – and disappears when not required.’
At the centre of it all, replacing the old bathroom, is the new kitchen – ‘a social device treated less as a room and more as an inhabited object’. Anchoring the space is a large kitchen island overlooking the refurbished original fireplace, which is located between two floor-to-ceiling windows framing the balcony.
‘I was interested in the idea of concentrating all the kitchen functions into a single piece placed at the centre of the plan. Positioned this way, it allowed the kitchen to become the main socialising element, a place where cooking, conversation, drinking can happen. It also connects seamlessly with the living and dining.’
Slim-frame windows bring maximum light into the interiors, reinforcing the sense of continuity between spaces, while the simple, monochromatic palette – including microcement finishes across floors, walls and doors – allows Despotidis’ original structure to shine through.
