Example #1 - Renovation of a small flat

Athens, Greece

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Spiral

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Astral Weeks - Transformation of an industrial space into a flat/exhibition space

Example #1 - Renovation of a small flat

Athens, Greece

Firm

Oblique

Type

Residential › Apartment

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2020

SIZE

0 sqft - 1000 sqft

The project concerns the renovation of a 36sqm flat, of a 70’s apartment building, in the area of Vouliagmeni, Athens. The extremely limited space instigated a radical reorganization of the plan, in order to meet the needs of the user but simultaneously to avoid the creation of a miniaturized version of a typical flat.
This approach was supported through a methodology that redefines the role of furniture, by assigning it features that produce space. Thus, furniture operates as a tool to evoke alternative interpretations of interior space. This perception of “furniture as architecture” is rendered crucial for renovation practices, especially for the local context, that consist one of the basic occupations of the profession in the recent years. Therefore, apart from a concrete solution, the project indicates an archetypical proposal, an example that could be applied in similar cases of renovating small living spaces in urban areas.
For the version presented here, since there was only one façade with openings, two main parallel zones were created which organize the necessary functions according to their need for natural lighting. The first, darker zone, is materialized through a colored mdf box, a furniture of such scale, that contains the sleeping area, the bathroom and all storage spaces. Thus, a kind of encasing is pursued, concerning not only domestic equipment or objects, but also spaces and therefore subjects that inhabit them. This puts forward a design question regarding the dimensioning, disposition and in general the reinterpretation of such domestic spaces.
The merging of the above-mentioned functions inside this “inhabitable wall”, enables the demarcation and maximization of the free space outside of it. Consequently, the second, brighter zone, consists of an open, unobstructed living space, that can be appropriated at will. Additionally, through sliding panels, the design enables the subdivision of the zone, allowing for further degrees of privacy.