Kitchen Bar: A Quiet Opening

On a corner plot in a dense urban setting, a white L-shaped volume steps back, leaving the corner open. This void becomes a square, an invitation to the city.
Four façades face the street, dissolving boundaries between interior and exterior. The new plaza extends the building’s presence into the public realm, enriching the urban fabric.
The program unfolds across four levels: service below, café at grade, lounge above, dining at the top. In warmer months, the ground floor opens outward, merging with the square.
Vertical wooden blinds interrupt the white skin, filtering light and framing views. A pergola marks the threshold, a quiet pause before entry.

Description

Situated at the intersection of Varnali and Kanatsouli Streets in Halandri, Athens, the building housing the ‘Kitchen Bar’ engages the urban fabric with a spatial gesture that transforms a corner plot into a civic moment. Designing for a corner site is always a challenge—especially when the architecture aspires to converse with the public realm rather than merely occupy it.
The building is strategically placed along the side and rear boundaries of the plot, forming an L-shaped volume that leaves the corner open. This deliberate void becomes a threshold, allowing the architecture to “open up” to the city and initiate a visual and spatial dialogue. Four of the six façades face the street, framing a new square—an emergent public space that extends the life of the building into the urban domain. Varnali Street acts as a connective spine, linking this newly formed plaza to the nearby Dourou Square, enriching the local topography with new layers of civic interaction.
The architects focused exclusively on the building’s envelope, its immediate surroundings, and the spatial choreography of the interior. The restaurant unfolds across four levels: basement, ground floor, mezzanine, and first floor. The basement accommodates parking, restrooms, and service areas; the ground floor hosts the open kitchen and café; the mezzanine offers a lounge; and the first floor houses the bar and dining area. In summer, the ground floor dissolves outward, extending into the square and reinforcing its role as a porous, public threshold.
A white skin wraps the building, punctuated by a band of vertical wooden blinds that mediate between opacity and transparency, enclosure and exposure. This element negotiates the interplay of light and shadow, interior and exterior, offering privacy without severing the connection to the city. The square itself is subtly elevated to align with the restaurant’s floor level, creating a seamless extension of the interior. A pergola marks the transition, framing the entry and offering a moment of pause between street and shelter.