The Athenian suburb of Filothei was founded in the 1930s as a model for Greek residential urban planning based on the principles of the British garden city. It remains to this day one of the greenest and most livable parts of Athens, with large parks, planted public squares, tree-lined pedestrian paths, and a stream. The famed modernist architect Dimiris Pikionis was consulted for the urban planning, and his legacy is still visible in some of the area’s public spaces. Right from the beginning, Filothei was designated as an exclusively residential area. Despite the gradual increase of apartment blocks in the area, it retains its suburban character with endless rows of detached homes surrounded by gated gardens.
Such a home right in the heart of Filothei is currently being revamped by Local Local. Originally built in the 2000s, it recently changed hands from father to daughter and was decided to be completely overhauled in order to be brought up to a more contemporary look and feel. Our intervention has been holistic: almost all interior walls have been demolished and most of the openings have been modified for visual balance and enhanced lighting conditions. The programme has been left unchanged, with living spaces on the ground floor, sleeping areas on the first and second floor, a rooftop terrace, and a basement with staff rooms and a playroom.
One of the most interesting features of the original building was the built-in flower boxes on the balconies, which have been preserved. These miniature gardens complement the striking cypress tree growing at the front of the house, which forms a great part of its identity. With such a strong presence of nature, we decided to simplify the architecture and keep the interiors quiet and neutral, in order to highlight the green outside. Even the outdoor pool has been reduced in size, to make room for more plants.
The original house was more in line with the post-modern aesthetic that was popular in Greece when it was built. Our intervention steers away from that style, surgically altering proportions and materials. The vertical opening of the stairwell has been unified to allow for more natural light and better follow the movement in that space. Particular focus was placed on the window profiles, whose proportions were altered to better match the building’s volume and the flower boxes. Most of the interior was reinterpreted through a late-modernist lens, with clear, orthogonal geometries and panelled walls.
Design team: Sofia Xanthakou, Nikolaos Sampatziotis, Dimitra Vasiliadou
Text: Kiriakos Spirou