An Athens home is reborn around a collection of objects and stories

The home of two young professionals connected to the art world, located at the foot of Lycabettus Hill and designed by Oikonomakis Siampakoulis Architects, is not merely the result of a renovation but a new architectural narrative intertwining art, design, and daily life. The project emerges from the enhancement of original elements, such as terrazzo and marble floors, reinterpreted with a contemporary language.

Halfway between super-furniture and small-scale architecture, the kitchen becomes the vibrant heart of the home, a place where cooking transforms into a collective ritual. Suspended shelves interact with natural light, creating shifting shadows and reflections throughout the day, while marble surfaces narrate a renewed artisanal tradition. With its large tiled island anchored to a pillar, the kitchen integrates niches and open compartments, establishing centrifugal connections with the surrounding space. Particularly poetic is the metal structure, a sort of equipped diaphragm that blurs the boundary between the passageway and the living room. It houses books and objects on its surfaces, offers resting points, and frames sections of walls and windows.

Functionally, the addition of new transom windows is noteworthy, illuminating the innermost areas and rescuing them from the darkness they were previously condemned to. Yet, this project goes beyond practical needs, offering a glimpse into Greek identity: a multicultural openness celebrated in the varied but carefully curated furnishings and the renewal of artisanal craftsmanship that elevates spaces, objects, and rituals. Thus, even the simplest gestures—lighting the stove or leafing through a book—are transformed into art.