This minimalist apartment was designed by the architectural team hiboux ARCHITECTURE, guided by the owner’s wish for a “quiet” space with an uncluttered field of view.
The architects first visited the apartment, which they had been commissioned to design, while the building was still under construction. In its original form it was a long, narrow rectangular space, open from end to end, with its two long sides closed.
This original openness, which allowed the sweeping view of the city of Athens to “invade” the space, was decisive for the design decisions. On one side stand Philopappou Hill, the Athenian apartment blocks and, most importantly, the dark mass of the new Acropolis Museum, which quite literally frames the view of the Parthenon. On the other side lie the light wells of Athenian apartment blocks, Syngrou Avenue and, in the distance, Mount Hymettus.
This flow through the rectangular space was not to be interrupted by additional walls, either outside or inside. It was decided that the façades, that is, the narrower sides, would remain “open” along their entire length through the use of large glazed frames. Inside, a completely open plan was created, without partition walls, which reinforces the openness of the space as a whole.
Inside the apartment, the image of the fragmented elements of the city is set against the quiet, white interior landscape. Freestanding furniture “islands” in white high-gloss lacquer create passages and individual areas without clearly defined boundaries. The “islands”, clean rectangular volumes, float on a white surface of large Aristone marble slabs.
Sliding lacquered and glass doors, concealed in the “islands” and the side walls, close off the owner’s bedroom, the shower area, the walk-in wardrobe and the guest room. As they are slid across, the space is redefined: either it is offered to the eye as a whole, or uses and views are hidden. Poplar and matt lacquer surfaces, parallel to the long sides of the original rectangle, form two zones housing the storage areas, the bathrooms, a desk-bar, a projection screen and a bookcase, the guest room’s wall bed and the kitchen.
By hiding most functions within the thickness of the side walls and the “islands” in the space between, the original intention of an open plan is realised, one that can work as a single continuous space or be divided into three distinct areas. The only visible furniture is the sofa, the dining table and the bed.
The dark grey ceiling becomes the backdrop against which the ridge line of the dominant white volumes stands out. The dark colour makes the ceiling disappear from view, dissolving the white box.
You can find more information on the website www.hiboux.gr.
Photographs: viewport.gr
Rendering: savysok.gr
Editing: Manos Lianopoulos
