Lycabettus Studio Apartment

“Maximizing small area of the studio by designing an array of pocket spaces”

The project is about redoing an empty and unused flat, a leftover basement of an Athenian block of apartments, built in the 1990s. Located at the north slope of Lycabettus Hill in Athens, Greece, the flat is almost fully buried on the ground. It had a single opening into an enclosed outdoor atrium, and a pair of ceiling skylights at the back of the space.

In an empty and abandoned basement we designed a fully equipped studio apartment of 40 sq.m. All functional areas are organized around a wall partitional element, which is being bent, curved, cut and penetrated so as to accommodate the kitchenette, the shower alcove and a double faced opening, working as both a vanity and a desk area. In this way, the partition works as an array of pocket spaces, encompassing the functional areas within, and as a result, leaving the remaining space empty to be familiarized by the dweller on one hand, maximizing the space on the other.

Our primary concern was to enhance the existing features of the space such as the existing skylights in the ceiling and to maximize the area as well as the natural light. As the flat was located in the basement, the sole source of light was the door opening to the outdoor atrium. Rearranging the space, we designed the private bedroom at the back, to be separated by the living space by a semi-transparent element, so as the natural light could be diffused to the bedroom as well.

All furnishing elements in the studio were custom-designed [by us as key custom furniture elements], such as the closet in the bedroom, the sideboard in the living room, the bathroom vanity and the kitchenette. We chose raw materials, such as cement and glazed ceramic tiles along with unfinished plywood and black steel to counterpart the white walls.