typology: reconstruction
year: 2025
location: Αthens
size: 65 m2
status: completed
photo: Nikos Kouklakis
This year we reconstructed a small single-family house in Athens that had stood empty for several decades. Too often, such houses are demolished and replaced with polikatoikia—multi-storey residential buildings—erasing the neighbourhood’s character.
We preserved the load-bearing structures and authentic details: the original window grilles, period stained-glass windows, marble sinks, mosaic floors, and the old fig tree in the garden.
The reconstruction introduced an openwork ceramic façade that screens domestic life from the street while creating shade on the building’s southern side. In time, grapevines will cover the ceramic wall, echoing traditional Athenian courtyards. All windows were converted into sliding doors, dissolving the boundary between the interior and the garden with its fig tree.
Through careful reconstruction of vernacular buildings, structures can be adapted for contemporary living while preserving the character and continuity of the neighbourhood.
