Customer: Έπαυλη Μαρόκκου
Architectural design: Lambros Antaras, Eleni Kompatsiari, Sofia Chatzigeorgiou, Chrisoula Fotsitzi Structural engineering: Konstantinos Fakis
Mechanical Design:Pistofidis Vasilieios
Project location: Vasilissis Olgas 133 – P. Syndika
Building area: 600,00m2
Design: 2017-2018
Construction: 2018
Photo credit: studioyk
The purpose of this project is to re-use a historical listed building, marked as an architectural work of art, as a dining establishment.
The building, whose construction goes back to 1906, was used for the longest time of its history as a dwelling place. All three of its floors follow the same typical design, the central rectangular space and the rest of the rooms around it. The high ceiling rooms with the serrated strips and the frames at the large openings are the morphological elements of the main floor. The basement is very different from the other floors because of the stone masonry, the slate floors and the prominent wooden ceiling while the spaces are smaller and with low ceilings.
The fundamental keys for the design is to promote the morphological and structural elements of the building while providing a functional construction of the space for its new use.
For the ground floor, the architectural interventions aim to recreate the indoor atmosphere of the luxurious cottage houses found in the wider district by adding though modern architectural supplements. The kitchen is placed at the ground floor in order to be in a strategic point for the best function of the shop. In order for the visitor to get the full conception of the typology of the plan, the kitchen remains “open” with no optical contact obstacles with the bar and by using glass doors. The designed equipment contributes emphatically to the existing decorative and structural elements: the long elongated tables with the hanging lights in the central space accentuate its linearity, the furniture is designed to agree with the decorative frames.
The descending to the basement is done by the use of a new metallic staircase with glass steps thus making the optical connection with the other two floors more effective and functional. In order to emphasize the mystical atmosphere of the cellar created by the stone and wood, the architectural touches were unpretentious. For this reason, light color wood for the furniture, cove lighting and geometrical metallic constructions are used. A wide variety of wines is placed in a linear lighted installation in the central area.
The yard space of the building is restored and two urban courtyards on both sides of the building are formed with the use of various quality sitting areas, material, colors and plants. The yard in the front of the building is more extrovert with light colored metallic furniture whereas the back yard is more closed and introvert with large wooden tables, benches divided by dense planting flower-beds and lighting garlands creating a festive atmosphere.
The outdoor lighting of the building is very soft by discreet lighting fixtures that display all the particular architectural elements of the building without creating light pollution.