a series of joinery elements replaces walls in 1970s athens apartment renovation
Kifisia Apartment: A reconfiguration of domestic boundaries
Georgios Apostolopoulos Architects’ renovation of this 1970s apartment in Kifisia, Athens, begins with subtraction. All internal partitions are removed to reveal the apartment’s spatial potential and expose the existing structure. The project questions the conventional role of room-making in domestic space. Instead of rebuilding walls, the apartment is conceived as a continuous interior where light and movement flow without interruption. What remains is the apartment’s essential form, organized by a series of joinery elements that define use without enclosing space.
all images by Lorenzo Zandri
Apartment rooms function as adaptable domestic devices
At the center of the plan, the kitchen becomes the main social device. Treated less as a room and more as an inhabited object, it forms a solid volume that gathers cooking, working, and meeting around it. The island anchors the space, inviting people to move around it and use it from all sides. It supports daily rituals without prescribing them, encouraging a more open and informal way of living. Around it, living and dining areas unfold through gentle transitions instead of separate rooms.
Georgios Apostolopoulos Architects extends this continuity into the main bedroom, which feels like a natural expansion of the living area, not a self-contained room. The vanity extends beyond the bathroom enclosure, wardrobes act as layered filters, and privacy becomes adaptable, negotiated through occupation and use rather than predetermined by walls. At the opposite end of the apartment, the idea of a second bedroom is replaced by a flexible joinery system. A fold-down bed, integrated desk, and sliding panels allow the space to shift between sleeping, working, and storing. It functions less like a room and more like an adaptable domestic device.
Georgios Apostolopoulos Architects renovates a 1970s apartment in Kifisia
The domestic interior as a system of spatial relationships
Materials are kept simple, with a monochromatic palette that keeps the interior quiet and allows the original structure to remain present. Slim-frame windows bring maximum light into the interiors, reinforcing the sense of continuity between spaces. The project rethinks the domestic interior as a system of spatial relationships, not a collection of rooms. Boundaries remain fluid, privacy is adjustable, and the organization of everyday life emerges through occupation.
internal partitions are removed to reveal the apartment’s existing structure
the renovation creates a continuous interior without conventional room divisions
the kitchen forms the central social element of the apartment
a solid kitchen volume gathers cooking, working, and meeting around it
the island can be approached and used from all sides
living and dining areas unfold through gradual spatial transitions
light and movement flow continuously across the open-plan interior
sliding panels adapt the space for sleeping, working, or storage
a monochromatic palette keeps the interior visually quiet
layered wardrobes provide separation without fully enclosing the space
a vanity projects beyond the bathroom enclosure into the bedroom
the apartment is organized through spatial relationships instead of separate rooms
project info:
name: Kifisia Apartment | Reconfiguration of domestic boundaries
architect: Georgios Apostolopoulos Architects | @georgios__apostolopoulos
location: Kifisia, Athens, Greece
photographer: Lorenzo Zandri | @lorenzozandri
designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. See more project submissions from our readers here.
edited by: Christina Vergopoulou | designboom
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