In the context of an increasingly growing trend of reactivating abandoned building stock in the centre of Athens, the apartment "Ochra" highlights the need for an original redesign at the core of contemporary architectural practice.

Pangrati, where the apartment is located on the 4th floor of a 1970s apartment building, is one of the most vibrant and youthful urban neighbourhoods in Athens. The owner requested the renovation of the apartment on a relatively low budget, with minimal interventions, while ensuring that the design would not lack originality or authenticity.

Initially, the layout of the 70 sqm apartment was redefined by creating a functional connection between the kitchen, dining room, living room, and office. The wall that imposed a strict separation between the kitchen and dining room was replaced by a pass-through, facilitating the functional synergy of the two spaces and allowing more natural light to enter the previously tightly confined kitchen area.

The Ioannina marble, a distinctive material that covers the floors of the kitchen, hallway, and balcony, as well as the walls of the building’s entrance, gave its name to the apartment due to its colour tone. It was considered an important part of the identity of the apartment buildings of that era, and so it was preserved and restored to its original condition. Starting with the yellowish tone of the Ioannina marble, which takes centre stage, we built the entire colour identity of the apartment around it. By selecting a complementary colour—green—and a harmonious colour, brick red, we established the new identity of the space.

Due to the limited budget, the green kitchen cabinets were supplemented with wall paint in the same colour, reducing costs without affecting the coherence of the design. The kitchen countertop was covered with small-format tiles in a tone that harmonised with the Ioannina marble of the floor. The same tiles were also used to cover the base of the central column, which was revealed in its original material—reinforced concrete—thus contributing to the visual connection of the new open-plan space.

We also sought to redefine storage spaces and the concept of the “wardrobe” in the bedrooms, as we have traditionally come to know them. Each bedroom takes its identity either from the complementary or harmonious ochre colour and from a unique definition of the classic wardrobe in each case.

In one room, we broke the monotony of a long, nearly 3-metre wardrobe by creating a recess that now houses a desk with a mirror, which can be used for work as well as for personal preparation before going out. In the second, smaller bedroom, the original bulky wardrobe was replaced with an open, multifunctional piece of furniture that serves both as storage for clothes and shoes and as a nightstand for storing books or decorative items, as the placement of a double-sized bed did not allow for additional furniture.

In both bedrooms, the custom furniture integrates fully into the space, spatially complemented by the corresponding wall colours. The issue of the voids in the floors that arose from the removal of the old wardrobes was resolved by filling the gaps with the same small-format tiles used on the kitchen countertop.

The parquet floors of the bedrooms were preserved, while due to the very poor condition of the living room parquet, it was replaced with wooden flooring. In the living room, the large series of openings were visually unified with curtains, which also helped filter the visual connection to the opposite building, located at a close distance.

The "Ochra" apartment is a characteristic example of a radical renovation and the redefinition of a home’s identity with small yet meaningful interventions. It expands the possibilities for creative reuse on a more restricted budget, offering broader options for reactivating the unused building stock in Athens.