Photography: Konstantinos Kontos
The increasing need of residential buildings in the city centre as well as the dramatic shutdown of commercial spaces in Greece within the past few years, led to a new trend of “shop to home” conversions. That is the case with the House in Kareas.
The House in Kareas, Athens, was created to fulfill a family‘s dream of converting an old coffee house to an actual home. The basic architectural element in this conversion is the double-height living space located at the centre of the house, with an actual height of 5,00 metres. An elongated plan is separated in half. The front half is the living space, dining and kitchen. The back has two levels. The master bedroom and bathroom are located on the ground floor and the children’s bedrooms and bathroom on the upper floor. This level is created by a metal structure, which emphasizes the loft aesthetic. The kitchen is a linear array of cabinets, completely open to the living space. The dining room is placed between the kitchen and living space, with a long and linear transparent table. This is the “heart” of the home and the visitor seated there, is in contact to all the “public” spaces of the house.
As far as the program is concerned, this “shop to home” conversion has a clear and simple layout. On the ground floor there is the living-dining-kitchen triangle. On the back, more hidden and secluded one can find the master bedroom and its bathroom. There is also a small storage space. The upper floor consists of two children bedrooms and their bathroom. A metallic staircase leads to the upper-floor balcony.
The materials used in this project are mainly metal and wood. The structure of the upper floor is metallic and completely bare, with the I-beams and trapezoidal metal sheets referring to the loft aesthetic. The kitchen is a combination of cement and timber, similar to the master bathroom.
