lara vartzioti revives 1930s modernist building as contemporary athens housing

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transforming A 1930s MODERNIST building in EXarcheia, athens

Architect Lara Vartzioti breathes new life into an extant 1930s building in the neighborhood of Exarcheia, in the city center of Athens. The brainchild of late Greek architect Aggelos Siagas, the building is considered one of the country’s finest examples of modernist housing, and potentially an early precursor to local brutalism. With the main goal of effectively importing principles of modernism to ’30s Athens, Siagas completed the design in 1931 as two independent maisonettes originally named the ‘Apostolidis House’.

The structure was ultimately abandoned for a few decades before Vartzioti stepped in in 2021 and restored it through a meticulous approach that sought to maintain its past glory while updating its interiors to address today’s living standards. In the process, the Athens-based architect aimed to preserve multiple details of the surviving building while converting the original and strict floor plans into flexible spaces that cater to contemporary housing needs.

facade street view | all images © Dimitris Kleanthis

a functional and ‘archaeological’ restoration by lara vartzioti

XT 97, named after its street address in Exarcheia, Athens, the project is split into four levels that follow the original structure. Today, the building houses a variety of uses: an office space on the ground floor, and individual apartments on each of the upper levels that simplify the original floor plans by maintaining an open plan approach. Lara Vartzioti led the restoration with the aim of preserving as many elements of the original construction as possible, while transforming the interiors with an emphasis on contemporary functionality.

‘The inspiration for this restoration was Aggelos Siagas’s approach on the design,’ shares the architect. ‘By studying his plans, we came up with the new design while respecting and updating the old one. The current restoration posed challenges in both cultural and social terms, in identifying the fine balance between a functional and an archaeological approach with respect to both the initial intentions of the architect and the current socio-political conditions in the center of the metropolis of Athens. Thus, it was imperative to create a meaningful design out of subtleties and avoiding potential flamboyant tendencies seen in recent restorations.’

the ground floor now features glass tiles to create a better visual synergy with the city

Lara Vartzioti transformed the building’s ground floor into an open plan space to accommodate a daylit office area. The initial wall separating it from the entry passageway is now substituted with glass tiles to create a stronger visual synergy with the Athenian cityscape. The first and second levels have been transformed into individual, open plan apartments, while the penthouse was treated as a new expansion of the extant building, given that Aggelos Siagas had omitted it from his original published plans. Vartzioti took on this challenge by reshaping the penthouse, converting it into an index or, as she describes it, an X-ray of the construction, pointing to where all of the existing columns extend. The result is a complex interior design that highlights the irregularities and liberties of Siagas’s strict principles. Material-wise, the Greek architect finished the building with a palette that recalls the character of the modernist structure.

As part of the restoration process, Lara Vartzioti produced a short film titled In Situ, which she describes as ‘an anthropocentric take on architectural films, a perspective amplified by the cameras focus on work and surrounding of the workers on site. The editing, reminiscent of soviet avant-garde, highlights the strong bond created between people of differing classes when they construct together.‘