IN[N] ATHENS HOTEL / WORKSHOP DIONISIS SOTOVIKIS

The project listed is more than just an aesthetic approach but a rather overall experience which is framed from the slightest architectural detail to the art works. Inn Athens hotel is situated at a three storey preserved building in the city centre of Athens, located at the heart of a block.

 

The above location offers a unique character to the hotel, since it is surrounded by buildings that restrain the optical leaves and simultaneously create an internal calmness. The access is through a passage of a commercial arcade, which functions as a natural filtering process for the visitor, leading him from the noise of the city towards innerness.  

 

The project began at the beginning of 2015 and ended in September of the same year. The architectural study and the construction license was assigned to the architect Nikos Manioudakis, who is also one of the owners of the hotel, while the architectural practice WORKSHOP DIONISIS SOTOVIKIS, dealt with the interior architectural studies, the designing and construction phase of the sanitary spaces, their equipment and the entire furniture selection.

 

Inside the rooms, there is no standardization. During the stage of inserting furniture into the rooms, the basic intention, was to reveal the simplicity of the furniture design through the use of raw materials, but on the same time the promotion of the materials themselves as furniture through the designed simplicity. A characteristic sample is the beds made from unpainted black mild steel, the marble pieces functioning as bedside tables as well as the reception desk, where the marble volume that is placed at its base, is working as a counterweight. At the breakfast area, the tables and the counter made of mild steel and copper, together with the vintage wooden coffee chairs create a familiar atmosphere, while the ceiling was chosen to reveal the construction material, concrete.  

 

The reflections that arise in the tinted glass surfaces of the rooms create new images and give different meanings and interpretations of the spaces. Each bathroom is different since the marble surfaces used at the back of the washbasins and the washbasins themselves are selected each separately, and bring upon them their excavation process, corrosion, the accidental, the fragmentary and finally time. Nothing is perfect and this is what binds us with the natural and sensitive side of ourselves.  

 

At the centre of the front yard, the existing lemon tree, the only tree that was planted in soil, becomes the core of the space, since it is transformed into a polygonal object, alive table. The building itself, as well as many of the used materials gain a second chance. The hotel is considered a challenge for a different unique experience in the center of Athens.  

 

To sum up, all the artworks are created by Dionisis Sotovikis and Melina Polichronopoulou specifically for this space and time, they assist its reading and enrich its conceptualization. Moreover, the time, place, light and our psychology determine our perception of the environment we are part of.  Even though the hotel is a short stay space the visitor quickly gets familiar and feels like acquiring a personal relationship with the space.