Drawing on the memory of the Kallirroi Spring, Dashing Architects transforms an existing Athenian building into four short-stay apartments inspired by the chromatic heritage of Ancient Greek temples. Glass blocks, herringbone parquet flooring, sculptural elements, and a palette of deep blue, ochre, and burgundy reinterpret the material language of the Athenian polykatoikia, connecting history, ritual, and contemporary urban living.
Located in Neos Kosmos, Athens, Noemia Athens draws inspiration from the ancient Kallirroi Spring, a historic water source closely associated with the area’s cultural and historical identity.
The spring once served as a place of ritual, gathering, and continuous flow, providing a key conceptual reference for the project.
Situated near Kallirrois Avenue, which derives its name from the spring, the project establishes a conceptual connection between the site’s historical significance and a contemporary residential intervention comprising four short-stay apartments distributed across the levels of an existing building. The diversity of the existing floor plans became a defining design parameter.
Each level presented distinct spatial conditions, proportions, and constraints, resulting in four unique apartment typologies.
Rather than imposing uniformity, the project seeks to establish a coherent architectural identity while allowing each residence to maintain its own character. Shared design gestures, visual alignments, and carefully orchestrated transitions create continuity throughout the building. Circulation is conceived as a sequence of interconnected spatial experiences that reinforce the relationship between the different levels and apartments.
Movement, light, and spatial progression play a central role in shaping the interior environment.
Partitions are conceived as active architectural elements that organize perception and interaction rather than simply dividing space.
In several apartments, the shower is repositioned as a sculptural centerpiece, elevating an everyday function into a spatial and experiential focal point.
The project’s material and chromatic language draws from the visual culture of antiquity.
References to the polychromy of Ancient Greek temples are translated into a contemporary palette of deep blue, ochre yellow, and dark burgundy, generating distinct atmospheres while reinforcing the identity of each apartment.
Art is integrated throughout the interiors as an extension of the architectural narrative.
Curated artworks reference Athens through both figurative and abstract interpretations, while custom sculptural pieces designed by the studio reinterpret motifs derived from ancient vessels and temple iconography.
Materiality further anchors the project within its urban context through references to the modern and postmodern Athenian apartment block.
Herringbone parquet flooring, glass blocks, and varied textured glass surfaces create a layered material vocabulary defined by permeability, diffusion, and shifting degrees of transparency. Rather than replicating historical conditions, these elements reinterpret familiar architectural references, establishing a dialogue between past and present while rearticulating the aesthetic language of the Athenian polykatoikia.
Underlying the project is the notion of Athens as a cultural palimpsest.
Ideas of water, memory, and flow inform the project’s spatial organization.
Visual connections to the Acropolis and the surrounding hills reinforce a sense of orientation.
This strengthens the relationship with Athens’ historical landscape.
The sequence culminates in a communal rooftop lounge conceived as a quiet urban garden overlooking the Acropolis, providing a shared space of retreat above the dense urban fabric.
Grounded in local identity, Noemia Athens is expressed through a contemporary architectural language that explores the relationship between history, materiality, and everyday living.
The project balances the intensity of the city with moments of calm and reflection, offering a spatial experience that oscillates between urban energy and retreat.
Facts & Credits
Project title: Noemia Athens
Interior architecture & Concept: Dashing Architects
Dashing architects team: Katerina Kladi, Aristea Topizopoulou, Konstantinos Batsakoutsas
Area (sqm): 226.88 sqm
Project location: Neos Kosmos, Athens, Greece
Date of completion: 2026
Photographer: Costas Mitropoulos