The new Italian eatery Lollo’s Atene has debuted in the Athenian suburb of Chalandri within a traditional, modernist structure from the 1950s. The former single-story residence has been transformed by locally based firm AK-A Architects has the urban sibling to an original eatery located on the Greek island of Antiparos. Following years of renovations, the interior has been stripped down to its original surfaces, which include rough stone walls whose white tones provide an active contrast to the glossy, racing green paint that appears as well.
“Our aim was to create a simple and fresh environment, much like the Italian menu on offer, while simultaneously acknowledging the material and formal particularities of the building,” AK-A says. “Through the intense contrasts that are created by simultaneously concealing and revealing the building’s textures and materiality, we juxtapose the smooth with the rugged, the dark with the light, the glossy with the matte, the present with the past.”
Large glazed surfaces partition the kitchen and the dining room where the spindly cascade of light fixtures illuminate the interior’s many smoothed and polished textures along with custom, star-shaped wall sconces. A large oval table crafted from polished terrazzo occupies a semi-circular window alcove as well.
