Bacchus Mosaic Drives Yellow Terrazzo Renovation in Athens

A 100-square-metre apartment on Fokionos Negri street in Athens' Kypseli neighborhood has been renovated around a single existing feature: an entryway floor mosaic depicting Bacchus, the Greek god of wine also known as Dionysus. Local studio Space is around us preserved and restored the mosaic, then sampled its butter-yellow tones, curved geometry, and period materials to drive the entire redesign of the residence, which the studio has named Bacchus Apartment.

The intervention targets two rooms: the kitchen and the bathroom.

What does the mosaic change for the interior?

In the kitchen, the studio installed a continuous fitted cabinetry unit along the main wall, maximizing preparation surfaces and storage in a plan that refuses to stay rectangular. The unit terminates in triangular open shelving that adapts to the irregular floor plan and creates a fluid transition toward the existing pantry unit. The cabinetry finish — butter-yellow — was sampled directly from the entryway mosaic. Countertops are surfaced in Dionysus marble, a material widely used in 1960s Athenian residential architecture, which anchors the new work in the building's mid-century material culture.

Opposite the kitchen unit, a custom terracotta dining table with rounded corners and two oversized cylindrical legs keeps circulation fluid through the space. Curved furniture silhouettes and vintage light fixtures reinforce the mid-century Athenian references throughout the apartment.

How does the floor solve the windowless bathroom?

The kitchen's former gray floor is gone. Large-format yellow terrazzo tiles now run from the kitchen through the hallway and into the bathroom, threading the three spaces into one continuous surface. The bathroom has no window. To compensate, the studio lined its walls with glossy small-format tiles in lime-yellow and white, which bounce ambient light from an internal air shaft across the room. A rounded vanity mirror and a terracotta sconce extend the apartment's geometric motifs, while integrated tiled shower niches provide built-in storage within the walk-in shower.

Project details

• Name: Bacchus Apartment
• Architect: Space is around us (@spaceisaroundus)
• Location: Fokionos Negri, Kypseli, Athens, Greece
• Photographer: Vasso Paraschi (@vassoparaschi)

The project sits on Fokionos Negri, a main pedestrian axis in Kypseli that is currently being revived, and images are credited to photographer Vasso Paraschi. For practitioners working in Athens' stock of mid-century apartment buildings, the project demonstrates a repeatable method: read the existing material palette — here a restored mosaic and 1960s marble — and let those samples govern every new color, tile, and silhouette decision rather than importing a foreign scheme.