Step it up

An Athens residence, on an angled plot, rises to the occasion

- ELLIE STATHAKI

A series of common connections led to the building of this house for a private client in the leafy, affluent Athens neighbourhood of Filothei. Set in a typical rectangular plot, this exercise in restraint and spatial mastery, by London- and LA-based architecture studio Kallos Turin, came about thanks to private collection curator and adviser Emily Tsingou, a common friend and collaborator of both the architect and the client, who has an extensive contemporary African and African American art collection.

Then it turned out this wasn’t the only connection between them as it soon came to light that Kallos Turin co-founder Stephania Kallos’ grandfather had been in business with the client’s grandfather for about 40 years in South Africa. More connections were later discovered, and the project started to feel like a pairing that was meant to be.

After a visit to the site, Kallos and practice co-founder Abby Turin found themselves trying to decipher the Greek planning codes with the help of Moustroufis Architects, who acted as the local practice for the duration of the build. At this point, it looked like their design ambitions were in danger of being thwarted by the planning regulations, which, created to preserve the garden-based, green character of the suburb, ‘were made to push you to almost a block shape,’ says Kallos. ‘We thought, we need to embrace it.’