Type: commercial-partial renovation I  Client:  private I Size: 440 I Location: Mavili Square Kefalari, Athens I Status: completed I Date: 2016

 

Aim of the project was the partial renovation of a restaurant-café-bar in a central spot of Athens. The restaurant, which recently changed ownership, carries an interesting history of several years. As an initial property of Loukianos Kilaidonis, back in 1977, it was a lively nightlife spot in Mavili Square in Athens, which was hosting numerous celebrity meetings and parties.

 

The renovation took part with small-scale but significant interventions both inside and outside, in order to achieve spatial revival and give a more particular and alternative image to the restaurant.

 

The restaurant consists of two levels. The ground level concentrates the main area, the bar and the kitchen, while the upper level disposes more private tables which however have a more panoramic view of the restaurant, the manager’s office, a designer’s atelier and the toilets.

 

The existing wooden flooring is harmonically combined with the elements on the walls, the lighting and furnishing.

 

Decorative  techniques  of exposed concrete on the walls, diverse metal and wooden constructions, handmade lighting fixtures and sconces with colored cables and Edison bulbs on the walls are some of the key elements that define the new style of Ginger.

 

Particular emphasis was given in the main bar area which is highlighted by ambient lighting techniques. This is achieved through hidden led lighting both along the bar made of Corian material and the dark wooden linear shelving. Simultaneously, handmade black metal hanging lighting fixtures with Edison bulbs gently embrace the vital space of main bar. The existing chandelier which has been always considered as a dominant element on the central roof of the restaurant has been stripped and still marks the space.

 

Set in front of a translucent, illuminated ‘screen’ of the kitchen, the handmade tall monastery metal table dominates on the back of the restaurant scene accommodating larger companies.

 

The outdoor space is designed and constructed like an extension of the indoor restaurant, considering that the glass front view disappears when it opens.