New Hotel

Architecture Fernando & Humberto Campana

Architecture Fernando & Humberto Campana

Ever since 1958, when the old Olympic Palace Hotel first pierced the Athenian skyline, it’s been one of the city’s best...

examples of modernist architecture. Owner and Greek Cypriot industrialist Dakis Joannou, who renamed his creation New Hotel, was keen that nothing from the original building be thrown away. He enlisted the help of Brazilian interior design legends Humberto and Fernando Campana, renowned globally for their ability to create masterpieces from casts offs and reclaimed materials.

Interior design Fernando & Humberto Campana

The restaurant chairs left over from the Olympic Palace Hotel inspired the Campanas to adopt a twin-track approach.

Some chairs were left as they were, while others were spliced with atypical objects to create new and intriguing forms. With the help of a creative team of Greek postgraduate students, public areas are full of unusual chair-art hybrids. Over in the lounges, incredible multi-toned treelike sculptures, lovingly assembled from a jumble of different-colored woods, reach skywards from the floor.