On the road with K-Studio: Athens to the Peloponnese

If you are a design and architecture enthusiast with your sights set on a Greek adventure, this D/A trip is made specially for you. Athens-based practice K-Studio has designed some spectacular properties for hoteliers across various regions of Greece – from urban sanctuaries to remote retreats – and we’ve in turn designed a road trip in partnership with Design Hotels giving a taster of their work and the cultural offering that surrounds it.

Starting in Athens, our intimate group – formed from the D/A community – will spend two nights at Perianth Hotel, where D/A editors will guide them through a tailored itinerary of the design, craft and art offerings in the city. Athens is currently bursting with creative energy, and we’ve tapped our network to line up inspiring experiences that will leave a rounded impression of the city’s historic elements alongside its buzzy, contemporary scene.

Before we leave the capital, the group will be joined for a meet and greet with K-Studio founders Dimitris and Konstantinos Karampatakis, who will talk us through the designs of the three hotels we’ll visit over five days – learning how the duo fuses history, architectural traditions and light for a magic alchemy that lives in their projects.

Out on the road, we’ll spend a night at Manna – a luxury mountain sanctuary that was originally built in 1929 as a sanatorium, but has been given new life as a secluded natural paradise. K-Studio approached the heritage-listed monument with sensitivity, layering in textural details and a minimalist material palette that is designed for relaxation and peace.

For the last leg of the journey its back down to the coast for two nights at Dexamenes Seaside Hotel – a distinctive property adapted from a group of industrial wine tanks with staggering views of the Ionian Sea. Here, owner and visionary, Nikos Karaflos, has put together a programme including a clay workshop and a special dinner inside one of the wine silos, that shares his love and appreciation of the venue and its unique architectural story.