Review of Material Matters Vol. 7: Facades

The seventh edition of Material Matters, organized by ek magazine, was successfully held on 16 June at the Banquet Hall of Megaron the Athens Concert Hall. Dedicated to the design and construction of architectural façades, Material Matters Vol. 7: Facades — Metal, Wood, Glass & Cladding brought together leading architectural practices to reflect on the façade as a technical, spatial, material and cultural interface.

The event was moderated by architects Ariadni Vozani, Professor at the National Technical University of Athens and Editor-in-Chief of ek magazine, and Stavros Martinos, member of the magazine’s editorial team. Invited speakers were asked to present two of their own projects and one work by another architect, through their own critical lens, within a ten-minute format.

The evening opened with Natassa Lianou and Ermis Chalvatzis of LC Architects, who presented the projects Orbit and Antenna Group at the level of detailed design, while pointing to the potential of glass-fibre reinforced concrete in contemporary façade design. Nikolas Travasaros of Divercity Architects then focused on the relationship between visibility and bodily movement, through an office building on Syngrou Avenue and the new Mitsis N’U Piraeus Port hotel, using the Institut du Monde Arabe by Ateliers Jean Nouvel as a reference.

Matilda Beraha of Arid offered a reflective exploration of the façade as boundary, presenting the Veil building in Kypseli and a shipping company headquarters on Alimou Avenue, while drawing parallels with related works in New York and Paris. Dimitra Katsota of Buerger Katsota Architects highlighted the façade as part of the public realm through the work of Alison and Peter Smithson, before bringing this line of thinking into the design of the new University of Nicosia facilities at Ellinikon and an office building nearing completion on Kifisias Avenue.

Anargyros Mougiakos of ISV Architects addressed the façade as a sculptural construction composed of successive standardized elements, drawing on examples from 1950s American modernism and two corresponding applications in specialized buildings in Athens. Fotini Gouveli and Niki Katsaragaki of A&S Architects brought the importance of the “fifth façade” to the fore, through an office building on Pireos Street and Education City in Doha, using COBE Architects’ The Silo in Copenhagen as their reference project.

Eraclis Papachristou of Eraclis Papachristou Architects discussed the challenges of designing tall buildings through two recent projects in Limassol, focusing on the importance of views — but also of a broader architectural vision — in relation to tactility and material presence. Ivy Nanopoulou and Eri Nikoloudi of TPA – Thymio Papayannis and Associates selected two projects separated by almost sixty years: the OSE Building on Karolou Street and the “Odysseas” Hellenic Maritime Heritage Park, currently under construction in Faliro Bay. Their presentation traced the continuity of the practice’s thinking through a creative reading of place, landscape and history, with Frank Gehry’s Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris serving as their reference building.

Loukas Bobotis of Bobotis+Bobotis Architects presented his private residence in Athens and the One Floreasca complex in Bucharest, taking as a point of reference the renovation of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in Rome.

The evening concluded with the keynote lecture by Doriana Mandrelli Fuksas and Massimiliano Fuksas, who presented an impressive panorama of their work, ranging from interior design to large-scale building complexes and public spaces. The participation of the internationally acclaimed Studio Fuksas gave this year’s edition particular weight, opening a direct dialogue with the Greek architectural community and confirming the high quality of the presentations that define the Material Matters series.