The post Best of 2020 was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The hotel was created in a renovated 1930ies building that used to contain a printshop, retail and warehouses. The new materiality of the shell, combined with its rhythmical surfaces, allude to the history of the building, and to its urban setting. Black metal sheets refer to its former use as a printshop, and to the cottage industry typical of the historical center of Athens. Wood surfaces compose rhythmical solids and voids, as negative space in-between printed words. At the indoor atrium, room openings are integrated in vertical metal strips as pointers to the sky, attracting the visitors’ gaze to the glass roof. On the facades, black metal sheets frame the windows as architectural edges revealing the scale of the rooms. From the reception, a gallery leads to the atrium, which is the core of the compound, and rooms are arranged in surrounding wings. The terrace is equipped with a restaurant, with a view to the Acropolis.

PEOPLE

The post Best of 2020: The Editor was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The hotel is placed on the edge of the traditional settlement of Ia, at a steep slope with uninterrupted views towards the sea and the volcano. The program involved the restoration of existing buildings, with the addition of new grotto rooms and shared spaces.

The complex unfolds on six levels. The project faithfully restores the existing buildings, in the spirit of a contemporary, discreet interpretation of the old settlement’s cubist morphology, in line with the sculptural terrain.

The shape of the new grotto houses retains the structure, geometry, materiality, and white color of vernacular buildings. However, their layout and openings turn, to frame the sea view. The facades follow the contours of the natural terrain as jagged lines materializing in folded retaining walls, gently integrated into the landscape.

The formal outcome is characterized by its intensely dynamic character, where the downward movement of the central exterior flight of steps appears as a crack in the “body” of the building.

Kapsimalis Architects

The post Best of 2020: The Saint was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The project provides the proper setting for showcasing clothes and accessories by the company, by means of its spatial organization, which is dominated by a curved wall, as well as by its selection of materials, including glass, marble, and wood.

The returning idea of oscillation, both as movement and as weightlessness, bestows “life” upon the fabrics themselves.

A semi-transparent curved wall creates distinct spaces on its sides, organizing random vanishing points between them. Glass tubes, suspended from the ceiling, allow openness or privacy, according to the users’ needs and to the position of the onlooker.

The walls are undulating, while the glass partition and the marble entrance sign fold, providing a sense of plasticity, as a reference to the qualities of classical Greek architecture. Indirect lighting and the mirror in the background create an optical illusion, increasing openness.

Geometry, select materials, and the optical illusion, compose a space marked by fluidity.

En-Route Architecture

The post Best of 2020: Zeus and Dione was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The guiding principle behind the design of the new museum and experience store, is the balance between financial sustainability, environmental performance, and social responsibility. The architecture highlights and promotes the history and culture of Crete concerning natural cosmetics, essential oils, and herbs, incorporating the local craft tradition with contemporary, industrial production methods. Natural materials such as rough local stone, and oak wood veneer on furniture, were selected corresponding to the first category; metal sheets on the double pivoting entrance doors, museum display cases, canopy, and roof, as well as plexiglass on the display screens, correspond to the second. Positioning the store at the center of the layout allows immediate access from the entrance, leaving the museum undisturbed, and establishes clear visual connections to the museological path.

KAAF | Kitriniaris Associates Architecture Firm

The post Best of 2020: Bioaroma was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The proposal considers the product unit as a structural module, whose repetition generates architectural space. The vertical and horizontal surfaces resulting from spatial analysis were grouped in pairs of differing materiality and function. The metal mesh, designed to receive sunglasses, mirrors, and corporate logos, was produced by the multiplication of a module in the scale of a pair of glass frames, alluding to the archetypical bricklaying module in a running wall. Scattered existing drawers were assembled into a vertical storage and display unit, folding to create the floor. The reflective surface of the mirror, wrapping around the mezzanine, multiplies space; in combination with the linear reflective surface on the floor, this generates an endless multiplication of the grid. The façade, a double, illuminated screen of white and copper perforated metal in the shape of the grid, stands as preface to the interior. Lighting follows the same abstract principles, transforming existing surfaces into integrated lighting devices.

Mold Architects

The post Best of 2020: Centro Ottici was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The new art gallery is located in one of the most picturesque quarters of Piraeus, among old warehouses and workshops. Guided by the identity of the exhibition space as a “white box”, the design employs clean, austere lines, in a minimalist white background. The space alludes to a white canvas for highlighting the exhibited artworks, and the architectural composition establishes a quiet dialogue between modern and new. In this framework, the façade maintains its original appearance, and so does the century-old wooden roof, lit from below; those elements are brought into contrast with the acutely angular white walls underneath. The choice of the cool grey cement floor, combined with a few more extravagant touches in the bathrooms, further contribute to this goal. The white perforated metal sheet mezzanine and stairs, despite their modern appearance, allude to local metalsmith workshops, which had an active role in the construction of the project. This discreet architecture reflects the conversation between contemporary art, sheltered in the exhibition space, and the features of the urban surroundings.

Kokorelia Architects

The post Best of 2020: The IntermiΣΣion was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The project involves the radical renovation of the office building initially designed by Alexandros Tombazis (1972), a rare example of brutalist architecture in Greece. The first intervention resurfaced bare concrete in all the architectural components that had been clad or faced during the 50 years of the building’s operation. However, the interior did not revive its original image: Drastic interior rearrangements conform to the grid and dimensions of the module in the waffle roof slab, whose geometry was highlighted with the removal of all appliances or plasterboard cladding. The main intervention was the introduction of a functional access line, horizontally with seamless water surfaces and vertically with consecutive marble panels, integrating the main staircase. Earthen materials and clear, minimalist lines underscore the building’s brutalist elements by contrast. The architectural treatment of the facades is discreet, to showcase the character and overall concept of the building.

Georges Batzios Architects

The post Best of 2020: Office Building in Athens was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The project involves the refurbishment of a 9-storey building, occupying an entire inner-city block; bridging the two existing wings becomes the central gesture. The new bridges create a core that organizes vertical circulation. The main axis accommodates the entrance and lobby, and the back features double-height bridges that become the open-air sky gardens to the building, places where employees can rest and socialize. The urban identity of the building is transformed through bioclimatic fins in white strips, crossing through the building and providing shade to the offices. The façade contains planted areas, allocated through the entire building height. The composite curtain wall includes interchanging class strips and fins; the section of the fins creates containers for soil, augmenting greenery along the whole perimeter. Furthermore, the exterior stairwells are dressed in vertical gardens. Thus, the total planted surface becomes comparable to what could be provided if the surface of the plot was planted at 90%, as a green park.

Lianou Chalvatzis Architects

Ι&Α Vikelas and Associates Architects

George Fakaros

ek 246 – April 2020

The post Best of 2020: The Orbit was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The distinctive housing development, titled “Voronoi’s Corrals”, benchmarks from the local corral typology, processed with contemporary computation. The design employs Voronoi grids, which are organic and more easily adaptable to data. The house faces south; exposed concrete beams project beyond the facades, shaping Voronoi cells and supporting shading devices. Each cell is covered with soil, planted with a different herb species. Earth provides adequate heat insulation to the interiors, and the colors of the plants highlight the strategy at large. In the interior, the roof is formulated in successive funnels topped with a round skylight for natural ventilation. The idea of the “hourglass”, lending the house its name, informed the design of an architecture that is achieved with contemporary computational means and geometries, aiming to develop the landscape in a similarly natural way as the one that led, perhaps, the corral builders into their peculiar -yet absolutely goal-oriented and place-specific- choices.

DECA architecture

The post Best of 2020: The Hourglass Corral was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The house has a square layout, demarcated by a wall than encloses all indoor spaces and their adjacent four gardens. Historical travel records of Nicosia, dating as far back as the 14^th century, mention the garden as a space protected inside a walled enclosure, containing ornamental and edible plants, offering scents and sounds; the garden has been a contributing factor to the historical identity of Nicosia, at times including cisterns, fountains, open-air kitchens, wells, or steam baths. The gardens of the house, adjoining different programmatic units, cater to daily, practical necessities, such as the control of sunlight, temperature, and air flow. Special attention has been put on the passive heating and cooling of the house. The construction materials are selected from local light industries; some are left exposed, while part of the finishing is carried out on site, as is the case for the flooring. All case furniture and some moveable pieces are custom-designed by the architects, while the rest are hand-made from local artisans in Nicosia.

Draftworks Architects

The post Best of 2020: Four Gardens was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The house is built in a narrow plot, following an unconventional composition, whose aim is to accommodate the extensive program and to secure the desired contact with its surroundings. Articulated in discernible volumes and structural voids in-between, the building is compressed towards the middle of the plot, evolving upwards, leaving two narrow green strips on its sides, and two gardens, at the front and back. The dominant material on the facades is exposed concrete. Occasionally, the hard skin is removed to expose stained wood-clad surfaces, or it recedes in strategically placed niches, on various levels. The core of the home is a double-height space, accommodating the lounge and an office on the mezzanine. Sliding glass panels bring abundant light to the interior and open views to the narrow swimming pool, adjacent to the dining area. The interior is dominated by white color and extensive wooden surfaces, where nooks containing plants extend the landscaping. At the staircase, the concrete skin is fragmented in small rectangles, creating a permeable limit.

Divercity Architects

The post Best of 2020: Filothei House was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

In contrast to many urban homes that remain hidden behind high walls and green fences, the “house-garden” is an extension of its adjacent green public space, and part of the urban fabric. The connection between house, public space, and neighborhood allows all three elements to be perceived as a compact whole, in perpetual interaction. The principal design concept was the development of gardens, both on the ground level as well as on the floor, as an accessible green roof. The two-storey home is articulated in two monolithic volumes, containing a green patio. The ground level accommodates the shared spaces, and the floor houses two bedrooms. On the top level, facades are formed in sliding aluminum panels for sound insulation, controlled light, and protection from solar radiation during the summer months. Sustainable design relies on discreet solar paneling, on the chimney effect through the green internal patio, and natural ventilation through the north-south axis. The project has been awarded with the Cyprus State Prize for Architecture, 2019.

Christos Pavlou

The post Best of 2020: The House-garden in the City was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.