The post Sole Giaguaro in Ano Petralona was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The post Yakafu was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The bakery is in Anji, a picturesque town beside Hangzhou; it is the flagship of a Chinese startup company providing baking products as well as baking classes. The ground level houses production, display, and product sales, and the floor accommodates event areas and classrooms. The design combines clear geometries, vibrant colors, and textures. The bar, service benches and display screens are linear volumes made of terrazzo, in different heights and sizes. One prominent feature is the large, sculptural staircase in blue terrazzo, with steps in irregular shapes and sizes. Its base is integrated inside planes which serve as sitting surfaces. The composition evokes playfulness and freedom. The materials include blue and yellow perforated metal sheets, silver mosaic slabs, terrazzo with color glass, pink acrylic

Kostas Chatzigiannis Architecture

Anne-Sophie Heist

 254 | January-February 2021

The post Yakafu was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

3QUARTERS is one of the first innovative sustainable fashion accessories brands in Greece upcycling awning off-cuts. Within five years, the brand has reached an international audience and the need for a greater production necessitated not only a bigger production space but also a concept store that would highlight its outstanding local brand.

The architects worked on a limited budget, trying to fully endorse the principles of the brand on sustainability, locality, and the art of crafting. 3QUARTERS source all their raw materials locally and adhere to a policy of zero waste, making unique products in-house. Building on the idea of sustainability translating to a color, a 60’s green mosaic floor that is typical of that architectural era, was the trigger for this interior project. The 3QUARTERS workshop is a green box in downtown Athens resembling a green oasis in an urban environment. In other words, it is a sophisticated illusion of slow living and sustainable lifestyle.

Situated in one of the oldest neighborhoods of central Athens, keeping a simple design was critical for 3QUARTERS not only as a color statement but also as a shelter from the crowded and noisy flux. The showroom on the ground floor occupies two formerly separate retail units in a small alley of a mazelike urban artisanship environment.

The choice of the mint green aesthetics is what defined the interior renovation and the rebranding. The green color is linked to nature and vegetation and mint to tranquility, freshness, and well-being. The perception is, therefore, fresh, and relaxing, in contrast to the overwhelming graffiti-sprayed urban setting. This allows customers to feel like members of a mutually ethical community. The choice of a clean design works in two ways: it is a comprehensive canvas for an ever-changing colorful products collection, and at the same time it offers reassurance and motivation to people that ‘they are on the right path’. The tree-like Schefera Araliaceae plant concludes the notion of well-being, stimulation, creativity, inspiration and emotional comfort.

Maintaining the character of an industrial building, the green shelter box hides behind a dark grey steel glazing facade. The mint canvas is planted with steel hangers and infrastructure elements, all in black color. All furniture and storage spaces are custom made, built of lacquered mdf and natural oak top, forming a balanced earth – forest ambience.

Respecting the principles of the brand and being conscious of the environmental impact of any of our interior projects, we worked with efficiency by minimizing our waste and optimizing our resources.

indoor climate quality is achieved through natural ventilation. In addition, materials’ life expectancy and end-of-lifecycle as well as their maintenance were put into high-level design priority.

Asquiat Design

The post 3Quarters workshop and retail was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The all-day bar, on the ground floor and basement of a building on a busy street, bordering between the Realejo neighborhood and the center of the city of Granada presents volume and size restrictions: a narrow bay, deep section and only one possible access.

Considering the context, in an age dominated by social networks and individuality, to provide the place with a contemporary social character, it was decided to investigate one of the most popular types of vernacular architecture in the south of the Iberian Peninsula: the cave. This type of habitat was used as a natural refuge or as a home throughout history, in different cultures. Locally, it was the result of self-construction processes and topographic forms that, since the last century, have been linked to art and flamenco. This historical baggage makes the cave a contemporary cultural catalyst and a territorial symbol.

Social networks have given a new meaning to the experience of leisure, both in the user’s relationship with space and in the image that is transmitted. Leisure is no longer reduced to a shared moment but acquires the character of an event where the user is the protagonist. Ambrosía, in this case, is the scenographic staging that seeks to generate identity in the collective imagination of the city. It is through the changing lighting, the adaptable furniture, and the rough texture of the premises that the experience of freedom is achieved, in a space conceived to function at times as a bar, as a stage for concerts or a venue for screenings.

GRX Arquitectos

The post Ambrosía was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

A new work of public infrastructure, the Lange Erlen pumping station is aligned to the main axis of the site and leaves space for future expansion. Under the projecting roof of the entrance façade, a concrete fountain transforms first into a bench and stairs and further along into a wheelchair-accessible ramp.

The interior spaces are built with gentle, polished curves in emulation of glacial mills. These curves also give shape to the large skylight in the foyer. A generous staircase winds up around the light by the artist Madlaina Lys to the building’s true centrepiece: the observation deck, from which visitors have a view over the extensive pumping facility.

Staehelin Meyer Architekten

The post Pumping Station in Basel was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

Built in the early 1930’s, the building is a typical example of Athenian Art Deco. The symmetrical windows that emphasize the vertical axis, combined with the richly ornamented doors and iron railings, add up to a certain monumentality. In addition, the corner balcony uniting the two protrusions of the home’s exterior wall, otherwise known as erkern, along with the rooftop pergola, are quite popular architectural features during the Art Deco era in Greece.

The architectural studio was tasked with renovating the building and developing the interiors with a contemporary feel, while preserving its historic character. Keen to retain the building’s original features, the exterior was refreshed and painted in different shades of almond green, which were intentionally contrasted with the dark red exterior doors and the grey framed windows. Old wooden windows were updated with identical steel ones, while the exterior doors were replicated and repositioned in place.

The building hosts two residences. On the elevated ground floor, there is a two-bedroom apartment featuring a small courtyard in the back. The building’s first and second floor houses a two-level apartment starring a spacious terrace with an oak pergola and views across the city center’s rooftops. The interior design proposal focused primarily on the split-level apartment which was intended for a couple and their two children. The building’s Art Deco heritage, along with the neighborhood’ s vibrant and creative atmosphere, provided rich inspiration for our design.

In harmony with the owner’s wishes, we attempted to balance elegance with functionality, ensuring that all spaces were used effectively. The layout of successive rooms was maintained, and the only intervention carried out was the removal of a dividing wall between the kitchen and the dining room in order to create a large, comfortable, bright space with an open, welcoming feel and functionality. The green sage cabinets and white marble countertops are in dialogue with the surrounding floral patterned floor tiles, while wood prevails in the dining area, decorated with vital indoor plants.

Prior to its renovation, the building was found in a good but time-worn condition, so many of its original features had to be restored or replaced. Existing oak flooring was cleaned, polished and varnished, while plaster details with elegant neoclassical motifs on all the ceilings were preserved.

Particular significance was given to interior design, which echoes the Art Deco style in shades of greens and blues, combined with wooden and metal details. Patterned tiles, terrazzo, marble, geometric shapes and brass details have been used as a modern interpretation of the ones that would have appeared in the original building over ninety years ago.

The residence has been transformed into a welcoming space for family and friends, and therefore all materials and furniture were chosen to create a warm and cozy ambiance for everyday family moments. Ultimately, the flexibility of the adapted new style and its ability to offer a comfortable and intimate atmosphere, respectfully redefine modern Athenian eclecticism.

Theta Tris architecture

George Sfakianakis

The post House renovation in Koukaki 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 renovation of the 110m² apartment from the 1950ies presented both challenges and opportunities: The Greek modernist era -that came to maturity along with the Athenian upper middle class- has left a significant architectural footprint in the center of Athens. Post-war modernist architecture meant high-rise concrete apartment buildings; however, embellishment was not frowned upon; on the contrary, it was sought after.

Grand symmetrical marble entrances, luxurious lobbies and elegant staircases characterize most of the buildings of the time. In the interior, hardwood parquet floors, colorful terrazzo and marble bathrooms and kitchen counters were common. This residential typology, with formal and informal living rooms, foyers and separate entrances and quarters for the live-in maid, remains in peoples’ memory but is no longer followed.

When planning the refurbishment of the apartment, all the above features were preserved, including the etched sliding doors, the carved wooden frames, and the gypsum ceiling decorations. The only structural modification was a partial opening of a wall to transform the former pantry into a large countertop.

In terms of the space’s materiality, special attention was given in restoring the 70-year old parquet floors and polishing the marble counters of the kitchen. A hint of modernity was introduced by a vertical walnut wood wall that also serves in hiding the WC behind. Wall coatings vary from off-white matte paint in the living rooms to shinny ones in the kitchen or metallic silver in the WC. A shiny blue room that lies in the middle of the floor plan serves as a pop colorful disruption as one walks through the apartment.

Items of the former household’s tenants such as suitcases, leather trunks, straw baskets and taverna style chairs are still used to decorate the apartment. Other pieces include the ancient Greek Klismos chair and custom marble side tables. Pieces from artists, the designer’s friends, decorate the walls and bring a contemporary edge to the space.

KCA / Kostas Chatzigiannis Architecture

Athina Souli

Alexandros Maganiotis
Michel Lamoller
Yorgos Maraziotis
Ardan Ozmenoglu
Theo Prodromidis
Stratos Maragos
Philippos Theodorides
Nikos Yorgos Papoutsidis
Savvas Laz
Manolis Saridakis
Christina Mitrentse

The post Athenian Apartment was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

Nigel is a tiny cafe at the bottom of a commercial office building in Camberwell, Melbourne.

The design for the 35m² space had to be especially clever in accommodating the required necessities of running a coffee-focused business with food, while still providing a memorable and enjoyable experience for patrons.

The result is an L-shaped bar hugging the back and one side of the space, incorporating the hero of the space – a three group coffee machine – and various pastry displays.

While the black laminate of the bar indicates approachability through materiality, it is also providing a grounding presence in the space. Above the bar, two laser-thin LED pendants are hovering and seemingly cutting through the deep emerald green ceiling.

Opposite the L-shape bar is a small albeit welcoming seating area with contrasting materials as light timbers and cute greenery accents on the tables.

The entire space has been “dipped” into a terrazzo look tile, providing a visual basis of the materials and finishes used.

The space is minimal and clever, it is at the same time contemporary but also feels strangely established and familiar, directing the focus of the customer to the main offering – coffee.

Pierce Widera

Pete Dillon

The post Nigel Café was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.