The 130m² apartment is located in Papagou, a suburb of Athens. The apartment features large floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides of the living room, creating a space where natural light is predominant. The main brief requirement was to create an open, integrated space that could accommodate social gatherings.

For this reason, the existing partition walls separating the kitchen from the living room were demolished, creating an open floor plan for the living room and the kitchen. New white cabinets and a lapitec countertop were installed in the kitchen, emphasizing daylight and its interior reflections on white lacquer. The entire floor was dressed in American hard maple hardwood. All millwork details, including closets, cabinets, and small furniture were designed by the architect.

For furnishing, the open space and the white color were used as a background for a two-seat sofa and classic paintings from the owner’s collection, combined with contemporary design furniture.

Minas Konstantinou Architecture

The post White Box Apartment 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.

In 2019 the freelancing sculpture artist Ms. Monika Rienoessl decided to move from the city of Vienna to the country house in which she was raised in the small village of Neuaigen in Lower Austria in order to establish her artist’s studio.

With the money she recently got from having sold her apartment, she approached the Vienna based office of Maximilian Eisenkoeck (MEA) in order to create her dream house. She envisioned constructing a minimalist, white pavilion home where she could live and display her artwork. With the experience gained in industrial construction methods, the architect developed the idea of establishing a basic structure with as few parts as possible and to use the remainder of the budget for renovation purposes of the old existing country house.

The structure of the pavilion consists of 43 tiny columns with a diameter of 60mm fixed on prefabricated concrete foundations supporting a 140mm wooden board as the roof. The interior and exterior space is only divided by an almost invisible layer of extra clear float glass. The setback of the roof provides maximum light throughout the day preventing direct solar radiation. Moreover, it removes the need for additional sunshades or cooling systems.

The old clay brick house on the main street serves as a striking contrast to the light new structure in the back. The existing house was in a very bad state of repair but it was able to be saved and upgraded with some simple but effective improvements such as the reorganization of the floor plan and some additional window openings where they were needed. Now it serves as the artist’s workshop.

The existing concrete exterior spaces were kept wherever possible. These spaces are now being used for the display of the artist´s sculptures.

Maximilian Eisenköck Architecture

The post Atelier for a Sculpture Artist was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.