Athens, Greece
Program: A 108,000-square-foot mixed-use complex for Shop & Trade, a clothing import and distribution company, with offices, a supermarket, and 97,000 square feet of underground parking. Two four-story office blocks form an L shape around the supermarket and overlook a garden, which doubles as a green roof for the market. Shop & Trade's offices are housed in the larger block set behind the store; the other office block rises in a narrow tower to the west and includes leasable office space. The development is part of a ten-year effort to revitalize an industrial neighborhood; a mile down the road, Kokkinou Kourkoulas Architects also designed the Pireos Street annex of the Benaki-Modern Museum in 2004.
Design concept and solution: To evoke the drape of fabric, Kokkinou Kourkoulas gave the facade of the main office block a sweeping curve. The concrete building juts out over the garden and recedes at the first level; the curve continues through to the back of the building, finishing in a sloped overhang above the first floor. A slanted arcade at the entrance of the supermarket mimics the leaning facade. Inside the main office building, a wedge-shaped atrium adds a sense of spaciousness by growing larger on each successive floor. The architects used glass partitions to keep the interior transparent and open up views to the garden. To provide a clean backdrop for the clothing, they left the structural concrete and aluminum windows exposed.
Design Architect
Kokkinou Kourkoulas Architects & Associates
Chr. Serron 7A, Athens, Greece 11471
Ph: +30 210 3612 591
Fax: +30 210 3634 316
www.kokkinoukourkoulas.com
archisin@hol.gr
Completion Date: June 2010
Location: Pireos 222, Athens, Greece
Total construction cost: €25 million
