Gatherings

A public services complex at Thessaloniki.

 

competition entry

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Kostas Manolidis, 2018

(with Anastasia Bompou, Katerina Koliamitra, Konstantinos Papadopoulos, Vasilis Spiliotis)

 

 

The proposed coexistence of building volumes and in-between voids aspires to the creation of an urbanity core and public life hub.

The shape of the plot and the underground parking space imposed a rectangular logic in the design. The new facilities are divided in three distinct buildings that accomodate different groups of services. This split helps the orientation of users into the complex but also adapts the scale of the building volumes into the surrounding urban landscape. One of the three units, located at the oblique side of the plot, differs geometrically from the rest. The great curve of its shape enriches the perceptive impact of the architectural space and identifies the cultural section of the program.

Through the clarity and robustness of building forms, a recognizable character emerges which is reinforced by the elaborated window layouts. The motifs created by the openings at the facades have their origins in arrays of stylized human figures depicted in Greek ancient pottery of the geometric period. The derivation of the shapes from gathered human figures that dance or accompany the dead, even if it is not directly detectable, validates the building fronts. In the rhythmic development and sequence of the openings, something significant is reflected: the primordial image of people gathered in ritual actions, that is the origin and confirmation of society.

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