micromega-architecture

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Konaki Averof: New Field of Connectivity

The project for the new Cultural and Educational complex of the city of Larissa focuses on establishing a creative link between the existing buildings of Konaki Averof and the new wing which will introduce contemporary forms, tools and construction methods. The goal is to create a modern unit, which will serve as a landmark for the region, connecting the past with the present.

“Konaki” is an architectural typology characteristic in the region of Larissa at the center of Greece, marking the housing unit of the owner of a vast agricultural plot. Predominantly introverted and dominating its surroundings, this shell is called to host a more open and public program. As the new cultural center, extrovert gestures and the creation of a porous shell are required in order to achieve integration into local life and the promotion of activities in the public space.

The heavy volumes of the existing konaki are maintained as a tribute to the typology, yet the new structure is developed in counterpoint and completes the whole by adopting a modern vocabulary. The connecting wing is designed with light materials, such as wood, glass and brick. It is treated through its plasticity as an extrovert, perforated and porous ensemble that invites the visitor and develops a dialogue with the outdoor space. The loadbearing structure of the new wing is wooden, creating a structural system light and recognizable. The characteristics ceramics coming from the area of Thessaly are translated into visible brick walls. Fixed and rotating glazing panels strengthen the transparency of the new wing.

The public and open nature of the building complex is also highlighted by the role of the public space that surrounds it. The new wing has direct access to the outdoor plaza, by the use of pivot doors all along the facade. Parallel to that, a community garden with vegetables and native herbs, is proposed, as the place where both children from neighboring schools and the elderly from the center will meet and interact. The program was allocated on the basis of both the accessibility and the different adjacencies, in order to create a flexible cultural complex that maximizes the different spatial functions and induces spontaneous meetings between the users of the space. As people of different age groups are expected in the complex, maximising the spaces of interaction will help foster relations and exchanges between the younger and the elderly.

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House with an ocean view

Honorable Mention in international competition

Design Team:

Alexandros Zomas

Mara Papavasileiou

Designing a housing project is the first step towards establishing a relationship between the owners and the space they envision to create. The personal taste and references are reflected in the choices of the materials, the layout, the open-ness of the house. Our team would be honoured to initiate a dialogue upon the proposed project, that is a first basis for a discussion and creative exchange.

 The brief calls for two houses that can be realised in two stages and later function together or separately. We believe that this strategy is efficient in order to value the site in its full potential and maximise the future benefits, should the complex be used as one extended residency or two. With this in mind, we created a complex that is unified in terms of aesthetics and materiality, but still preserves the privacy of the two residencies.

 The complex is more introvert as we approach by the main road, where the entrance is situated. As we walk from the entrance or the parking towards the House B, the space is revealed in sequences, leaving for the end the arrival in the open space living room and kitchen that opens towards the ocean view. The ground floor of House B has also a study room, separated from the living room, thus being more quiet and peaceful. The master bedroom with en-suite bathroom, as well as three bedrooms, compose the first floor. There is also a common space for studying, playing or relaxing in a more casual way for the guests. The volume of House B stands as an obstacle towards the SW prevailing winds of the site.

 House A is also reached by the parking, through an alley with glimpses to the ocean. It is composed by two levels. The living room with the open kitchen is situated on the ground floor and has view towards the ocean. There is also a bedroom on the ground floor, whereas a larger bedroom is situated on the first floor. The living room is prolonged on the exterior deck, where a fire pit is situated.

 The materials that will be used for the construction have been chosen in their most raw and real form. The main structural walls are made of stone, while wood is used for the shading panels. The first floor is also composed by metal panels that respond with their light nature to the solid stone walls of the ground floor. The interior is proposed to follow the same character, as this will allow a greater perceptual continuity between interior and exterior spaces.

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URBAN COURTYARDS

Open European Competition Europan 13

Santo - Tirso, Portugal

Collaborators Cristiano Lippa, Alessandro Mangione, Fabiano Micocci

December 2015

Description

The aim of the project is to enhance the business and productive aspiration of Santo Tirso and gain a more established regional relevance. This vision includes an intertwined relationship between the river system and the city in a network that enhances all existing qualities and potentialities. Three North-South functional stripes will link the city centre to the river and its resources and they constitute a territorial system that is crossed transversally by the historical axis of the city centre. This system connects cultural, productive and ecological matters through proximity of functions giving a strong role to the Fabrica and focusing its centre on the Market square, the renovated pulsating heart of the city. The Market square is renewed by managing the ground with a patchwork of hard and soft surfaces, and by adding a 3D metal grid that will host permanent and temporary activities. Movable panels could be easily arranged to obtain diverse configurations hosting multiple functions: established and official or informal and spontaneous. The 3D grid embeds fabrics produced in the Fabrica as a work of art at the urban scale. The patchwork and the grid are interactive and adaptable systems that could trigger participatory processes and citizens' empowerment. This integrated multifunctional system built on an ever-changing landscape and on the iconicity of the market square constitutes the framework for tourist interests, economic investments, and daily practices.

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HIDDEN GARDENS

  International Architectural Competition

Medical School and Health Sciences Building Nikos Siakolas

November 2015

Project Team: Micromega Architecture & Strategies (Alexandros Zomas+Mara Papavasileiou)

Eleni Mitakou, Vasilis Iereidis (IMA Architecture, Cyprus)

  The design process for the Medical School and Health Sciences Building was influenced by two factors: firstly, from the place of intervention with its intense topography and views towards the hill Aronas and Park Athalassa, and secondly from the actual content and character of the School of Medicine. The identity of the place affects the building regarding its location, orientation and volumetric options, so as to maximize the benefits of the site and the specific climatic characteristics. In parallel, the function which will be hosted, this of a modern and innovative Medical School, forms the architectural vocabulary. We go back to the beginnings of the science of medicine in ancient Greek and Hellenistic years to enhance the character of a holistic approach, where building and function meet in total.

  The chosen site for the Medical School, is characterized by a slope of elevation difference of 7m., therefore we seek to create a level that will connect the public space of the Belvedere with the semi / private space of the school and enrich the threshold of the campus with the school. At the same time, it is important to connect the upper and lower part through a walk, and take into account the future expansion of the school. The School of Medicine is planned morphologically as a new landmark in the campus that reflects the specific nature of the new building, enriching the skyline.

  The functional units of the School remain distinct as the building rises, while they are designed to have access to an outdoor or semi-outdoor space. The interior configuration of the School is focused on the social spaces of the building, such the rest and meeting points, interior or exterior, or wide corridors that encourage informal meetings among teachers, students and visitors, spaces for online access. The social areas of the School are in direct contact with indoor and outdoor gardens-terraces, which introduce the nature in the building. These spaces are a key point of reference in the holistic approach of the individual in relation to his environment, and refer to Asklipiia, the treatment clinics of Greek Antiquity.

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House with an Ocean View.

Honorable Mention at an International Architectural Competition!

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#wood #wooddetails #micromegaarchitecture #greekarchitecture #greekarchitects #archilovers #architecturelovers #architecture #architect #interior #interiordesign #design #arrikto

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Doesn't get better than that. #micromegaarchitecture #archilovers #architecturelovers #architecture #architectureingreece #greekarchitecture #interiordesign #interior #wood

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RailScape

Test Planning Patras International University Team

June 2015

Participants Athanassios Spanomaridis (coordinator), Markus Nollert (ETH Zurich), Theodora Papamichail (ETH Zurich), Savvas - Petros Pantazopoulos (UP)

Railscape

The concept of railscape embraces a holistic approach towards the relation between the passage of the rail and the city. In railscape, we recognize an active relation between the urban fabric of the city and its history, the users, the natural environment, the existing and proposed program. A new way of experiencing the city is proposed using the train as a means for a new interpretation of the urban landscape, activating programmatic nodes and creating new centralities.

STRATEGIC GOALS:

● Parallel development of the city and the railway system through an integrated and sustainable    solution ● Reveal the cultural and historical aspect of the city ● Reinterpretation of the waterfront in leisure and cultural site ● Development of transportation and commercial hub

The train will be the means that brings together the local residents of Patras and the students, as well as the visitors or the passers by. The alignment of the rail tracks act also as an urban green corridor, introducing a linear element of soft borders that connects the perpendicular blue and green infrastructure. Activating places of memory, which are situated in proximity to the train, brings the history of the city forward.

Rail...system

Given the existing circumstances, the approach of the following Concept is to devote planning resources, measures and financial emphasis to the most needed parts of the town and on the same time, preparing the most fertile ground for the urban re-development of Patras. Regarding the findings on the urban, regional and national scale and the concept of Railscape, the train system should inherit the following assets:

● A Main station in the city centre with direct connections to Athens and the Airport in Agios Dionysios ● The preservation of the suburban service and its geographical and operative extension ● Keeping options open for the integration of freight trains to the New-Port area ● The stepwise re-activation of the metric-Peloponnes network with  System change at Patras (Standard gauge/metric gauge)

Urban land...SCAPE

It is no coincidence that we refer to the “landscape” regarding the potentials of urban interventions the development of a new railway system could empower. The history of the City shows quite clearly that, despite its great heterogeneity, urban space reveals a greater degree of stability than any other cultural situation or setting. The presence of primary values and symbols in architectural tradition contributes decisively to the formation of exemplary situations, which in turn generate whole families of architectural forms.  

The notion of landscape, “topos”, is probably a truth which is not directly dependent on our personal experience or understanding, but it is present in our culture as a latent meaning, as a series of possibilities and limits for every creative act. “Drawing” the landscape is an effort to “recognise” it in order to promote a primary Topography through design/intervention.

Patras Urban Landscape is a space where diverse and, more often, controversial elements co-exist. Their presence creates a particular level of vision, capable of contributing to a new way of recognising the landscape that we experience on a daily basis. Our project recognises this landscape and through a series of interventions, it puts forward, reveals its primary structures creating a contemporary architectural script for the city. Ag. Dionysios multimodal station, a new public space, should be linked to the surrounding fabric and be a real “urban connector” within the city

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Σας ευχόμαστε χαρούμενες γιορτές και μια δημιουργική νέα χρονιά 2016! We wish you happy holidays and a creative new year 2016!

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Topos - Bauhaus, Proposal for the International Architectural Competition. Together with Dimitris Papaioannou and Symeon Banos

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Agroscape / Waterscape

Our project from the Informal Urbanism Athens workshop organized by Goethe Institute Athens, together with Technical University of Dortmund  and the National Technical University of Athens.

Agroscape / Waterscape

together with Lisa Faulenbach, Lisa Stadtler, Mara Papavasileiou, Alexandros Zomas

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Peireus Periscope

Open European Competition Thematic Archaeological Museum of Pireus October 2014

Collaborators Christina Voutou

CONCEPT

Out intervention towards the building is oriented by the use of materials that are environmentally friendly and highly recognizable so as the building would operate as a reference point in the urban tissue. If one reflects on the materiality of a harbour as Piraeus used to be in the antiquity, he would end up with two materials : wood and fabric. With these materials we create a double skin, in order to produce cooling and shading effects but also to horizontally extended  the surface of the museum. The structure consists of a wooden frame that is completed with elements made from the fabric

STRATEGY In our proposal, the building is treated as a whole, telling the story of Piraeus both through objects and the active participation of the visitor in the discovery of the collection and the city. The promenade into the museum entangles to different views towards the city, with culminal point the periscope that offers to the ground floor the whole image of the city. The sides of the atrium that overlook the showrooms, the workshops and the storage rooms, are designed to serve as showcases of objects. Programmatic uses are enriched with more recreational uses, seeking the expansion the museum beyond operating hours. The roof is designed as the natural end of the course of the visitor leading to the full perception of the Cultural Coast.

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Work in progress! Wood and corian! #micromegaarchitecture #interior #interiordesign #architectureingreece #architecture #workinprogress #archilovers #architecturelovers #architectureporn

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Seeds to Share

Our project from the Informal Urbanism workshop organized by Goethe Institute Athens, together with Technical University of Dortmund  and the National Technical University of Athens.

Seeds to share

together with Lisa Faulenbach, Lisa Stadtler, Mara Papavasileiou, Alexandros Zomas

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Rail as an urban condenser

Our project from the Code Athens Internaional Workshop organized by ETH Zurich in collaboration with the University of Patras and the National Technical University of Athens:

Rail As An Urban Condenser: Railway as motor and regional development opportunity

together with Alexia Alexopoulou, Anna Borer, Katerina Boulougoura, Francesco Gilardi, Athina Moroglou, Maria Tsoli, Thomas Wehren, Alexandros Zomas

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Project CONCENTRATION POINTS

Type Open European Competition Europan 12

Surface 290ha (reflexion site) 33,5ha (architectural and urban proposal)

Date December 2013

Location Bures-Sur-Yvette, France

Team Micromega Architecture (Mara Papavasileiou, Alexandros Zomas)

Bures-Sur-Yvette is a suburb of Paris that is in possession of two major resources : a magnificent landscape and a diverse, active community. These assets are to be activated through a procedure that engages acupunctural interventions with the minimum impact on the landscape, but the maximum effect on the social densification.

The process that we propose is a strategy of intensification of the soft mobility network and an introduction of several points of activities that use the existing and the extended infrastructure in order to provide the maximum creativity and plurality in the use of public space and generate links between nature, leisure and cultural activities. The concentration points will function as places of gathering, of community meetings, of recreation and sport, as well as small commerce or urban agriculture lots. The strategy for this intensification of public space takes into consideration the uses - current and projected- and the population’s habits. The implementation of the strategy follows the principle  «Start Small – Grow fast » and completes a toolkit for the activation of the public space through active participation.

This project investigates the adaptability through the definition of a process for a resilient and flexible urban environment that takes into consideration not only the importance of the surrounding nature, but also the users’ habits. The second element of the adaptability strategy is the orientation towards the nature and the use of urban agriculture -maraichage- as an element of productive landscape. This will act as a social condenser through adjacent uses, such as the community bistrot.

The rehabilitation of the building 220 and the new student housing project are carefully studied so as to grow depending on the need of the population. The public use space in the ground floor will host community events. The proposed projects of housing aim to sustain a critical mass of population in order to establish an active community in the site, a mass of population that will live, study or work at the territory.

The location of the new student residence building is strategically chosen so as to be in relation to the sports facilities and the student housing 231 and 232, to be close to the axis North-South and to the Yvette River. The intention to maximise the south orientation offers a good gain of solar thermal comfort, and the atrium contributes to the maximum natural ventilation.

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Interface Tensions : City Nature Workshop

Our project from last years International University Workshop at the Municipality of Agia Paraskevi under the subject Interface Tensions: City and Nature. An international University Workshop organized by the National Technical University of Athens (Greece) and  Sapienza University (Italy).

together with Cinzia Capalbo, Federica Antinucci, Federico Moresi, Lavinia Valente, Alexandros Zomas, Stella Zaharia, Carolina Moretti, Marilena Petropoulou, Zahos Hatziloukas