Art Center in Thessaloniki

Graduate architecture project

Supervisors: Kyriaki Tsoukala, Claudio Conenna

The thesis project concerns an art-center situated in the historical center of Thessaloniki. The construction consists of two volumes connected with bridges on the third and fourth floor. Each of the two volumes carries an identical structural system that consists of two static elements designed to support a metal beam that is almost as high as a floor itself. The static element prototype (4 x 6 m) is actually a construction of interlacing vertical and diagonal columns (intersection: 15 cm) that embodies the vertical communication. This structure establishes in plan, a succession of flowing spaces in each floor that allow the organization of flexible areas: art-laboratories, a library, an exhibition space, a film projection room and a small restaurant-cafe.

Relying on the external viewpoint, a bioclimatic approach is revealed by means of the two skin facades -a glass veil and a wired mesh. Although glass tends to contribute to the overheating of inner-spaces, natural ventilation is achieved through sidewise openings of the glazing surface, whereas the second skin offers a changeable shading system. The wired metal surface is divided so that the shading panels are folded and unfolded according to the sun exposure and orientation of the building.

Metal and glass surfaces were designed above the findings of the excavation, creating routes that allow the visitor to observe and interact with the revealed ruins. The accessibility of the excavation is achieved through staircases that lead the visitor from the ground floor on a glass level just two meters above it.