Kalliope Kontozoglou Architects

Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company

Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company
© Henriette Attali

OFFICES AND SHOWROOM OF A FABRIC COMPANY

Kalliope Kontozoglou

ARCHITECTS
Kalliope Kontozoglou

LOCATION
Athens, Greece

CATEGORY
Offices

CLIENT
G.F.Ioannidis

PHOTOGRAPHS
Henriette Attali

Text description provided by architect.

On a long and thin site, along the Athens ring motorway and next to a toll station stands a container like building. It is the store and showroom of a company that imports and sells textiles.

Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company
© Henriette Attali
Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company
© Henriette Attali

The view for the passing driver as well as the one who is entering the motorway is that of a monolithic volume offair faced concrete held high up in the air.

This concrete surface (2nd and 3rd floors) is offered more as a gigantic billboard than a building to the passerby, both car and pedestrian alike.

Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company
© Henriette Attali
Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company
© Henriette Attali

In contrast to that, the lower part of the building (ground and first floor) is punctured by large openings that repeat themselves at regular intervals offering to the interior, frame after frame, a cinematic view of the speeding vehicles.

The two identical prisms “slide” on top of each other to allow for a wedge-shaped catwalk to be created, forming the entrance to the building.

Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company
© Henriette Attali
Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company
© Henriette Attali

Inside, a long wall, painted blood-red, separates the showroom from the store areas and organizes the space. The same concrete finish follows in the interior, while the shelving is based on rough pine soft wood standard sections assembled and screwed together on site. The building is stated in simplicity and rationality that transcends the ephemeral of the glimpse of the driver-voyager through its “monumental” poetic heaviness.


Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company
Plan 01
Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company
Plan 02


Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company
Elevation 01
Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company
Elevation 02
Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company
Elevation 03


Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company
Section 01
Offices And Showroom Of A Fabric Company
Section 02

Kalliope Kontozoglou Architects
T +30 693 2259029
Kalliope Kontozoglou Architects
Valaoritou 9B, Athina 106 71, Greece