Exhibition spaces

Date:: January 29, 2023
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Selling bench for Chania open market

Chania municipality assigned the Technical University of Crete – School of Architecture Rapid Prototyping laboratory to conduct research on the design of a bench for its flea market, a food and goods street market that takes place in a different spot of the city almost every day of the week. The goal is to make a unified design that has to be light, transportable, easy to set up and dismantle by one person, and able to carry up to 1 tn weight of merchandize. It also has to serve the needs of both producers and merchands, two different categories of sellers, which have different footiprints (2×3 and 2,5 x6 m. respectively). It has to provide shade and rain protection, and to withstand wind loads of about 6bfts.

The bench is a “kit of parts” made from aluminum in order to be light. It has the possibility to expand by addition. It also presents a variability both in height and front – back sun protection position.

A full scale prototype was built and tested. After this prototype more benches will be built and tested in real conditions before the product goes into production.

Date:: October 5, 2018
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Rehabilitation of hydroelectric plant and landscape around Agyia artificial lake

Agyia artificial lake together with the small power plant is a project inaugurated by Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos in 1928. The 0,30MW plant was operational until 2005. For the landscape and its organic connection to the building, natural materials fitting with the sensitive ecosystem of the area were mosntly used: earth and treated timber. The building’s modern architectural vocabulary was left untouched. Its new function as an exhibition space for renewable energy systems incoroporates the building itself as an 1:1 scale experience of hydroelectric energy production. Steel and concrete bases were designed for the exhibits and a 1:100 scale model is used to dislpay the water circulation from the penstock to the elevated tank, the turbines and eventually the escape canal. The retaining wall surrounding the pilotis that supports the water tank are connected so as to generate a continuous line on wich most of the exhibition panels are located.

Concept

Date:: June 14, 2018
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Elval Colour Pavilion for Batimat

The proposal exploits and showcases the range of possible configurations of the composite material Etalbond which, combined, consitute its comparative advantage. The pavilion stands calm among the competition: space is defined by the material itself, whereas “inside” and “outside” are clearly distinguished. At the same time the pavilion is open and welcoming. Its main space is created by a folding white surface constructed by the material itself, like a human scale origami. Its surfaces are parametrically defined and bear also parametrically defined patterns. These patterns, composed out of joint lines and perforations, change according to the structural element they belong: The floor platform has no perforation, the walls bear a light hole pattern while the ceiling is a lace that allows visual contact with the upper, more colorful part of the roof.

The variety of color and plastic properties of the material is the first and most important message to the visitor

Above and below the white origami, and up to the maximum allowed envelope, a geometry made by colorful etalbond blades is created exhibiting the large scale of possible colours of this material. The color and geometrical antithesis between interior (white folding surface) and the exterior (coloured parallel blades) allows for a structured reading of the information about the exhibits: the variety of color and plastic properties of the material is the first and most important message to the visitor.