MOR Architects has won first prize in the competition to design the Konaki Averof Cultural Center in Thessaly, Greece. The competition sought out proposals to convert an existing complex with historic importance into a modern socio-cultural multiplex.
In an effort to reinterpret the relationship between the building and its urban environment, the winning proposal reintroduces the horizontality of the landscape, before human intervention.
The design not only provides maintenance and restoration of the existing external shells of the complex but additionally creates a “new, free-standing longitudinal roof with extensive cantilevers on both sides.”
Through this new wing, the building is unified in its revitalized form as a space to host community functions such as events, exhibitions, and workshops. Furthermore, the addition creates a zone of protected open-air circulation between units of the complex.
Similarly, “the shaded open-air spaces of the building, together with the existing tall trees of the site aid towards a sustainable microclimate while—at the same time—escalating the transition from the outdoor to the indoor space and constituting an integrated unit of public space for the community."
Learn more about the project here.
News via MOR Architects.
