Community Center in Monagri
Third Prize 2007
(In collaboration with Filios Charalambides Architects)
A public building in a natural landscape that dominates the area must be part of the landscape but also distinct, concrete, to state its identity and use, to mark its point of existence and to reconstruct the image of the landscape.
The regional center is located at the point of change of the slope using all the advantages that this position gives it. The square is organized in the flat section, while the sloping west of the building remains in its natural form. The building itself is molded in a way that comes to draw and organize the space, pick up the difference of levels and connect it inside the building.
The square is in direct contact with the building, it penetrates and diffuses into it and is the normal continuity of the building.
The location of the building on the sloping ground allows it to be organized on two levels, to make the best use of the unobstructed view and to show the dynamism of its volume.
The building is composed of simple pure geometric volumes which, as in traditional architecture, dare to escape from the grid and achieve the best possible relationship with the ground, adapt to its inclination, achieve the best possible view, optimal orientation and the correct correlation of functions.
The building is functionally organized in a clear manner, respecting the principle that each functional unit at the same level is autonomous, giving the office spaces a depth of spatial planning that is proportionate to the privacy they require and organizing the other spaces so that the relations between them to reflect the required correlations of their functions.
