Mnemonic Infrastructure | 2023

The proposal presented aims, amidst the complexity of the task,a simultaneous person-centered dimension of the center focused on the historical figure of Rigas Feraios, and the creation of an urban hub of local and supralocal reference, to derive conceptual tools for the architectural process through interpretations and transcriptions of spatiotemporal events and evidence. The connection lies in the reading of multiple urban practices, situated in the past, which, as memory, renegotiate the comparatively smaller scale of the complex.

The synthesis begins with an interpretation and intention towards transcribing a historical document. A synthetic intention is identified in Rigas’s Charta. As the Charta is supplemented with memory-generating elements identifying the peninsula, it selects the past it deems suitable for the evolution of the space. This propositional character of the Charta contributes to the principles of the present architectural process. As Rigas sets memories in his Charta that refer to a future collective space-time, this proposal, correspondingly, posits the square as the most memory-generating type for framing an urban structure. In the square lies the type of urban fabric organization that encompasses all the possible memory of symbols and events of cities, focusing on the structure in relation to the open public space.

The first element that defines a square, beyond its geometric configuration, is the facades of the building ensembles that project onto it. These projections on the perimeter of the square establish it as a structure. The correlation of the facades projected onto the square is connected to the next step, as the substantial spatial projection of the building towards the city is shaped by the spatial marker of access to and from it. As a main characteristic of building presence in public space, the composition presents spatial variations in the accesses to the program. The building volumes are composed in relation to the access they offer as a layout in the square. Studying compositional principles of urban scale, one understands the instrumentalization of the building-plot, building-street, plot-street relationships. The above correlations define the spatial system that contributes to the city through access. In this way, in the present proposal, the accesses to and from the square compose a loggia, the museum with direct access from the square, the library with access from a side path, and finally a stylobate accessing a periptero (pavilion). The complex is composed as an urban structure. A set of elements that promote urbanity interact with each other. The squares become three, one downgraded, and one on a roof complement the first. The square appears as a unit in a more complete whole, which obsessively seeks to be read as a city. The main axis of movement is in an irrevocable spatial relationship with the previous elements. The boulevard traverses interior and exterior spaces and interacts with all the spatial qualities presented in the proposal. An element of continuous stitching, a pedestrian avenue, stands as a layout.

Category:Museums and Cultural BuildingsLocation:Municipality of Rigas Feraios, Thessaly, GreeceArchitect: Konstantinos Gounaridis, GreeceArchitecture Office:Konstantinos Gounaridis, M |o| C Architecture CollaborativeLead Architects:Konstantinos Gounaridis, Nikolaos Sidorakis, Michalis PantazisLandscape Architects:Theodoros GounaridisDesign Team: Konstantinos Gounaridis, Nikolaos Sidorakis, Michalis PantazisClient: Municipality of Rigas FeraiosPhotographer: M |o| C Architecture Collaborative