Floatheca Cy of the Choetheque Series

 

This is the fifth project of the Choetheque Series presented within a calendar year, following the publication of the Piloting Pilotis essay and conceptual outset, while another two projects - at least - will follow in 2015. This project is an evolution of the previous Floatheca Sp with significant elements introduced and rethought - primarily the central atrium that punctuates the main enclosed volume, and secondly, the absence of the elevator cylinder as a structural element.

This occurs with the incorporation of three staircases - rather than two as previously used - leading to the main upper floor, and a fourth linking to the roof terrace. Then, unlike Floatheca Rh - the first of the three sister projects, where stairs are extended slightly as to have the volume of their end-landing detached from the main habitable mass, here with Floatheca Cy, the tunnel-like viaducts accommodating the stairs are attached (at the area of their lower landing) to the main volume above. Visual separation between the massing of the stairs and the main prism is achieved by means of side-kinks and cut-outs that geometrically separate base forms from the irregularly shaped main datum.

All stairs feature a second slanted slab that covers overhead and follows their trajectory within the main interior space, undoing the possibility to look down into the stair void from the main space, offering thus the possibility for a thin in-between slanted passage for services, ductwork and utilities.

Square openings occur at the zones where slanted slabs meet with flat floors. These slits, resolving the moment of sharp intersection between the two plates, function as controlled ventilation intakes. Sunlight enters from these gaps and washes upon concrete surfaces undoing the scary and dark dead-end of narrowing voids between the inclining surface and the horizontal, thus reinforcing a sense of emotional reassurance and concentricity offered by the central atrium zone.

This central atrium, glazed throughout its perimeter, tempered by sunlight and geometricized as to amplify its presence within a confined floor area, converts all interior space into a linear procession route, a peripheral circuit. By enabling cross-views, the atrium allows for visual and potentially spatial and programmatic continuity between ground level pilotis and the enclosed main datum.

The abstract geometric pattern of homocentric circles continues the legacy of rhomboidal motifs that animate the vertical surfaces of Floatheca Rh. This composition of intersecting circles appears as a system of reveals engraved on the concrete walls and exaggerates a kinetic sense that animates the building perimeter, generating a dazzling effect. Openings occur randomly at the intersection of circles, in shapes directly pulled from this very geometric configuration.

 

 

Floatheca Cy of the Choetheque Series
Location : Bovril, La Paz, Provincia de Entre Ríos, Argentina.
Aristotheke Eutectonics, æ®: Office of Architecture, Research and Design.
Text, Design, Renders, 3D-Modeling: Aristotelis Dimitrakopoulos (AFD).
Team Credits
Photographic Editing and Axonometrics: Maria Roussaki, Ivana Bosnjak, Aggeliki Giombre, AFD. Axonometrics: Aggeliki Giombre, AFD. Drawing: Vaso Gkioka, Maria Roussaki, Persefoni Mavromanolaki, AFD. Maquette: María Díaz Rodríguez. Maquette Photography: AFD. Maquette Photographic Editing: Persefoni Mavromanolaki, AFD.