PAPERCUT- Milles feuilles – a thousand leaves.

Concepts and practices used in fashion design were incorporated as organizational principles during the design and the construction phases of the project.

'YESHOP IN HOUSE" is the result of the collaboration between the greek  architectural office dARCH Studio and the  fashion designer, Yiorgos Eleftheriades. It is located on the first floor of a two-storey building at the center of Psirri - Athens, where the fashion designer works and exhibits his work.

Photos Vasilis Skopelitis

Numbers
-1500 sheets of corrugated carton, 5mm thick, size 110cm x 80cm.
-50 kgr glue for wood.
-8 chisels.
-40 blades.
-2000 blueprints-patrons
-countless cuts and pastes.

Design

Α. Concept.
Milles feuilles - a thousand leaves.

Concept of the approach was the design of site-specific constructions that would emphasize and intensify the continuity of space and its homely feel while at the same time they would homogenize in a mental and formal way the varying events that happen in the "house" (shop - exhibition space, lounge area, party space, small scale fashion shows). The ephemeral character of the refurbishment was a wish of the client.  Existing furniture were rearranged in order to bring into forth the two, new, constructions that were handmade, using  eco -friendly corrugated packaging carton. The sense of packing (as a reference to refurbishment, moving and the ephemeral) is spatially expressed, while the  cheap material used in a derivational manner, structures space.

 Synthesis 1 (southern wall)

The existing furniture was rearranged either with the same use or its use derived. Trying to free as much a space as possible and emphasize the movements of users, the massy furniture were suspended (screwed up) on the wall, where the tables became lightings, the book case turned into stand for coffee machine and display case. The wall was covered with corrugated carton (5mm thick) in stripes, with the corrugated side of the carton on the front. As a result the furniture seemed as they were wedged in the cardboard. The metallic hangers were rearranged in a radial pattern in order to accentuate natural lighting and users movements in the "house".

Photo Vasilis Skopelitis

Synthesis 2 (eastern wall)

The synthesis is based on the design of a biomorphic self-illuminating construction consisted of thousands sheets of corrugated carton in correspondence to synthesis 1. The boxes that perforate the liquid form produce displays for the objects, designed by Yiorgos Eleftheriades. The displays are intensified with the use of built-in indirect lighting. Also the paper curves shaped sittings. Via stratification the two dimensional material is transformed into a volume interacting with its surrounding space and provoking visitors in free interpretation. One gesture - multiple images.

Photos Vasilis Skopelitis

Β. Materials.
The materials used in the refurbishment were intended to emphasize the dynamic properties of the space contrasting, in means of value and texture, the materials used by the designer. The two new syntheses in the atelier were constructed with (the 100% recyclable material) corrugated carton and low cost OSB wood.

Photos Elina Drossou

C. Construction

Patron
Every construction in the atelier was made ad situ as site-specific prototype models. For 15 days, the architects of dARCH studio and their equipment were relocated to the showroom. More than 2000 blueprints (horizontal sections of the curved parts) were produced and used as patrons for the hand-cut sheets of carton. Each sheet was glued in its specific place and so on...

DESIGN: DARCH STUDIO  (Elina Drossou Architects)
PROJECT: renovation of  the showroom YESHOP IN HOUSE
LOCATION: AGION ANARGIRON 13, PSIRRI, ATHENS, GREECE
CLIENT:   YIORGOS ELEFTHERIADES
PROJECT MANAGEMENT: DARCH STUDIO(Elina Drossou, Nikos Karkatselas, Chrysa Konstantinidou)
PROJECT SHEDULE: OCTOBER 2007
COST OF CONSTRUCTION: 2.500 euro
GROSS FLOOR AREA: 90 m2
PHOTOGRAPHY: Vasilis Skopelitis , Elina Drossou

dARCH studio was founded in 2006 by the 29 years old architect Drossou Elina. The firm is located in Athens, Greece and has been involved in a variety of  projects  either as heading or consulting designers including  office buildings, residences, shops, ephemeral constructions and theoretical installations plus small scale projects like furniture, graphic design and set-design for a variety of  occasions. The dARCH studio practice focuses in an architecture of the senses that embodies the natural and urban environment as a forcefield for lived experience.