Cultural and Recreation Centre

This cultural and recreation centre, situated close to an important – yet almost unknown – archaeological site of northern Greece, was designed so that to guarantee a good view to the site, being at the same time almost invisible from that.

The building houses an auditorium with supplementary spaces in the basement and a small museum and a restaurant in the ground floor, with a large outdoor restaurant space with a steel pergola facing the archaeological site. The building has a unified external skin of aluminium windows and of wooden semi-transparent shutters, which contribute to the invisibility of the built mass, a requirement strongly imposed to the designers by the Archeological Service, after long negotiations on the final placement of the building.

Awards and honours
The building has been awarded a Distinction of Honor in the competition of prizes “Architecture 2008” by the Hellenic Institute of Architecture.
The building was selected by the Association of Greek Architects - together with 4 other buildings - as a nominee to represent Greece in the Mies van der Rohe Award Competition 2007.

Project Details
Α. Kotsiopoulos and partners: A. Kotsiopoulos, E. Zoumboulidou, A. Panou
Collaborators: Τ. Tellios, Th. Kouvaki, E. Halkiopoulou
Civil engineers I. Lavasas L. Deda
E/M engineers G. Lagos, K. Sarropoulos
Supervisionp: D. Altinis
Construction: AKTOR
Total built area: 1000 sm
Completed: 2006