A five-story building in Athens, Greece of the architect Nikos P. Koukourakis is one of the 108 GREEN GOOD DESIGN 2009

A five-story office and store building in Athens, Greece of the architect Nikos P. Koukourakis is one of the 108 GREEN GOOD DESIGN awarded building and product designs for 2009 according to The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. GREEN GOOD DESIGN focus on the most important new international products and buildings and construction and planning projects that are leading the global way to a design that is fully sustainable and compatible with the highest standards of good environment.
 

Project introduction
Located in central Athens, Greece, our new 5-story retail and office building was developed in a sensitive way in order to obtain and achieve a “green” value. In planning the new 340 m2 office building at the corner of Kifisias Av. and Lalechou Str., we, as a design team at N. KOUKOURAKIS & ASSOCIATES, are attempting to control and utilize energy by addressing a unique balance in the form and function of this structure.

Basic concept
The form of the structure is a combination of two basic shapes (masses). The core mass which facilitates all the functions and the perimeter mass which protects the core mass from the outdoors and at the same time allows the building to interact with the environment.

Perimeter mass functions
As a result of the special slab structure of the perimeter mass, we allowed the air to flow and circulate around the core mass, thus gaining a more balanced building temperature. Moreover, the holes in the slab of the perimeter mass allowed us to filter and shade the strong summer sun and to let indirect light enter into the core mass. Doing so allows the perimeter mass to function as shading and cooling device.

Building skin
We used an insulation material to protect all exterior surfaces and triplex energy saving glass on all windows, in order to reduce energy usage and minimize thermal loses.

Minimal footprint
We designed the building to have a setback footprint in order to create, a shaded area around the ground floor  (the retail shop with the tall glass windows).

Nikos P. Koukourakis