Architectural Prize for The Breeder gallery

photo © Vivianna Athanassopoulou

based on the greek article by Chara Tzavara for Eleftherotypia-newspaper

The famous Greek Architect, Aris Zambikos was commisioned by George Vamvakidis & Stathis Panagoulis (The Breeders) to design the ‘The Breeder’ gallery and the vague and characterless 70’s building was renovated to become an award winning gallery. The award wining architectural gem announced by the Hellenic Institute of Architecture on Friday the 9th of January 2009. A pure and hopeful example of what can become when there is belief and passion for your work. Something that the work of the Architect Aris Zambikos, never fails to exemplify us.

photo © Vivianna Athanassopoulou

photo © Vivianna Athanassopoulou

An award of the highest honor which is brought together by the GIA and announced every 4 years. There are only 3 awards that are announced every quarterly and the decision making process for all buildings shortlisted are very thorough and detailed. The nominations are gathered and the selection is broken up into two stages. The committee consists of the professors of Architecture Andrea Giakoumako and Pano Dragona together with the award winners of the 2004 nominations C. Deligiani, D. Diamantopoulou and D. Tsagaraki. For the final stage the president of the GIA Professor N. Kalogeras and Foulvio Irase the director of Trienalle in Milan are presented with the final shortlist and are invited to take part in the decision process. This year’s categories were:

photo © Vivianna Athanassopoulou

Private Residence, with 73 nominations in this category the honor was given to the much awarded architect Pandeli Nikolakopoulo for his residence in Psichiko
Public Projects, 18 nominations from which the award was given to the team consisting of Prodromos Nikiforidis, Bernar Cuomo of the atelie R. Castro and S. Denisof for their successful and talented reformation of the New Beach in Salonica.
The ‘Breeder’ gallery was in a category amongst great archetypes like the Dome for the Foundation of the Hellenic World, a bioclimate wine factory, the Naousa Civil centre and the reformation of the entrance for the Astera Vouliagmeni Resort.

The architect Aris Zambikos together with his colleague Architect Poulcheria Tzova stated that this is a particular category which reflects to André Breton. His portfolio consists of great works which include exceptional towers and private residences together with the Art Cine in Psiri which we were sadly informed that it did not open its doors to the public last summer and that it will be demolished to be replaced by a shopping centre. A pure example of eliminating character and presence for mass production.

photo © Vivianna Athanassopoulou

The award winning gallery first opened its doors to the public in Psiri and later moved to the area of Metaxourgio in the heart of Athens. The building that was selected for the gallery was a vague and architecture less abandoned space.
Aris Zambikos seems to be familiar with this neglected and underdeveloped side of Athens, and has stated that it has been left abandoned by the futuristic Athens understandably as it is too close to the centre for a residence and far away for a centre. He also informed us that it is the sole district so close to the Acropolis with a shortage of archaeological types, which means that it, was quite possibly used as a vegetable field that was responsible for the cultivation which provided food to the town. He is familiar though that nowadays this area is responsible for the existence of loft spaces in Athens and at the same time called no man’s land. A land as Zambiko states that everyone visits but those who can afford to leave here are not ready for the transition. He is however hopeful that the attitude to this area is still to be cultivated.

photo © Vivianna Athanassopoulou

photo © Vivianna Athanassopoulou

With these points in mind his architectural team which consist of civil engineers C. Kalligeros – Ergosystem and mechanical engineers V. Manolas – Synapsis Technical had a tough challenge in front of them. The original building had been constructed with the typical 70’s shell consisting of a condensed shell of concrete a mandatory skylight and mosaic flooring. The basement had never been used and like the roof space there was no staircase present. The ground floor had access to the upper floors by a spiral staircase that was falling apart.
These architectural barriers were tackled with great ideas and design approaches and have now been treated as prime focus within the interior. For example, the main skylight with the forgotten crane in the roof. These details are unimportant to the naked eye like the leaks and cracks in different parts of the building even the windows in the toilets have been treated in a way that compliment the new design. The main changes were made to the interior by bringing together the spaces which now make it practical to the circulation due to the new build staircase which hosts art corners. Aris Zambikos prefers his work to do the talking for him and respects greatly his colleagues that work towards keeping the characteristic architectural identities of the cities.

How does Aris Zambikos see the future of architecture in Greece “We live in a country that depends in services, it does not produce anything, therefore architecture is no exception to that rule".