Art Center

University of Patras, School of Engineering, Department of Architecture, Patras

Project idea

Thinking about the importance of an art center and the functions that it must fulfills and offers, in general, in a community, we wanted our project to become a center of artistic (and not only) attraction for the city. Observing better and analyzing the site that was given to us in the center of Patras, along with the axes of the city, the transportation and without forgetting our primary goals, we created several different concepts of the project. After all the research, we decided that in order to strengthen our idea, the building had to be arranged in a way that the incoming of people, nature and activities are amplified in its center.

Project description

We concluded in a radial layout that ends up in a circle, so that all the activities happen around and inside of a center. Tracing back the building program, that was also advised to us, we separated the function in two categories, one of which is the production in the external of the circle, that consists of the places for workshops addressed to artists and others that are open to public interested in the making of arts, alongside with spaces of loading art pieces. The other category being the one of spectacles and conversations, includes the art exhibitions, the black-box theater and the entrance with the café. So basically, we inverted the transition process from the production to the final result and this is how the visitors, also, experience their visit. Moreover, according to the program, we created a grid in the center and we placed the functions, that were mentioned, based on some basic standards and the flow that we wanted, in order to contrast the strict limits of the round plan. The boundaries were formed based, also, on the grid itself, distinguish the internal from the external environment and offering additional functions in the building enclosure/ intermediate space for the comfort of the visitors, such as small libraries, bike stops etc.

Technical information

The rooftop of the building was inspired by the master plan and as a sequel of it, we wanted to create a game of shadow and light, according also to the building program, as for example the black-box theater doesn’t require any source of natural lighting, in contrast of the entrance that needs a lot of light. In conclusion, the rooftop is “translated” in design as two parallel rings, which are framed by horizontal and vertical elements, that create, in turn, the atmosphere of each space and its needs.