“Galleria” Shopping Center

Year:1979
Location:Agg. Metaxa Avenue, Glyfada, Athens
Client:private
Status:Completed
Images:Dimitris Kalapodas
Sector: Retail

“Galleria” was the first shopping center in Greece which was designed with the necessary typical introvert character for this type of use.
The building, facing southwest, is built on an intermediate oblong site of large depth, on the most commercial street of the area. The concept follows the principle of a development around an irregular internal atrium, the major part of the composition.

From a functional point of view, the building has five levels; a ground floor with mezzanine, first and second floor, and an underground parking area accessed by a ramp at the side of the main façade, while a large open space is left at the rear part of the plot. In the heart of the atrium stand prominently two escalators and a glass panoramic elevator. The upper floors are arranged following the same principle of development around the atrium.
Externally, the building is clad with curtain walls of blue reflective glasspanes, while a steel space frame covers the atrium with transparent polycarbonate panels. The multifaceted façade has a recess, as there is a gradual subtraction of cubic volumes from top to bottom. The cladding of the external ceilings, which are formed due to the interlocking volumes of the façade, with the same glasspanes, contributes to the game of reflections and mirrored images, preparing the visitor for the complexity of the internal core (atrium).

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