MARKETSCAPE

The study proposes the design of the New Municipal Market of Ioannina as a new landscape-building that will function, together with the surrounding urban space, as a zone of urban greenery and connections. The notion of the geological palimpsest guides the central idea of designing a new building as a constructed landscape, thus bridging the demanding geometry of the area. The proposed intervention, having a sense of place, is fully assimilated into the urban landscape that surrounds it. The formation of the ground creates a new building and seems to extend the green area from Litharitssia Park and Iroon Park towards the south.
The entire intervention in the study area is designed as a new topography emerging from the existing one. The New Municipal Market is designed as an artificial topography, analogous to the strong topography that characterizes the city of Ioannina. The basic layout lines allow connections of the building block from various directions, while the osmosis of the surrounding space of the new building, that is, the New Market Square, with the adjacent public spaces (the redesigned Cultural Center Square with the Ottoman monuments and the pedestrian street, and the Square of the Church of St. Marina), creates design and functional connections through green walking routes, which function as an expanded network of urban public spaces and as an important urban node between the lake and the center of Ioannina.
The volumetric formation creates a U-shaped building and a central plaza at the market level. The roofs of the building, as an extension of the surrounding sidewalks, are planted, walkable at strategic points, and function as resting areas and urban observatories, encouraging visual contact with the wider area of the city center, while in other places they descend to the level of the plaza, reinforcing a seamless unification of the different levels of the city.
The Market area, the Iroon Park with the Clock Tower, the Cul¬tural Center of the Municipality of Ioannina which coexists with the Ottoman monuments, the Church of St. Marina, and, at a short distance, the Kaloutsiani Mosque currently under resto¬ration, constitute part of a wid¬er area of public spaces and greenery within the city. Togeth¬er, they make the study area a new attraction point for large flows of pedestrians and tour¬ists, as well as an opportunity for the creation of a new network of public spaces and cultural routes with a supra-local char¬acter.
The proposal aspires, through its layout lines and connections, to interact with the surrounding urban fabric, creating an urban green linkage with resting areas and visual openings.
The intervention area is treated as a single proposal and is divided into three sub-areas with distinct identities:
1. “New Municipal Market and New Market Square”
At key points of the façade, openings have been provided in such a way that the market can extend outward into the surrounding space. The design allows for different ways of appropriating the market and the wider square depending on the season. A grid of masts in Market Square organizes areas of rest and movement, while functioning as light metal structures that receive fabric canopies, intended to organize the outdoor market and protect it from weather conditions.
The building is designed for flexible operation, meaning that retail can function independently from the market, and dining spaces can operate independently from the rest of the program. Direct access to the restaurants is also possible via an external staircase from the central square of the New Market.
Specifically for transporting products from the basement—where supply takes place—to the market level, multiple freight elevators have been provided, placed throughout its entire extent.
While the compositional approach creates a building that appears semi-underground and solid, the treatment of the façade—with a visually lightweight system of glazing and metal louvers—makes the building seem light and transparent. This contrast operates in such a way that the new addition to the study area does not compete with the adjacent monuments, but instead engages in dialogue with them, highlighting them.
The design of the market also includes the design of the product-selling stalls, both for the indoor and outdoor market. The outdoor stalls will form a system of flexible wheeled mobile units that can be easily arranged in any configuration in the open space.
2. “Cultural Center Square”
An expanded walkway connects, via an outdoor staircase, the New Market Square with the Cultural Center Square. This square is redesigned as a set of ramps and plateaus with perimeter seating, creating broad resting zones under the canopy of plane trees, chosen as the main planting for this part of the study. Due to the elevation differences between the various configurations, vertical surfaces of varying height are formed, over which water flows downwards, as a reference to the water element of Lake Ioannina located nearby, while also acoustically isolating the area from the noise of the adjacent road. This design tool, together with the introduction of greenery, ultimately creates three small urban groves, offering a moment of rest and coolness for both market users and local residents.
3. “Pedestrian Street and St. Marina Square”
St. Marina Street is redefined as a pedestrian street between Market Square and the Kaloutsiani Mosque. In the section in front of the Church of St. Marina, the existing fence of the church is removed, thus achieving the unification of the pedestrian street with the church’s forecourt, widening it and creating a new urban node: St. Marina Church Square.
Functionally, an effort has been made for the proposal to be friendly to citizens, especially pedestrians, creating desirable slopes and accessible areas with more than one route, aiming to be accessible to people with disabilities throughout all outdoor and indoor spaces of the study area.
PLANTING
Plane trees, magnolias, and cherry trees are highly resilient trees, with low irrigation and maintenance requirements;
they are proven to perform well in the local climate and are selected for different points of the proposal according to
the design. Plane trees, as deciduous trees, are strategically chosen for the squares and the pedestrian street to provide
shade during the summer months, while allowing light to penetrate the public space during the winter. Magnolias, as
evergreen trees, are placed along the perimeter sidewalks and provide continuous shade throughout the year.
URBAN EQUIPMENT
The seating elements are designed as monolithic forms, and in order to emphasize
the sculptural quality of their shape and their integration into the proposal, they follow
the materiality of the paving (exposed concrete) with a smoother texture, combined
with clay bricks. Some of the seating elements incorporate slits in the concrete
to serve as bicycle parking spots. The seating elements are organized according to
the area, either in linear arrangements or facing each other, with the aim of creating
larger seating zones.
The lighting poles are part of a genealogy of poles with different attachments:
waste bins, supports for hanging shading fabrics, and electrical outlets for the outdoor
market.
BIOCLIMATIC RESPONSE AND URBAN RESILIENCE
The proposal for the New Market, in combination with the surrounding proposed public spaces, constitutes a sustainable urban redevelopment that adopts the basic parameters of bioclimatic design and urban resilience.
The New Market building is treated as a complex of planted, walkable roofs, which create a new microclimate in the area. Contributing to this is the selected planting in the new Municipal Market Square, the Cultural Center Square, and the Square and Pedestrian Street of St. Marina, aiming to avoid the urban heat island effect. At the same time, the integration of the planting network as an extension of the existing greenery of the wider area creates biodiversity corridors.
Principles of bioclimatic design govern the New Market building with regard to its orientation, openings, scale, and materiality, according to the climatic conditions present in the city of Ioannina.
Both the market building and its square operate as a system for collecting and utilizing rainwater. The roof surfaces filter and collect rainwater, which is directed into an underground tank for building use (restrooms, cleaning, etc.), while the surface of the square functions as a large-scale drainage grate: paving with square marble slabs and open joints is chosen, which also collect rainwater in an underground tank. Finally, permeable paving materials are selected, such as ceramic paving, compacted earth, or clay bricks on rammed soil. The collection of rainwater contributes to the self-sufficiency of irrigation in the intervention area and also acts as a flood-mitigation measure for the wider area.
In the plateaus of the Cultural Center Square and in parts of the St. Marina pedestrian street, the paving material is natural compacted earth with stabilizers (ceramic paving). The purpose of this material choice is, on the one hand, to reduce heat loads during the summer months, and on the other hand, to allow water absorption during periods of heavy rainfall.

Architects: Constantine Bouras Studio, Evita Fanou Architecture & Design
Collaborator: Alexandros Lamprinos
Design team: Iris Dermitzaki, Panagiotis Liontos, Eva Malmou