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 green and connections. The concept of the geological palimpsest guides the design concept for a new building as a constructed landscape, thus bridging the demanding geomorphology of the area. The proposed intervention, having a sense of place, is fully assimilated into the surrounding urban landscape. The shaping of the ground creates a new building and seems to extend towards the south the green area from the adjacent Litharitsia Park and Heroes Park.
Using as a design tool the intense geological relief that characterizes the city of Ioannina, as well as the wider region, the entire intervention in the study area is designed as a new topography that emerges from the existing one. The New Municipal Market is designed as an artificial topography, in analogy with the strong topography of the city. The main axes allow connections of the urban block from various directions, while the osmosis of the surrounding space of the new building, namely 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 Agia Marina Church), creates design and functional connections through green walks, operating as an expanded network of urban public spaces and as an important urban node between the lake and the center of Ioannina.

MARKET AND CITY
The proposal aims to strengthen the concept of the neighborhood and to interact with the surrounding urban fabric, creating urban green connections. The Market area, the Heroes Park with the Clock, the Municipal Cultural Center of Ioannina coexisting with Ottoman monuments, the church of Agia Marina, and at a close distance the under-restoration Kaloutsiani Mosque, are part of a wider area of green public spaces within the city, and establish the study area as a new attraction pole through the creation of a network of public spaces and cultural routes with supra-local character.

DESIGN
Through a unified language (materials, planting, and urban equipment), the design achieves the integration of the new Market with the Cultural Center square and the pedestrian street of Agia Marina, even if the three individual areas have distinct identities:
A. “New Municipal Market and New Market Square”
The volumetric composition creates a U-shaped building and a central square at the level of the market. The roofs of the building, as a continuation of the surrounding sidewalks, are planted, accessible at strategic points and function as rest areas and urban observatories, favoring visual contact with the wider central area, while in other points they descend to the level of the square, enhancing a seamless unification of the different levels of the city.
While the compositional approach creates a building that appears embedded and solid, the treatment of the façade, with a visually light system of glazing and metal louvers, makes the building appear light and permeable. This contrast operates in such a way that the new addition does not compete with the neighboring monuments, but instead engages in dialogue with them, highlighting them.
Specific areas of the façade are designed in order to open, so that the market can expand into the surrounding space. The design allows different ways of appropriation of the market and the wider square depending on the season. A grid of masts in the Market Square organizes areas of movement and pause, while functioning as light metal structures that receive fabric canopies, organizing the open-air market and protecting it from weather conditions.
The building is designed with flexibility, allowing retail to operate independently from the market, and dining spaces independently from the rest of the program. Direct access to the restaurants is also provided via an external staircase from the central Market square.
For the transport of goods from the basement, where supply takes place, to the market level, multiple freight elevators are designed throughout the building.
During the morning hours, skylights on the roofs ensure that natural light enters into the interior. Due to the perimeter glazing, interior lighting indirectly illuminates the space of the Market Square during the night.
Both the interior and the exterior vending stalls of the Market have been designed. The exterior stalls consist of a flexible system of mobile units on wheels that can be easily arranged in any configuration in the open space.
B. “Cultural Center Square”
An expanded promenade 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 seating in the perimeter, creating large rest areas under the canopy of platanus trees, selected as the main planting for this part of the study.
Due to height differences, vertical surfaces of varying heights are created, over which water flows vertically, referencing the lake of Ioannina nearby and acoustically isolating the area from the noise of the adjacent street. This design tool, together with the introduction of vegetation, creates three distinct urban groves, offering moments of rest and coolness for the Market users and the city residents.
C. “Pedestrian Street and Agia Marina Square”
Agia Marina Street is redefined as a pedestrian street between the Market Square and the Kaloutsiani Mosque. At the section in front of the Agia Marina church, the existing fence is removed, achieving the unification of the pedestrian street with the church courtyard, expanding it and creating a new urban node, the new Square of Agia Marina Church.
PLANTING
Platanus trees, magnolias and cherry trees are selected due to their high resilience, low irrigation and maintenance needs, and adaptation to the local climate. Platanus trees, as deciduous trees, are strategically placed in squares and pedestrian areas to provide shade in summer and allow sunlight in winter. Magnolias, as evergreen trees, are placed along the perimeter sidewalks to provide continuous shading throughout the year.

MATERIALS
The color palette and the materiality of the project refer to the history of the area, where the city’s former brickfield once stood. Ceramic elements such as bricks in urban equipment and paving, permeable ceramic flooring, cast low-maintenance pavements in similar tones, and the use of local marble and stone reinforce an image that honors the history of the place.
These materials show adaptability and durability to local climatic conditions (rainfall, frost) and are suitable for safe pedestrian circulation under slippery or icy conditions.

BIOCLIMATIC RESPONSE AND URBAN RESILIENCE
The proposal for the New Market, together with the surrounding public spaces, constitutes a sustainable urban redevelopment that adopts key principles of bioclimatic design and urban resilience.
The new Market building is treated as a complex of planted accessible roofs that create a new microclimate in the area. This is supported by the selected planting in the Market Square, the Cultural Center Square, and the Agia Marina pedestrian street, aiming to mitigate the urban heat island effect. At the same time, the planting network extends the existing green, creating biodiversity corridors.
Bioclimatic design principles guide the building in terms of orientation, openings, scale, and materiality, according to the climatic data of Ioannina.
In the plateaus of the Cultural Center Square and in parts of the Agia Marina pedestrian street, stabilized natural soil (ceramic flooring) is used, reducing thermal loads in summer and allowing water absorption during heavy rainfall.
Both the new Market building and the square function as a system for collecting and reusing rainwater. Roof surfaces filter and collect rainwater directed to underground tanks for building use, while the square acts as a large-scale drainage system with marble slabs and open joints, collecting water into an underground storage. Permeable materials such as ceramic flooring, soil, and brick pavements are selected. Rainwater collection contributes to irrigation autonomy, but also acts as a flood prevention measure for the wider area.

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