Acropolis Shop

Athens, Greece

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Acropolis Shop

Athens, Greece

Firm

FLUX office

Type

Cultural › Pavilion

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2025

SIZE

0 sqft - 1000 sqft

A new shop for Acropolis, conceived as a large canopy and introducing a new public space at the foothill of the archaeological site.

Set along the historic midcentury pathway to the Acropolis designed by Dimitris Pikionis, and with commanding views to the Acropolis hill, the new shop takes the form of a lightweight canopy under which a series of enclosed and semi-enclosed spaces are arranged freely. The roof consists of a single surface with thin visible edges and holes for the passage of two existing trees. Under this canopy, a series of different size platforms, responding to the natural slope of the site, define the interior of the shop and the surrounding shaded public spaces of rest and circulation.

An important design consideration was the lightness of the construction and the openness to the immediate environment, consisting of the surrounding grove of pine and olive trees, the soil covering the site and the footpath of reclaimed marble.

To achieve this, the roof canopy is supported by a series of orderly arranged slim freestanding columns juxtaposed to a system of irregularly placed walls cladded with GRC / ceramic panels that offer bracing and define the internal space of the shop and the surrounding external areas. To further accentuate the perception of a lightweight structure while offering transparency, these walls feature continuous horizontal zones of glass, both at their base and top, connecting interior space with exterior, thus expanding the boundaries of the shop.

Internally the shop is organized as an open space, with goods presented on shelving units, hang from the walls or arranged at a centrally located island, while a space with lower ceiling, as if protruding from the façade, caters to children. The only enclosed space is a small storage room located at the back, in proximity to the service counter. Access to the shop’s interior is from 3 directions, corresponding to the visitors’ movement along the greater area.

The palette of materials is limited to marble flooring with hammered concrete edging as a response to the adjacent pathway of Pikionis, GRC / ceramic panels as a reference to the site’s soil and green tinted zinc cladding for the roof as a reference to the surrounding foliage. All these are tied together with the dark grey metal structure of the walls and the black shelving units and furnishing. In addition, the underside of the canopy and its supporting columns are painted a light grey – white to add lightness.

Architectural Team:
FLUX-Office
Eva Manidaki,
Thanasis Demiris
Efthimios Dugas
Themis Istatiadis
Ramin Antoniadis

Structural
Vassilis Kasimis
Mechanical
Andreas Psaroudakis - CONAP
Competent Authority

Construction

Contractor
OKTANA Gabriel Vagdatlis - Vassilis Aegidis
Planting
Thodoris Antemisaris - Dimitris Chalkias

Photos
Paris Tavitian