HONORABLE MENTION AT ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION- REVIVAL OF THE CLOCK OF LARISSA – RISE OF A NEW PRIMARY CLOCK

Lead Architects: Panagiotou Ioannis-Architect Msc-PGDip,
Balatsoukas Anastasios-Architect Dipl. Eng. / MSc,
Maria Laskou-Architect Dipl. Eng.
Engineering: Ziogas Paris-Civil engineer,
Tsadilas Dimitrios-Electronic and electrical engineer
Award: Honorable mention
Area: 165 m2
Location: Larissa, Greece
Date: 2022

The architectural composition seeks "transmutation", that is, the transformation of the properties of a city clock from a time counter to a carrier of time, to a carrier of events. The new clock is a landmark of the 21st century, where the existence and function of such architecture no longer fulfils the role it once played for the city. The metaphorical interpretation of the clock as an "urban beacon" is attempted. It is intended to act as a new palimpsest within the wider palimpsest of the hill.
The proposal combines the monolithicity of a modern reinforced concrete tower with the dynamic geometric complexity of a post-deconstructive architectural writing. The structure volumes of the building base and the tower compose a multi-prismatic building complex that is consolidated, without becoming superfluous materials and oncoplastics within the urban tissue.
The aim is to integrate the requirements of the new era into the design of the building, integrating innovation into a constituent element of the structure and rhythm of its volume and form. Movement through monolithicity is sought by design. The slope of the monolithic construction is used to smoothly accommodate the difficult building program that requires a large area at the observatory stand in relation to the ground floor area, while managing the volume of a tall tower building without intermediate floors.
It is noticeable that at the same time “time’ has been considered as a defining concept in designing, through the creation of events in relation to human time. The apparent rigidity of the monolithic structure alludes to the stability of the arrow of time moving in one direction. The folds of the building's volume refer to the property of space-time to curve, "to fold". The concept of time was approached, as it is a clock building that is a mean of recording the time flow but at the same time as a landmark of the city it attempts to record future events.
According to Lynn, folding is the "cunning tactic" for the intensive integration of difference into a heterogeneous but continuous system, through smooth layering, a technique illustrated by examples from geology such as rock stratigraphy".
The proposal attempts to integrate the differences of monuments and buildings of the different eras of the heterogeneous environment of the hill which form a continuous system and to register them in the new era with the method of palimpsest, of continuous layering.
The concept of the palimpsest is used as a morphological element on the facades of the building with characteristic inscriptions on the reinforced concrete that borrow motifs from the worn marbles of the ancient theater and the facades of Byzantine and Ottoman monuments on the Hill. In the context of the search for temporal materiality, the metallic corten covering material that interacts with time and the surrounding environment is chosen for the facades of the ground floor volumes. The proposal attempts to unfold this the palimpsest and to unfold through it, reformulating it, reflecting it.
Alternations between transparent and solid surfaces are created in the formation of the ground floor, dominated by triangular geometric projections - wedges. The ground floor ceiling is an impassable planted roof. The unfolding of the folds of the monolithic tower resembles a dance that unfolds from the ground to the observatory, where with the interposition of a perimeter slide the movement stops, smooths and the rigid faces of the clock level begin. The tower is inscribed with motifs - morphological elements that reconstruct the palimpsest of the surrounding monuments. The stairwell is naturally lit by the transparent north face where a pergola supports climbing plants from the ground floor ceiling up to the observatory floor level. At the level of the observatory, 360° perimeter view is allowed.