kois associated architects tops restaurant in greece with reflective floating roof

located in drama, northern greece, an area renowned for its varying topography and captivating landscape, kois associated architects has designed the ‘shimmer’ communal respite facility and restaurant. the project is apart of a larger industrial complex, situated within the grounds of international electrical equipment company ‘raycap’. the site is an interstitial residual space left unbuilt during the company’s development phases and is surrounded by administrative and production facilities.

all images courtesy of kois associated architects

since the completion of the company facilities on the site, it has been planted with trees and over the course of the years has been transformed into a park. the building by kois associated architects is conceived at the intersection of three pathways through this park. these routes were not initially planned; they rather emerged through the daily circulation of the users who favor the park as a place of gathering. employees go there to have their lunch and socialize especially during the most temperate seasons. the architects saw these paths as daily and seasonal rhythms that outline a territory and lead to the emergence of dimensional markings on it. this idea brought to mind the works from the ‘land art’ movement of the 60’s and 70’s and more specifically, richard long’s ephemeral sculpture, ‘a line made by walking’.

the main aspiration for the project was not to simply place a building on the landscape, but to make it an active part of it. the scenery, the way the horizon meets the undulating topography become integral parts of the daily human activity within the location. so, the architects wanted to create the feeling of a protected personal space while keeping an uninterrupted view to the surroundings. the design was stirred towards the creation of a viewing device, framing the natural environment. the abstraction of the floating plane and its relationship with the landscape has a strong resonance with the territory. the plane was envisaged as a shimmering line leveling with the horizon, a thread that stretches out and changes in intensity and sharpness depending on the prevailing environmental conditions.

the building’s large scale is established by mirroring the relative proportion of the site to the overall complex, while the enveloped space has a smaller scale, creating an atmosphere of intimacy. within the envelope, a sheltered park with an almost immaterial boundary, a crystalline skin, becomes the vessel of the facility’s daily rhythm. here, the functions are separated into the public covered plaza, the food preparation area and the utility service area. the interior plaza acts as a continuation of the exterior with the boundary between the two almost diminished. the subtle reflections manifested with oscillating intensity on the underside of the roof reverberate and accentuate the exterior lighting conditions. the food preparation area is covered with turf and live plants making the volume seem like it is completely reclaimed by the earth, while the service areas are placed directly underneath it.

project info:

name: shimmer
architecture office: kois associated architects
principal architect: stelios kois
project leader: federica scalise
design team: antonios sarlanis, marielina stavrou, leonardos katsaros, vasiliki papargiri
location: drama, greece
size: 770 m²

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edited by: myrto katsikopoulou | designboom