Silver Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2023
Minion Mixed Use Development
by Konstantina Stella Tsagkaratou
- A' Design Award 2023 Silver Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2023
- CLIENT: Dimand S.A.
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 16,095
- Verification code 1383A9EB82 · Verify this award
About Minion Mixed Use Development
The project is the redesign of an abandoned iconic retail building in Athens. The proposal is a mix use development, comprising of retail, office and residential functions. Each use has its own special feature. The retail has the iconic entrance and a fully glazed façade on street level, the offices have the protruding glass cube meeting room with views of the Parthenon and an emblematic glass cube corner entrance while the residential entrance is located in the central courtyard as a continuation of the adjacent pedestrian street, in line with the overall urban planning logic of the area.
Aspa Kst Ltd's Minion Mixed Use Development exemplifies the sophisticated evolution of contemporary commercial architecture, demonstrating how thoughtful volumetric manipulation can transform functional programmatic requirements into compelling urban sculpture while maintaining dialogue with established streetscape contexts. The building's formal strategy engages traditions of modernist transparency and tectonic expression while introducing a distinctly contemporary sensibility through the bold cantilevered masses that project toward the street corner, creating dynamic visual engagement from multiple approach vectors. The horizontal brise-soleil system that wraps significant portions of the facade represents both formal and functional achievement, its rhythmic linear elements establishing visual unity across diverse programmatic volumes while providing essential solar management that speaks to environmental consciousness increasingly central to architectural discourse. The material palette demonstrates refined restraint, with white and ivory surfaces creating luminous planes that capture and modulate natural light throughout the day, their apparent weightlessness enhanced by strategic glazing that reveals inhabited depth behind the building's skin. Ground-level transparency activates the street edge, inviting pedestrian engagement and visual connection between commercial interior and urban exterior in accordance with contemporary best practices for mixed-use urban development. The compositional sophistication evident in the asymmetrical balance of projecting and receding volumes suggests architects working with confident command of formal relationships, creating visual interest that rewards extended contemplation while avoiding gratuitous complexity. Within broader architectural developments, this work participates in ongoing conversations about how commercial buildings can contribute positively to urban experience, offering civic presence that transcends purely utilitarian accommodation. Viewers might contemplate how architectural form communicates institutional identity while simultaneously serving practical human needs across retail, commercial, and potentially residential programs unified within a coherent formal vision.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Redevelopment of an abandoned retail building in Athens. The proposal is a mix of retail, office and residential units. Each use has its own special feature. The retail has the iconic entrance, the offices have the protruding glass cube meeting room with views of the Parthenon and the residential entrance is located in the central courtyard as a continuation of the adjacent pedestrian street.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The dimensions of the building are: 58,025m*25,550m*44,622m
GBA: 14,977sqm, GLA: 13,657 sqm.
Retail and F&B: 6,658 sqm
Offices: 4,828 sqm
Residential: 3,491 sqm
Secondary functions/ back of house: 713 sqm - Tags
- RETAIL, OFFICE, RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL, COURTYARD, REUSE, MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT
- Production Technology
- The structural elements of the building are Concrete and the Glazing is triple for energy efficiency and noise control. The horizontal louvers of the façade are metallic. On the roof and the balconies, there is designated space for vegetation and photovoltaic panels that improve the energy efficiency of the building.
- Design Challenge
- The biggest challenge during the development of this project was the history of the building and its conversion to a mixed use development, which is a different approach to the original design. The building comprises of 4 independent buildings, one of which has been more damaged by the fire that destroyed it and its structure has been severely compromised. Also, the slabs in one of the buildings are on different heights than the other three, which presented creative challenges that had to be overcome.
- Project Duration
- The project is located in the centre of Athens, Greece, with breath-taking views of the Acropolis.
- Operation Flow
- The building comprises of 3 distinct functions, commercial, residential, offices. Even though they are distinct, the full height open atrium creates homogeneity. To optimise the operation of the different functions, there are three different entrances to the building, one per function. The design of the atrium is meant to provide privacy, without cutting off the visual connectivity.
- Research
- The design of Minion is part of the architect's research on mixed use developments and the co-existence of different functions. The complexity of the brief resides on the seemingly contradicting needs of retail, offices and residential uses. The architect argues that once the potential issues arising from the mix of these uses are tackled, the above mentioned mix of uses is actually beneficial to the life of the neighbourhood, as it provides life on the urban block during the day and the night.
- Inspiration
- Urban redevelopment of the centre of Athens with emphasis on Patision street that is the only street that visually leads to the Acropolis and some of the most important buildings of Athens are located along its length. The building itself was the most famous shopping mall in Greece before it was destroyed by fire in the 1980s.
- Image Credits
- All images credit ASPA KST architecture design planning.
Photographer's credit Giorgos Sfakianakis Photography.