Ileana Tounta Gallery

48 Armatolon & Klefton Sts, 1985-88

Architects
Eni Dimitriadi (1943-)
Giorgos Drinis (1943-)



This noteworthy gallery was designed by Evi Dimitriadou and Giorgos Drinis, two active architects of the 70s generation with many distinctions in Greek architectural competitions and winners of first prize in the 1969 international competition for the Tunis television centre in Tunisia.
The object of the gallery design was to transform a 1945 industrial building that once housed the printshop of the newspaper Avgi, into an exhibition area. The initial shell was retained without major changes, apart from merging the entrance hall with the open space which then became a stepped courtyard, and the construction of a polygonal glass prism to house the snack bar.
The stepped courtyard can also be used as a venue for cultural events, and an exterior stairway connects it with the areas on the second floor of the building. The interior layout is simple with plain surfaces so that the exhibition areas can be utilised in various ways to permit the best possible display of works of art. The new uses are harmoniously integrated into the existing building which has acquired many inventively designed details.

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