National Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum

Vas. Konstantinou 50 Ave, Athens, 1956-7 and 1966-75

Architects
Pavlos Mylonas (1915-)
Dimitris Fatouros (1928-)
Cooperating architect
Dimitris Antonakakis (1933-)



The initial proposal for the National Gallery building designed by the architect-professors Pavlos Mylonas, Nikos Moutsopoulos and Dimitris Fatouros in the spirit of Le Corbusier’s brutalist architecture, won first prize in an open competition in 1956-57.
In 1970, when the decision was made to change lots, the main idea of the initial design was retained, despite the fact that the shape of the new lot was not square, as was the original one, but triangular.
The new design for the complex was drawn up by P. Mylonas and D. Fatouros, assisted by the young architect Dimitris Antonakakis.
The building group consists of two main volumes, a long narrow multi-storeyed rectangular volume to house the main Gallery, the permanent exhibitions, the offices and storage areas, and the two-storey cube of the Alexandros Soutzos Museum, which includes the entrance and houses periodic exhibitions. The two volumes are connected by a narrow bridge forming an asymmetrical H.
The elevations of the building are treated by visible concrete and surfaces faced with white marble. The low mass has arcades with columns of unplastered concrete in front and back, while the two lengthwise sides of the tall building are organised rhythmically on a 90o grid of concrete fins that protect it from direct light.

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