New building for the Main Library, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

A. Kotsiopoulos, M. Papanikolaou, I. Sakellaridou

Collaborator A. Economidou, 

Civil engineers P. Panagiotopoulos, C. Bisbos – H. Mylonas, P. Antoniadou,

E/M engineer S. Kolokontes,

4500 sqm, design: 1991-1995, end of construction: 1999

Selected by the Hellenic Institute of Architecture and the Deutsches Architektur Museum among the 130 most important buildings of the 20th century in Greece and included in the exhibition and Catalogue “20th Century Architecture: Greece”, 1999 and also for the exhibition On: the Modern and the Contemporary  in European and Japanese Culture, Tokyo, 2006

Awarded, by an international jury, the first prize of the Hellenic Institute of Architecture “Architecture 2000”, as the best public building in Greece of the period 1995-1999.

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The project provided for the construction of an exclusively underground wing on the north-east side of the existing Main Library (designed by Papaioannou and Fines in 1960). The composition is deployed symmetrically around a cylindrical atrium intersected by the main access route to the interior of the library and a pedestrian walkway running laterally to the old building. The curving outer wall of the new building and the elevation of the old structure combine to create another pedestrian walkway, which is part of the general system of movement around the campus.

Publications

  • Το Αριστοτέλειο σήμερα (the Aristotle University Now) edition by A.U.Th., 1/1993

  • Identita - Differenze, XIX Triennale di Milano, 1996, (p. 348)

  • Greek Catalogue Τοπία του Οικείου, XIX Triennale di Milano, 1996,

  • Claudio Lamanna, «Una biblioteca sotto I mari”, Architettura Intersezzioni 4, Venezia 1996

  • Catalogue ΕΙΑ-DAM “20th Century Architecture: Greece”, 1999

  • Catalogue 4th Exhibition of Greek Architecture, Thessaloniki 1999, pp. 46-47

  • Αρχιτέκτονες (Architects) issued by the Association of Greek Architects, May- June 2000

  • P. Savvaides, A. Bantelas, Πανεπιστημίου Πόλις (University’s City), University Studio Press, 2000, p. 161

  • Catalogue for the Exhibition Architecture Awards 2000, edited by ΕΙΑ (Hellenic Institute of Architecture) 2001, pp. 22-25

  • Newspaper Angelioforos, 11 March 2001

  • Newspaper Kathimerini, 11 March 2001

  • Newspaper Ta Nea, 12 April 2001 

  • Ελληνικές Κατασκευές (Hellenic Constructions), April 2001, pp. 40-42

  • Η Αρχιτεκτονική ως Τέχνη (Architecture as an Art, magazine edited by the Association of Architects in Thessaloniki), May 2001

  • M. Kambouri, «Περί βιβλιοθηκών: οι μεγάλες βιβλιοθήκες από την Αλεξάνδρεια στο Παρίσι. Οι νέες Αλεξάνδρειες» (About Libraries: the great libraries from Alexandria to Paris), Θεσσαλονικέων Πόλις (The City of Thessalonikians), 5, May 2001, pp. 119-132

  • Κ. Patestos, interview in www.e-go.gr 13 June 2001

  • Τεχνογράφημα (Technographima, magazine edited by the Association of Architects in Thessaloniki),) 201 July 2001, pp. 14-15

  • T. Biris, «Που πάει η ελληνική αρχιτεκτονική;» (Where Is Greek Architecture Going?), newspaper Eleftherotypia, 28 July 2001, pp. 28-29.

  • A. Giakoumakatos, «Το νεοελληνικό κίτς και οι εξαιρέσεις» (the neo-hellenic kits and its exceptions) newspaper To Vima tis Kiriakis, 5 August 2001, p. Α42

  • Κ. Patestos, «Η βιβλιοθήκη είναι ανάγκη του 21ου αιώνα» (the library is a necessity of the 21st century), in: View, newspaper Kiriakatiki Kathimerini, September 2001, pp 56-57

  • Ktirio 137 September 2001,  p. 117

  • Α. Giakoumakatos,  Η Αρχιτεκτονική και η Κριτική (Architecture and Criticism), Nepheli 2001, pp. 327 and 333.

  • Α. Sapika, «Ελληνική αρχιτεκτονική: πώς είπατε?» (Greek Architecture: how did you say it?), in: Close-up, November 2001, pp 50-51

  • Best of the Best, Greek Architects, edited by Status, December 2001, p. 48

  • Architectural Work in Greece, edited by Ktirio, 2002, pp 4 (8-11)

  • Peter Davey “Underground thoughts”, παρουσίαση του κτιρίου στο: The Architectural Review, issue 1263, May 2002, pp (80-83)

  • G. P. Lavvas, , Επίτομη Ιστορία της Αρχιτεκτονικής (A Concise History of Architecture), University Studio Press, 2002, p. 373 (and pict. 309).

  • Architecture in Greece, 36 (issue specialized on A.Kotsiopoulos’ work on university buildings) / 2002

  • Α. Giakoumakatos,  “City and knowledge: university buildings and urban tissue» in: Architecture in Greece, 36, 2002, pp 58 - 64

  • Α. Giakoumakatos,  Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Αρχιτεκτονικής: ο 20ος  αιώνας (History of Hellenic Architecture: the 20th Century), Nepheli 2003, p 119

  • L. Tsaktsiras, K. Papanthimou, G. Mantzios, N. Kalogirou, Θεσσαλονίκη, η πόλη και τα μνημεία της,  (Thessaloniki: the city and the monuments), Malliaris,  2003, p 226

  • CD-ROM «διαβά-ζώντας την πόλη» (reading the city), (Association of Architects of Thessaloniki and Hellenic Technical Chamber), 2003.

  • Α. Giakoumakatos, «Αποτύχαμε και στο Μετρό…» (We failed in the Metro operation), Ependytis, 9 November 2003, p. 6

  • D. Fatouros, Η επιμονή της Αρχιτεκτονικής (the Persistence of Architecture), Αθήνα 2003

  • Mauve, Dec 2004-Jan 2005, pp. 46-49

  • E. Konstantopoulos (edit.), On: the Modern and the Contemporary  in European and Japanese Culture, Exhibition in Tokyo Catalogue, ΟΠΕΠ, σελ. 54, 62

  • K. Skousboell, Greek Architecture Now, p. 268-269, Studio Art Bookshop 2006