Educational Company Arsakeio of Patras

The Arsakeion of Patras will be constructed in a lot of 42 stremma at the region of the municipality of Rion.  The building program of the compound involves the construction of a Kindergarten, a Primary School, a Junior High School, a High School, a Theater, a Library, an Indoor Gymnasium and an Administration Building of a total extend of 12,000 square meters.

The construction site of the school compound is extremely slopped and from the east side is defined by the street and from the south-southwest side by a small riverbed. The site has a view to the Patraic Gulf located to the north.

The building

The building of the Primary School was concluded in the summer of 2004 and is organized around an atrium, a big “surrounded” courtyard that consists the “core” of the school.  The movement to the classrooms develops in the peripheral arcades of the atrium, underscoring its introvert character.  The exploitation of the natural slope of the ground allows the construction of seats, which promote the development of collective activities.  The collective activities in turn give life to this space and contribute to the socialization of the children.

The compositional choice of the archetypal typological setout of the atrium and the arcade did not derive only from the functional needs, but it was a conscious reference to our rich local architectural tradition.

The Entrance area

The big transition area of the Entrance is very important to the function of the School, because it has a multipurpose character and it is used for gatherings, exhibitions, musical performances etc. The placement of the Entrance on the basic axis of movement, it allows the visual and functional unification of the atrium with the street.

The repetition of certain elements of the volumes of the building, like the unit of the classroom, creates a readable size that assists the comprehension and the appropriation of the compound.

The design

The designing of the individual units of the classrooms correspond to the needs of the different ages of the students of the School.  The classrooms for the younger students have their own courtyard towards the external side of the building, as is also the case with the Gymnasium.

The materials

The materials and the earthly colors enhance the harmonic inclusion of the building to the natural environment and the landscape of the region. The roughness of the materials is extremely valuable, especially in a country like ours that is characterized by an intense and blinding light, which lights the materials and then diffuses, promoting the colors and the substances, creating millions of shadows and tones.  This game of light and shadow follows and accompanies the local architecture from its birth until today.
In collaboration with Stavros Gyftopoulos, Thimis Dougas, Maria Kyriazi, Nikoletta Lahana, Charis Athanasopoulou, Athina Theodoropoulou.

Contributed by Isaias Dimitrios | Papaioannou Tasis