National Insurance Headquarters

Project Name: National Insurance Headquarters
Construction year: 2006
Website: www.ethniki-asfalistiki.gr
Address: 103-105 Syngrou Avenue, 117 45 , ATHENS - Greece

Architect(s) : Mario Botta (www.botta.ch) | Sparch | Sakellaridou / Papanikolaou Architects (www.sparch.gr) | Maria Pollani
Project Category: Office

Latitude: 37.9587
Longitude: 23.7202

National Insurance Headquarters

The largest possible opening to the view of the Acropolis and the microclimate of a square, were the main issues for the design of this complex. Set on Syngrou Avenue, it houses the Headquarters of the Insurance Company, together with a linear rental office building that forms a border to the other side of the square, a Conference Center on two levels underneath the square and a multistory underground parking. The aim was to create a building complex that would set up a dialogue with the urban tissue through the use of a strong and robust form. Public space expressed via a square, an atrium in the main building, and a double-height foyer at the conference center becomes an important feature of the design. What is removed from the volume, what is transformed from mass to void, is then occupied by movement and light. The sharp corner of the main building on Syngrou Ave. becomes a powerful gesture that shapes the perspective of the square. In the atrium, the pre-eminently public space of the building, natural light from the two skylights outlines volumes and planes. Bridges with sandblasted glass are crossing the multilevel void, and the play with movement, gaze, shadows, and transparency activates space. At night, skylights, this confetti of lighting holes that corrodes the surface of the square, indicating the presence of another space hidden underneath, and the “rain” of the linear lighting fixtures, create a continuously transforming landscape.

Contributed by Sparch | Sakellaridou / Papanikolaou Architects