Nostos. The return to the homeland, a psychosomatic action, indicates the pain, the pain of return. The human race is linked to the land, the birthplace of life, ideas and struggles for the preservation of the human condition and any material or immaterial heritage it preserves. The building of an enclave of memory of this heritage is therefore a springboard for the preservation and dissemination of knowledge which until that moment was kept in the collective memory. The phrase “I return to my homeland” fully signifies the definitive return of the great Greek fighter of the Nation, King Velestinlis, to his homeland. The creation of a place of memory, study and recording of the entire course and work of this great forerunner of the Greek Revolution, is a tribute and remembrance. While the aim is to search for the thread of historical continuity through this person to revive the idea of the struggle and the creation of free nations and fraternal peoples without the burdens of tyranny.
The design of a museum in the Thessalian land was a challenge from the beginning. On the one hand, the study area is characterized by mild morphology while nature is the absolute dominant feature. This rough landscape form is characterized by its strong agricultural character. Large arable land away from urban noise. On the other hand, there is no discrete reference point, either natural or man-made, so we turned to an inward-looking design. The building itself becomes the beacon of culture that the region needs and the reference point that dynamizes new situations and life itself through the actions that will take place around and within it.
This introversion anchors the building around two large internal courtyards while utilizing the microclimate and defining the countryside from the inside. A legacy in reverse of all the surrounding buildings in the area that resulted from a process of addition and extension. In our case, the protagonist becomes the abstraction from an original mass, making the boundaries of inside and outside indistinguishable.
The solid masonry gives the impression of a monolithic construction, but this is reversed when one enters the museum from the central
Entrance. From the beginning, the visitor is in front of a large atrium – courtyard that, with the glazed windows that form it, offers light and natural ventilation to all the exhibition spaces and the reception area around it. After completing the tour and getting to know the museum’s exhibits, visitors arrive at the café and the corridor that leads them to the second identity of the museum, that of research and culture. At the centre of these functions is a second courtyard with the use of a botanical garden. Having herbaceous plants and shrubs found in the surrounding area such as sage, oregano and thyme creates a small oasis inside the entire building. While all the spaces surrounding it are illuminated, creating an image of relaxation and tranquility that develops efficiency in the office, workshop and cultural areas. The orderliness of the orthogonality of the layout of the spaces is disturbed by the chosen slope of ten degrees in plan. This gesture creates different pockets of functions while the cavities formed in the building create “nests” making the building porous. This playfulness of morphology is transmitted to the views with a theatricality that changes with the passing of the day and the seasons. It thus gives the building a character of a living form that changes with the landscape around it.
PROJECT: Return Algo: Museum in Velestino
LOCATION: Velestino, Municipality of Riga Feraio, Greece
YEAR: 2023
TYPE: Competition
RESEARCHER: Dimitris Molonis
STUDY TEAM: Ioannis Retsios, Themistocles Nanas
DISPARATIONS: 11th place out of 33 entries
