Sophia Bookshop and Publishing House

April 13th, 2009 - Posted in Interior Design

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Modern minimalist interior design of a store and publishing house designed by Architect Nicos Kalogirou and student Evangelos Kotsioris. This minimalist style of Sophia Bookshop and Publishing House is located in Thessaloniki, Greece. The transformation of a former pesticide warehouse into an inviting, ‘transparent’ bookshop and a small publishing house gave the chance to experiment with multiple glass layers, triangulated surfaces, distorted geometries and non-standard construction methods in a manageable scale.

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Glass panels arranged in a spiral create the shop windows and display space. Lighting is provided through an angled, translucent glass structure hanging from the ceiling and the back-lit shelving that frames the shop counters. Other materials include steel, silver-lacquered laminated wood panels, clear Plexiglass and grey flooring.

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Two vertically folded, spiraling, glass trapezoids form the labyrinth-like shop windows and a recessed entrance. Clear volumes of ever-increasing height towards the interior of the spirals serve as display surfaces on multiple levels. The multiplicity of the glass layers generates unexpected idols and multiple reflections that change dramatically according to natural and artificial lighting conditions.

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The angular, winding forms of the two service stalls result from the distortion of an initially rectangular, 15m. long, linear piece (as requested by the client). Their geometry is complimented by the sphenoid forms of a custom-made, back-lit trapezoid shelf system that stands behind them. Stalls and shelves direct visually to the inner part of the elongated plan.

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