Prolat Showroom, Athens, GR

Collaboration with : EKT Engineers & Architects 

The showroom is located in the heart of Athens, Gazi once an industrial hub, this revitalized district now pulsates with vibrancy and creativity. The intense juxtaposition of forms, scales and urban cultures, expressed through the vernacular, industrial and the mixed-use programmatic urban landscape create the backbone of the design narrative.

How can one organise a set of numerous and varied exhibition requirements within a confined basement space? An explicit linear gesture serves as the organisational backbone of the showroom: A palette of natural paints as a painting, an array of quartz mosaic floors as folded surfaces, an artisanal stone wall and cast troughs as material sample stands.

A generous double-height reception space welcomes visitors to the showroom. The carefully articulated family of bespoke furniture and design objects inhabit the unadorned concrete interior, introducing the visitor to the Prolat’s philosophy, while maintaining their functional nature.

“A Totem to create an explicit present-ness, a moment of urban intrigue.” An explicit form/character emerges through the assemblage of discrete elements, which come as the result of iterative stereotomic operations, applied across the part as well as the whole. Various applications of material (directional raked, smooth) in combination with natural & artificial lighting define the Totem’s complexion.

A set of discrete furniture modules, each one with specific geometric form, can be combined in countless ways to create a wide range of furniture arrangements, from seating configurations to storage solutions. A carefully curated ruleset provides a framework for creativity, encouraging occupants and visitors to explore multiple configurations, while maintaining a cohesive design language.