C_29 Optimist optical shop by 314 Architecture studio

The optical shop C_29 / ’Optimist’, is an interwar listed building located in the center of Chalkida that expands along the back patio of an adjacent building and features a courtyard defined by an imaginary cube. The building itself is a composite construction with the ground floor being made of bearing masonry and the two floors of reinforced concrete bearer and filling brickwork. The main design aspect was the creation of a gradient technique in the texture of materiality in order to emphasize the reflection and the absorbance of light. This gradient tool continues to exist and plays a significant role even to the choice of materials, resulting in their sound existence or their theoretical absence in the formed space. Some utilitarian objects are transformed into prismatic sculptures. What is more is that the plan does not allow visual contact to the courtyard and the shop. Therefore, a wall is formed at an angle of 45 degrees in the intermediate space, fully covered by mirrors, resulting in visual continuity between the two spaces.