The design thesis concerns the study of a small, accessible to the public, winery in Archanes, Heraklion, Crete. Archanes is a settlement existing from the Minoan period, where wine and the process of wine production play a major role in the daily life and the local economy. Under Giouxtas’ -the sacred mountain of the Minoan civilization- shadow, the winery is placed. The synthetic composition reminds of a land "snick" from which a river will flow- from the mountain to the settlement’s historic center. Two Γ-open shape wings, which include all the production process, a third building stock with educational use and a restaurant-shop with traditional products, are designed like a building "hug" so as to create a courtyard protected from the north wind. The tall element against the low, the extrovert tower-shaped lookout against the "embedded” in the ground winery, the ascent which opens the view of the developed and undeveloped environment and the descent through which the visitor becomes familiar with the process of wine production, they all create a counterpointing relation in the building complex. The slope of the ground consisted a cardinal thought while designing the building, and by using the isobaric system, our winery is developed on different successive levels. Aiming at a movement of extraversion, a “call” for the audience to visit the most public point of the complex, the restaurant is designed functionally independent so that it can remain “active” every day, every season. The building which is used for educational purposes has been also designed that way so as to function autonomously and complementarily to the department of plant production of the Technological Institute of Herakleion, encompassing laboratorial courses. The winery is called to constitute an integral piece of everyday life of the region, a meeting point of residents and visitors and a supralocal point of wine production related activities.

CV