New Museum for Argo, Volos Greece 

FIRST PRIZE WINNER in European Architectural Competition 

Argo was built to travel. Its natural lieu is the sea. This proposal draws its inspiration from the most difficult moment of her journey, that is, the passage though the clashing rocks of Symplegades. A contemporary interpretation of the mythical rocks will form the scene of the exhibited vessel: Argo will be seemingly floating, while “flying” over the water, when positioned in its permanent exhibition hall; when launched, she will be enabled to make a short journey of escape out of her new Symplegades, and virtually float on the water of the museum’s open-air public space.

The long rectangular lot turns into a small urban plaza on the east side of the park.The plaza and the pond, along with the artificial rocks and reefs, comprise the podium on which the Symplegades building blocks sit, whilst provoking free associations with the myth. The Museum, a new urban event, is projected as a landmark that alludes to the myth and its allegories by its megalithic wall structure of rough concrete blocks, on the background of the mythical Mount Pelion. Its introvert character, with very few openings and excessive thickness for thermal insulation, strategically contributes to the high bioclimatic standards of the project.

The exhibition spaces are weaved around these Symplegades. The visitor follows a path that gradually reveals the hull, along with its secrets, through a comprehensive yet fascinating museological plot. The visit in the museum is itself regarded as a journey, both in realistic and in imaginary terms. The structure of the museology study and, hence, the architectural composition, were articulated upon the dipole: “Argo, the only real exhibit” and “The journey: the signified of the ancient vessel”. 

Two robust, self-enclosed building blocks evoke the passage through the Symplegades strait. The first one, on the southern edge of the lot, is straight; the other is crooked and distanced from the first by means of a polygon-shaped channel that occupies the necessary space for the contemporary copy of Argo to be properly displayed. 

2014 Architects  Efthymios Dougkas, Yannis Kizis & Costandis Kizis 

Consultants museological plot : Pari Kalamara / structure : Phaidon Karydakis / mechanical : Christos Zombolas

Collaborator : renderings : Illusion 3D