The bio-climatic facade and surrounding space of the building housing the National Defense Ministry and the General Staffs of the Armed Forces was inaugurated on Wednesday in the presence of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
This kind of design is known for reducing the environmental impact of a building by using the local climate conditions to its benefit and to reduce energy demands.
Ministry sources said the new building is visible to drivers on Messoghion Avenue, and is expected to become a landmark of the greater Athens area.
The building’s south facade, they said, has a total length of over 340 meters and is covered externally with white aluminum blinds. Specifically, there are 730 vertical series of blinds, with each of them being 30.5 meters high. They are not equidistant one from another, but their density varies in a rhythmic way that breaks at the entrance points to each of the General Staffs, where each door is topped by the coat of arms of each branch of the Armed Forces.
The central entrance’s staircase is nearly 75 meters long, has an elliptical shape, and consists of a total of 20 stairs, a large landing, and two ramps.
The bioclimate facade harmonizes with Kostas Varotsos’ “National Memory Ark”, inaugurated at the ministry premises in March by National Defense Minister Nikos Dendias, and the addition of two olive tree orchards on each side of the monument. The Ark is a series of glass columns forming a curve. They vary in height, from nearly 1 meter tall to 6 meters, and are engraved with the names of 121,692 Greeks who have died in national struggles of Greece. The orchards containe 25 and 28 olive trees, respectively, referring to the national holidays of March 25, 1821 and October 28, 1940, respectively. Additional trees were planted in areas where parking sheds for vehicles were removed, creating more green spaces.
Varotsos was assisted by his colleague, architect Chryssanthi Asproulopoulou, who both designed the facade in order to protect it from the sun, but also met the necessary demands of security and functionality for people working there.
Metlen Energy & Metals funded the entire project.
The extension of the bioclimatic facade for energy efficiency will be extended to the rest of the building and its interior (such as entrances, corridors, common spaces, and offices).
