ERGON Agora East, redefining the supermarket experience

ERGON Agora East is located in Pylaia, a few kilometers outside the city of Thessaloniki, and re-uses an old industrial shell of 1970s, of 2500 sq.m. Redefining the supermarket experience, ERGON Agora East is organized in such a way that many different activities take place at the same time. The supermarket offers an extensive variety of fresh products, refrigerated and on shelves, and also has a wine cellar, a coffee roastery, and co-exists with the restaurant, the bakery and the patisserie. The unique element of the surrounding space with a total area of 6000 sq.m. that reaches the sea, gives the opportunity to expand the experience outside, with a new type of vegetable garden, where among others there are canteens, a beach bar, a playground and an open-air cinema, all together creating a new type of meeting place. The existing building is elongated, with ruling industrial elements such as the visible metal grid of the pitched roof, the concrete blocks and the terrazzo floor. Decisive for the current image of the building was the decision to highlight the age, ie its structural character and the damage that time has caused to it. Thus, all subsequent additions to floors, ceilings and walls were removed. More specifically, the epoxy paint coating that had been placed for the previous use of the space was removed and the mosaic that was the original floor of the space was revealed. Any damage to the mosaic was covered with cement. The light constructions that had been placed on the roof to hide lighting, ventilation and air conditioning installations were removed and the impressive metal grid was revealed. Part of the roof was opened, lighting fixtures were installed and the pitched roof was re-insulated. Finally, all the additional coatings were removed from the masonry and the brick and cement masonry was revealed, which was cleaned and restored in places to keep it visible. With the opening of the southwest side and the skylight along the entire length of the roof, which reaches 70 m., the building is conceivably enlarged and integrated with its environment. The translucent facades organically connect the interior with the exterior, creating the feeling of an open market. The interior is constantly changing, as it takes in the colors of natural light, offering every moment a unique spatial experience. The restaurant is developed on the southwest side of the building, facing the sea, in an imaginary square, created by the open kitchen, the oven, the private chefing room and the central single island of the bar-roastery. In this way, the restaurant, without losing contact with the supermarket, to some extent becomes autonomous and turns to the view of the west, then defining the axis of development of the entire surrounding area.