Marble Crafts Center with workshops and hospitality areas

The Diploma Thesis concerns the synthetic study of a Marble Center on a plot where there is an active quarry on the island of Thassos. It was presented in July 2020 at the Department of Architectural Engineering of the Democritus University of Thrace with supervising professors Polychronopoulos Dimitris and Grigoriadou Maria.

The goal of this project was to use such a peculiar plot to promote the history and etymology of marble and this is achieved through our Museum space and classrooms. The complex consists of a space for displaying the history of marble, places for hosting students, teachers and marble workers (24 stoves with private bathroom). There is also place for workshops where marble can be processed.

In the museum area, there are exhibited about 120 Greek types of marble from different parts of Greece, that have been categorized according to their color.
There have also been placed on the plot, a reception area as well as a refreshment area, a restaurant, two observatories and a reading room-library.

It is essentially a composite construction.
The use of composite slabs has become popular in recent years and has helped increase the use of metal structures in construction projects. The composite slabs consist of galvanized corrugated steel sheets and on-site cast concrete.
The steel sheets serve as a formwork for the cast concrete, while the reception of the other loads after the setting of the concrete is done by the composite slab. There is also a light reinforcement placed on the plate.

The concept and context of marble where deeply analyzed.
Marble, is a rock consisting of calcite or the combination of calcite and dolomite minerals and has been created by the transformation of limestone, i.e. sedimentary carbonate rocks. The word is etymologically derived from the ancient Greek verb “marmairo” which means “shine”.

Pure calcite is white, but mineral impurities add color to random patterns. In general, in terms of color, marbles are divided into two categories: monochrome and multicolored. In terms of causes of coloring, they can also be classified into two broad categories: ichochromatic and nonchromatic marbles.

The plot, is located in a marble quarry, which is active to this day. A quarry is an excavation or excavation system carried out for the purpose of extracting quarry minerals (either in their natural state or in a state of dissolution or suspension) or products of quarry minerals, and is neither a mine nor a well or a well or a combination of the two.

The exploitation of marble quarries is carried out mainly with surface mines, in which the marbles are detached from the parent rock using wire cutting or other special equipment (not the use of explosives).

Credits & Details

Title of work: Center for Marble and promotion of the history of marble with workshops and places for artists.

Year: July 2020

Supervisors: Polychronopoulos Dimitris, Grigoriadou Maria

University: Department of Architectural Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace

Video: Center for Marble

Photos: Balta Anthi