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MetopoArchitects, Chania

MT 22.03

Market hall, Kissamos

Seven thin lime-concrete vaults on stone piers: a roof for the Saturday market, and a covered square for the other six days.

Place
Kissamos, Chania
Status
Under construction
Period
2022 to 2027
Kind
Public building
Floor area
1,450 m²
Site
2,700 m²
Client
Municipality of Kissamos
The hall on a Saturday morning, as drawn for the tender.
Fig. 1The hall on a Saturday morning, as drawn for the tender.

The site

A car park by the old town hall, two streets from the sea. Every Saturday since the 1920s the farmers of the Kissamos valley have sold here under umbrellas, and every Saturday in July someone faints from the heat.

The brief

Twenty-eight stalls for the Saturday market, open on four sides, and useful the rest of the week.

Drawings

Every drawing is at the scale on its bar. The numbers on the plan match the list beside it.

Ground floor plan of Market hall, Kissamos, with numbered rooms and the line of section A

Slide the drawing sideways to see all of it.

1Ground floor planDrawing A-101, scale bar in metres

Rooms

  1. The market floor, twenty-eight stalls
  2. The corner café
  3. The square
Painted axonometric of Market hall, Kissamos, lit for a summer afternoon, with its shadows

Slide the drawing sideways to see all of it.

2AxonometricDrawing A-001
Site plan of Market hall, Kissamos: roofs, shadows, contours and the boundary

Slide the drawing sideways to see all of it.

3Site planDrawing A-000, scale bar in metres

The project

The market did not need a building. It needed a roof, and a roof that would still be useful on a Tuesday afternoon, when there is no market and the square is where people wait for the bus and children ride bicycles.

The roof is seven vaults, each spanning a little over five metres, cast in lime concrete twelve centimetres thin on reusable timber formwork. They rest on beams and stone piers. There are no walls: the hall is open to the north for the sea breeze and to the south for the view of the mountains.

The stalls are timber counters on steel frames. They lift out in minutes, so the hall can hold the Easter fair, a concert or the wedding of the mayor's daughter, which has already been booked.

The 1:100 model in basswood and plaster. Each vault was cast in a paper mould.
Fig. 2The 1:100 model in basswood and plaster. Each vault was cast in a paper mould.
Under the vaults on a weekday evening, when the hall is a covered square.
Fig. 3Under the vaults on a weekday evening, when the hall is a covered square.

Sun, shade and air

Section A, drawing A-201. The sun is shown at noon on the longest and the shortest day, 78 and 31 degrees above the horizon in Chania; the blue dashes are the way the air moves.

Section through Market hall, Kissamos, with the sun at noon in June and December and the paths of the air

Slide the drawing sideways to see all of it.

  1. Seven vaults of lime concrete, twelve centimetres thin. A gap under the crown of each one lets the hot air out.

  2. The stalls are timber counters on steel frames, taken down in minutes for concerts and the Easter fair.

  3. Open sides: the breeze from the sea crosses the hall all afternoon.

Materials

Samples from the long table in the office. Each one comes from the site or from within a day's drive of it.

  • Limestone

    The piers, from the quarry at Kalathas

  • Lime concrete

    The vaults, cast one a month

  • Chestnut

    Counters and the formwork, which will become the café tables

  • Pebble floor

    Set in lime, washed down after market days

Credits

Metopo

  • Katerina Lionaki, project architect
  • Andreas Manousakis, partner in charge
  • Yiorgos Fragiadakis, site
  • Stelios Karatzis, models

With

  • Structure: Anthi Mavraki with Petros Zervoudakis
  • Builder: Western Crete Builders, by public tender

Facts

  • Project MT 22.03, 2022 to 2027
  • Drawings, models and pictures by Metopo