Experimental School

The Experimental School is a building of interwar modern architecture.

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What I can see

It is perhaps the only example of the modern movement in the city which assimilates very successfully the local traditional architecture, being at the same time a building of a larger size that does not lack plasticity and functionality. It was designed by Dimitris Pikionis, a leading modernist architect. The schoolhouse is a rare combination of modern materials (e.g. reinforced concrete), modern lines (e.g. continuous windows) and traditional Macedonian architecture (e.g. erkers/ enclosed balconies- projections). Even though the wings and spaces are independent, their morphological continuity is not broken. This synthetic simplicity is very close to the principles of the school of rationalism.

What I can't see

Pikionis argued that “the universal spirit must be combined with the spirit of ethnicity”. This “Back to the Roots” movement was a critique of modernism, an attempt to redefine Greekness in art and develop a common vocabulary between tradition and modernity. It is interesting to study Pikionis’ designs and the gradual abstraction from the initial – more maximalist designs, to the final ones. The school was founded by the professor of pedagogy Alexandros Delmouzos and today is property of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Info

Address: 1 A. Delmouzou & 51 Agias Sofias St.
Postal Code : 54631

Bibliography

Zafeiris Ch. (1997), Θεσσαλονίκης Εγκόλπιον, ιστορία, πολιτισμός, η πόλη σήμερα, γεύσεις, μουσεία, μνημεία, διαδρομές, [Thessaloniki Handbook, history, culture, the city today, flavours, museums, routes], Athens: Exantas

Kalogirou Ν., (2021), Αρχιτεκτονική και Πολεοδομία στη Μεταπολεμική Θεσσαλονίκη, μια κριτική επισκόπηση, [Architecture and Urbanism in Post-war Thessaloniki, a critical overview], Barbounaki

Kolonas V., (2015), Όψεις της Θεσσαλονίκης πριν και μετά το 1912: Η αρχιτεκτονική μιας πόλης σε μετάβαση, [Aspects of Thessaloniki before and after 1912: The architecture of a city in transition], in Kairidis D., (ed.), (2015), Θεσσαλονίκη, μια πόλη σε μετάβαση, 1912-2012, [Thessaloniki, a city in transition, 1912-2012], Thessaloniki: Epikentro, p.p. 257- 265

Kolonas V. (2010), Ο «αθηναϊκός» μοντερνισμός και η «σχολή» της Θεσσαλονίκης. Η κρατική και η ιδιωτική πρωτοβουλία στη διάρκεια της ανοικοδόμησης (1920- 1940), [“Athenian” modernism and the “school” of Thessaloniki. State and private initiative during reconstruction (1920-1940)], in Rodi P., Tournikiotis P., Εκδοχές του μοντέρνου στην Αθήνα του Μεσοπολέμου, [Versions of the modern in interwar Athens], do.co, mo.mo., v.4, p.p. 33-50, Futura

Kolonas V. (1997), Αρχιτεκτονική του Μεσοπολέμου, [Interwar Architecture], in Liontis K., (1997) (επ), Αρχιτεκτονική της Θεσσαλονίκης, [Architecture in Thessaloniki] in Epta Imeres, Kathimerini, p. 27- 29