Interview with lowfat architects

Central Image: Accepted Office | Kindly provided by lowfat architecture

Lowfat architecture + interiors is a team of architects and designers. They are based in Athens and count twenty years of experience in the field. Their work spans multiple scales of design, as is usually the case with architectural offices in general and even more in the Greek industry. They give special care to construction, whether it be an apartment restoration in the centre of Athens, like a penthouse in the area of Exarcheia, or the construction of a new store, like the one in Gerakas for Gear Up. Their diligence shows in the constructional details applied to their works: in the way they unify the casings with the building’s surfaces, in the furniture they create for the spaces they design, in their solutions for tracing, wiring, venting and the many other issues which accompany any architectural work until it is implemented and ready for use. This intricate process is elegantly executed by lowfat. Their choices merge beautifully and plainly, following the constructional logic suggested by each material. Their spaces are articulate and modern, leaving very little room for misunderstandings. These qualities intrigued us properly, so we reached out to them to find out more directly from the source.

Exarcheia Penthouse Unit | Kindly provided by lowfat architecture

Gear up Store | Kindly provided by lowfat architecture

Sixt Customer Service Unit | Kindly provided by lowfat architecture

I was wondering whether your synthetic process or final product relates to the name of your office (Lowfat) or if there is a connection between the things that I suppose are “low fat” and your architectural expression. If so, in what way? Otherwise, how did your name come about?

Exactly. The characterisation “low fat” was initially of humorous intent, a sort of “witticism” given in an attempt to describe our first works, but was subsequently established as our group’s name, describing exactly what we strive for and continue to do: approaching design in an abstract way, maintaining form simplicity, pure volumes and materials, staying true to functionality and aesthetics, that is, we follow a synthetic and design approach with no extravagances.

Security Operations Center | Kindly provided by lowfat architecture

Which legacy of design -or legacy in general- would you say your work follows or at least, what is your goal when you design something? Whom or what are you most interested in conversing with through your work?

When we talk about design legacy and goals in designing we automatically talk about “Principles”. Our principles (it may sound conservative) are rooted in the “Classics”. That is our starting point. The Archetypal foundations of Architecture: “Utilitas, Firmitas, Venustas” (utility, stability, beauty) as described by Vitruvius and in turn expressed through so many Architects, especially in Modernism. There you can locate our sources. In Le Corbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe, Adolf Loos, F.L. Wright.

At the same time, we live and work in Greece. Talk about a legacy!

Le Corbusier, arriving by boat in Athens, found in the Aegean landscape the archetype of modernism, appraising: "the proportions of hills and plains, the play of water and light on the surfaces of the bare cube-shaped white volumes of the houses". "Air, Sound, Light". Among his first observations on the Acropolis of Athens, the architect summarizes: "I stayed there for seven weeks, in daily contact with the monuments. I discovered then that architecture is the game of volumes, the game of οutlines, one hundred per cent invention, which depends exclusively on the creation of the one who paints."

Phidias meticulously carved the backs of the statues on the pediments of the Parthenon. When asked why he did this (since no one would see them), he replied that the gods would. Phidias worked for the gods…

For Phidias, Le Corbusier and many who followed, an idea of ​​Greece and Architecture is revealed, with an intent that - without question - belongs to the realm of the spirit. 

Accepted Offices | Kindly provided by lowfat architecture

If it were up to you, which facet of the reality of Greek business would you improve to facilitate your creative process? Would you prioritise change in institutions, bureaucracy etc. or maybe in the execution on the construction site? Or perhaps instigate change in the general audience?

We would start with education. We believe that the issue of aesthetics basically stems from the issue of ethics and a thorough distortion of values. The concept of measure and meritocracy have been lost. This first affects the general audience and then the institutions, and leads to useless bureaucracy (many laws equal Lawlessness).

We replaced the education, the social and moral culture of the traditional "School", with the private education of specialised professional orientation, and we tried to restrict contractual arbitrariness with hundreds of ridiculous laws, to contain the profit-driven bulimia that ravaged the place after the modernisation of Greece.

Social Delli | Kindly provided by lowfat architecture

At the same time, the creative potential of the country's excellent young Architects remains untapped. And instead of turning public projects (airports, parks, public spaces) into products of exemplary design, through the institution of architectural competitions, they are implemented haphazardly, with a tragic absence of quality and aesthetics.

The Goal of Architecture itself, which is a tool to build the "City", the alchemical laboratory that inspires through the archetypes of harmony, justice and beauty that forms Citizens and produces “Culture", has been lost.

Finally, if you had to choose, which project do you think best executed what you had in mind, both from a process and final product perspective?

Although the project has a "commercial" intent, we would choose the configuration of the Motodynamics offices.

Through this project, we were allowed to express the dynamics of our office in an exemplary way. We started from the analysis and prioritisation of the functional needs of the space, in friendly and continuous cooperation with the employers. We proceeded with a dynamic design synthesis, which responded in an optimal way to the functional needs as well as the specifications of the space. And we finished with an inspired curation of materials, colours, textures and construction details.

In the process of implementing the project, we had the opportunity to continuously collaborate creatively with our team and our external partners. Together with them, we curated every parameter of the operation of the space, the design, the choice of materials, the mechanical equipment and the details of the lighting.

Motodynamics Office | Kindly provided by lowfat architecture

Motodynamics Office | Kindly provided by lowfat architecture

Finally, we supervised the construction of the work itself. Our office has a structured "in-house" construction department, which implements our studies on the construction site. This department supported this particular project, keeping an ideal balance between cost and final quality.

It is not our only project that has been realised in this way but we would summarise by saying that this case was the pinnacle of our expressive, design and construction tools, all present in every detail.