In the 1960's modern building of the National Gallery in Athens, the exhibition rooms are designed like a promenade in open space. The interior is designed as a sequence of wooden lined transitional areas for information, and of white exhibition rooms with specially designed suspended ceilings for each exhibition function. Controlling the directions of gaze, the depth of view in the rooms and towards the city, the general lighting in relevance with the exterior light, and subduing the materials and the technical details to highlight the works of art, the space gives an affect of free choice.
The design team has a long experience of over 50 similar studies and constructions, on art exhibitions. In the specific project, the given structure of the building has combined with the museology study of the National Gallery and with the free flow of the visitor of the exhibition, checking the results through the navigation in detailed 3d maquettes. The hardest part was the coordination of the large number of the constructors and engineers of the building and the museography, of the supervisors of the Ministry of Culture (as we are talking about the National Gallery), of the curators and conservators of the Gallery, of the consultants of the sponsors. This coordination is the main deed of the team's architecture service.
The National Gallery Athens, Greece, is an art museum, devoted to Greek and European art from the 14th century to the 20th century. It is also known as the Alexandros Soutsos Museum, after the gallery’s most prominent benefactor. It stands out particularly for its nineteenth and twentieth century Greek painting and sculpture collection. When it was first established in 1878, the art gallery had a collection of 117 paintings exhibited at the Athens University. In 1896, Alexandros Soutsos bequeathed his collection and estate to the Greek Government aspiring to the creation of an art museum. The museum opened in 1900 which grew year after years thanks to private donations. After World War II the works began for a new Modern Movement building. After relocating the sculptures in the new National Glyptothek, the main building has renovated, and a new wing has added. The newly renovated building reopened after an 8-year refurbishment, on 24 March 2021, a day before the 200th anniversary of the Greek War of Independence. Nowadays, it displays approximately 20,000 works of art by Greek and European artists. It is directed by prof. Marina Lambraki-Plaka. Approximately four million people have visited the National Gallery in the last fourteen years. Its exhibition activity is mainly supported by sponsorships that cover up to half of its budget. The National Gallery has opened the last years branches in Nafplion, Sparta and Corfu.