Ellinikon School
Category: Architecture - Competitions - Education Project Type: Proposal - | Year: 2026 Location: Athens - Greece - Vouliagmeni Size: 25,000 m²
A living system
for learning.
The project begins with a site already shaped by movement. Its maritime outline, irregular plot and seven-metre level change become the framework for a campus that gathers learning, living and shared activity into one continuous landscape.
A living system
for learning.
The plot is narrow, irregular and strongly curved, with roads and pedestrian edges shaping how the campus can be approached. The entry is placed at the widest, most accessible opening. Program zones follow the site rather than forcing a straight campus axis.
Sun, wind, access and the surrounding urban fabric inform where the campus opens, where it buffers itself, and how the daily routes connect.
A spine that grows with the land.
The campus is imagined as one living organism, not a collection of isolated buildings. Like algae attaching to a host, it settles into the maritime geometry and grows along a continuous spine.
Curved paths guide movement; shared spaces widen into places to meet. Architecture follows the landform and lets orientation be felt through sequence, view and light.
Daily life above. High-capacity uses below.
The program is organized by intensity. The entry level supports daily learning and social life; the academy and dormitories rise into quieter layers. Outdoor sport remains part of the open campus landscape.
Below ground, maritime and art learning, laboratories, the sport foyer, indoor stadium and cultural spaces use the site’s level change to contain larger and more occasional activities.
One opening.
Many paths.
A single threshold receives the city and distributes movement through the campus. The entry hub coordinates arrival paths bend with the site and widen where everyday encounters happen.
- Arrival opens into orientation and administration.
- The shared spine connects learning, culture and play.
- Outdoor sport and indoor sport remain distinct, connected uses.
- Residential life rises into a quieter, more private layer.
Energy sinks.
Calm rises.
The site falls by approximately seven metres. The campus uses that change in level as an organizing tool: larger, louder shared functions are held by the ground, while daily learning and residential life occupy the layers above.
Quiet
Private / retreat
Daily
Learning / living
Active
Shared / civic
02
The quiet shell
Dormitory rooms and shared activity spaces; a more sheltered residential layer.01
The quiet shell
Dormitory rooms and shared activity spaces; a more sheltered residential layer.00
The quiet shell
Dormitory rooms and shared activity spaces; a more sheltered residential layer.-01
The quiet shell
Dormitory rooms and shared activity spaces; a more sheltered residential layer.-02
The quiet shell
Dormitory rooms and shared activity spaces; a more sheltered residential layer.A campus in layers.
Each level has a distinct role, but the curved spine keeps the system legible. The drawings are presented as a single sequence—from the contained energy core to the quieter residential levels.
−02 · The energy core
Indoor sport stadium · cultural centre
−01 · The workbench
Indoor sport stadium · cultural centre
00 · The social hinge
Entry · administration · schools · kindergarten
01 · Learning to living
Academy · dormitories · sport
02 · The quiet shell
Dormitories · shared activities
Ground becomes
part of the school.
Section is the representative cut through the campus’s vertical idea: the building meets the changing ground, shared routes pass between volumes, and larger activities sit within the earth.
Light and learning
Classrooms, academy and residential spaces occupy the brighter, quieter layers.
Movement and encounter
The curved spine links entries, courtyards and outdoor learning spaces.
Contained energy
Indoor sport and cultural uses are absorbed into the ground, reducing their impact on the open campus.
Rooted.
Responsive.
Resilient.
Learning, living, movement, light and sound find their place within one connected system. Architecture becomes a framework for care—quiet where it should be, open where life gathers.