丨希腊

Pyrgos Café-bar

The Tower of Psila Alonia (elevated threshing floor) plaza, one of the two main ones of the city formed around 1920-30s, is a historic landmark of Aigio, Achaea, with panoramic views of the Corinthian bay and the harbour.

The 100m2 tower predates the plaza, dating back in the 1900s, and has functioned as a meteorological station and a municipal café. It is the smallest neoclassical tower in Greece, with Neo-Gothic windows and Neo-Medieval construction, and was likely designed by apprentices of Ernst Ziller, who designed a number of buildings in Aigio at that time.

The renovation is respectful to the monument, aiming to revamp and integrate it into contemporary urban life, in the new millennium. The northern and western sides of the ground floor are kept open to the public, connecting the interior space directly with the exterior plaza. The eastern and southern sides serve the bar and a wheelchair ramp access to the WC respectively. Τhe L-shape of the custom-made bar leaves the rest of the interior space unobstructed.

A separate entrance in the Southwestern corner, through the narrow stone staircase, provides access to the previously unused roof garden space, offering unobstructed panoramic views.

The outdoor sitting arrangement is divided into gradual “zones”, from high bar tables with stools near the tower to regular cafe tables and low lounge sofas farther from the building, with a custom-made outdoor bar between them. The linear layout along the North-South axis punctuates the connection between the tower and the open vistas, while the irregular shape creates gathering pockets around an olive tree reminiscent of the “Agnadio” – the 19th century vernacular term for the plaza.

Nikos Mourikis