Architect Magda Mavridou adds color and intensity by signing part of the renovation of Momus – Thessaloniki Museum of Photography

Magda Mavridou studied architecture at Aristotle University and continued her studies in London with master’s and doctoral thesis at UCL. During the years she was in London, she worked in a company specializing in strategic planning and masterplanning of urban spaces. At the same time, she continued postgraduate courses, participated in several European research programs, which she continued when returned to Greece. She studied urban planning for a year at the Volos Architecture School, and now she has extensive experience in residential projects as well as significant collaborations on special buildings.

You live and work in Thessaloniki. How broad is the scope of your activities?

Architectural activity is not limited by the place where you are located. So while a large part of the projects are in Thessaloniki, there are many in other places as well. She worked in private residences, but also with more special projects that result from stable collaborations, such as with Arktouros and the Kir-Yiannis Estate.

It is with great honor that you were recently selected and took on a part of the remake of MOMus – Thessaloniki Museum of Photography at the Port. How challenging was this job and how did it evolve?

There were two challenges for this project. The first was the time frame. Everything happened very quickly, we had to cope with a very tight schedule. The study had to be done within a few days and of course the design proposal had to be such that it could be implemented within a short period of time. However, everything, and with the excellent cooperation of everyone involved, went very well. The second challenge was the design within a historic building, for a large and important cultural institution. Regarding the historicity of the building, I chose to strongly differentiate from it, and this is a kind of respect, to separate the old from the new. Regarding the institution, I tried to respect the visual identity that I recognized in it.

The museum’s opening was impressive in combination with the Frida Kahlo – Her Photos exhibition. How did this particular exhibition influence your own work?

The truth is that it did not influence it, although from the result it may seem that there was an influence. The ultramare blue color that was used was chosen to bring intensity and freshness to the space. I also chose it because I saw that the museum also chooses a visual identity with bright colors in many of its products. The museum shop and the exhibition were designed completely independently and it was a real surprise for me when I saw that the blue color was used in the end, as well as other colors, in the exhibition. Besides, the colors characterize Frida and especially the blue which is the color of the casa Azul.

How important is it to participate in the public sphere, in a public building that addresses the entire city. What feedback have you received?

The feedback, in just one week of operation, is very positive and I am very happy that people like it. Architecture is par excellence the art of public space and it is the joy of an architect to know that his works are there to serve people and to aesthetically upgrade the environment in which they live.

What is it that you dream of doing in relation to architecture?

Speaking of museums, what could be more beautiful than a museum or a cultural space! Is creation in general a path to becoming better people? I can talk about architectural creation, not about creation in general. Architectural creation is always a “custom” creation, there is a requirement that the architect must respond to. He designs, constructs, always creates for someone, for some needs, for some wants. This process, taking the wishes of others and adapting them to your own vision, I think makes you a better person, in a sense, a humanitarian or a caregiver.

Tell us a story that you will never forget

It is difficult for me to remember a story, but images from places I have been or lived in come to mind very vividly. The cloud formations as I saw them over the Thames in London every morning on my way to work, the attic window overlooking the sky where I lived in Paris during my Erasmus, the eerie landscape of the salt desert in Bolivia on a trip, the view of Mytikas as you emerge from the plateau of the Muses on Mount Olympus. Many images come automatically when I try to look back on something that I have not forgotten. Hardly a story…

What is next in your plans?

In personal plans, there is always a planned journey. In professional projects, you never know what new things will come.

The museum and the building that stole your heart

A very difficult question to answer with just one! I could say a lot about buildings, but I will limit myself to museums. The Metropolitan Art Museum in New York, for the most magnificent entrance-lobby, the V&A museum in London for its classic Victorian café, the British Museum in London for the most beautiful covered public space in the heart of the building, the Vatican Museum for its amazing marble floors, the Acropolis Museum for the brightly lit, transparent Parthenon hall that brings the exhibits into such direct visual contact with the building from which they come… In addition to these large museums, however, there are many small ones, with beautiful spaces, and almost always in all museums, their cafés and shops are very special spaces.

If you were to design an object for the Museum shop, what would it be?

Museum shops tend to have some of the most beautiful collections of objects. I like that they often transform the themes of the exhibitions into useful objects. If I were to design something, I would make objects that we use every day, plates, glasses, mugs, design homeware, that is.

Give us your own definition of beauty

Beautiful is what elevates you, calms you, pleases you, fills you with completeness. Beauty for me is not an adjective attributed to things, it is the feeling that things leave you with and characterizes them as beautiful.

What do you consider authentic nowadays?

Authentic is what strongly carries the personal element of the creator. I could say that authentic is that which has not been copied and cannot be copied, but we live in an era where we are bombarded with ideas and images, so we often lose the line between what is genuine and what is influenced. So even what is influenced when it is transformed with personal elements is authentic.