The research for the fulfillment of this project, began with the pursuit of the subject that would stimulate our interest.

The sparking of this idea came from works of an architect and lecturer of ETH university in Zurich, by the name Solano Benitez, who “pushed” us to start this recording, so we reached a point that we couldn’t imagine and learned so much about this decorative concrete blocks or “claustra”. At first, we “met” them in ancient Egypt, where their use offered privacy to the extreme, and they were only available to Egyptian priests and lords. At that point, we clearly see the use of claustra becomes automatically a “separation” between high and low society among the Egyptian people.

It was really difficult to collect the information cause the terminology of “claustra” differs from country to country. The technical characteristics of this element helped us understand how “claustra” can be used and their endurance  level. “Claustra’s “ entrance in the post-second world war architecture in America, where everything flourishes and dies  rapidly, was another separation among classes of American people, that soon brought down.

We, also, found out that years later, some Greek architects tried to use “claustra” in their own designs.  However, we also traveled around the Volos region and we identified several examples in which there are cloth constructions and we analyzed each case. The most important part of this project was the “restoration” of “claustra” in temporary architecture. We “meet” them in the facades of buildings but also in the interior of houses.

“Claustra” distinguish not only for their use in interior design but also, for the potential they offer in the architectural world. Their form and their structure may differ nowadays, but their course throughout history, is what makes “claustra” to be observed continuously and to exclude our interest.