The third edition of the GRAIL AWARDS concluded on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, with the awards ceremony held at the Ioannis Despotopoulos Auditorium of the Athens Conservatoire. The GRAIL Architecture, Interior Design, and Lighting Awards—produced by Vasilios Bartzokas and Dimitris Fakinos—brought together the Greek creative scene, consistently and resolutely aiming to promote the outward-looking presence of Greek architecture both within Greece and internationally.

MINION Façade lighting design, led by DANILOF light + perception studio, received an Honorable Mention in the Lighting Design Category of the GRAIL Awards 2026. The Minion building in Athens is undergoing a contemporary revival that places lighting at the core of its architectural expression. The façade lighting adopts a restrained “less is more” approach, precisely illuminating 616 aluminum frames to enhance structure, color, and materiality. The project balances heritage, sustainability, and urban presence, contributing to the nighttime regeneration of the Omonia Square area.

Once among Athens’ first and largest department stores, the Minion building occupied a prominent position near Omonia Square, distinguished by its vibrant shop windows and lively public presence. A devastating fire in 1980 marked the beginning of a long period of abandonment, leaving the building dormant for decades.

Today, its ongoing revival repositions Minion as a contemporary, mixed-use hub for retail, work, and urban living, while respecting its legacy as a symbol of post-war Greek modernity.

The project has been developed to meet sustainability targets and has recently achieved LEED Gold certification.

Central to the transformation is a new façade and lighting concept that reinterprets the building’s historic identity through a contemporary lens.

The façade is composed of 616 aluminum frames, organized according to the building’s seismic joints and articulated into three chromatic zones—orange, olive green, and white. This segmentation reinforces structural clarity while recalling the original color language of the building, establishing a strong urban presence both by day and night.

The lighting design follows a deliberately restrained “less is more” approach.

Each aluminum frame is accentuated with white static light in a consistent, repetitive rhythm, allowing the façade’s geometry and plasticity to emerge subtly after dark.

Rather than overpowering the architecture, the lighting gently reveals the distinct color of each segment, enhancing depth and materiality while maintaining visual calm.

At an urban scale, the illuminated façade contributes to the nighttime regeneration of the Omonia Square area, reinforcing Minion’s renewed role in the city’s public life.

Achieving a precise balance between light and architecture was a key objective of the project.

Extensive visual mockups were conducted to test different oval and blade optics, as well as varying lighting levels, in order to model each frame accurately and prevent unwanted light spill toward the sides or the sky. Minor architectural adjustments to the façade allowed light to project further without increasing energy consumption, ensuring efficiency without compromising visual impact.

The luminaires are seamlessly integrated within the aluminum framework, carefully detailed to allow proper drainage and heat dissipation, extending their operational lifespan. Consistent binning and comprehensive visual testing informed the final specification of correlated color temperature (CCT) and color rendering index (CRI), achieving optimal color rendition without resorting to tunable white or dynamic lighting systems.

Through its disciplined lighting strategy, the project demonstrates how precision, repetition, and restraint can elevate architectural expression. The renewed Minion building stands as a contemporary urban landmark, where lighting plays a critical role in mediating between heritage, sustainability, and the evolving nighttime identity of Athens.

Facts & Credits
Title MINION Façade lighting design
Typology Lighiting Design
Location Athens, Greece
Status Completed, 2024
Architecture MINOS DIGENIS Arquitectos
Lighting Design DANILOF light + perception studio
LEED consultant DCarbon
Photography Nikos Daniilidis
Text by the authors

Learn more about GRAIL Awards 2026, here!


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