Aither / Αιθήρ: An immersive material journey
XENIA 2026 presents the architectural project Aither / Αιθήρ. During the three days of the exhibition, you will be able to visit it in Hall 2 to experience firsthand how architecture transforms hospitality materials into a unique, living narrative!
Aither / Αιθήρ, in Greek, is not just the air we breathe but the bright upper air. From aithō, to burn, to shine. The philosophers called it the fifth element, finer than the other four and containing them all. The same root gives aithousa, the sunlit portico where a host received a guest.
The Aither pavilion, designed by Lianou Chalvatzis Architects and curated by ek magazine, is a designed nature, an immersive landscape of layered textiles, inspired by the means nature itself uses: layering, erosion, light. It drifts like a cloud, flows like a wave, and shelters like a cave, and refuses to settle on one.
Inspired by natural formations, the pavilion transforms innovative hospitality materials into an inhabitable atmosphere, a soft designed landscape of texture, light and movement that invites visitors to pause, gather and experience the space.
Visitors experience hospitality not as a collection of products, but as a material journey, where architecture shapes this immersive narrative.
Aither / Αιθήρ is the ‘ground’ from which every destination is drawn.
