SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE N.T.U.A2012-2013

9th semesterURBAN DESIGN 9

Faculty:Ariadne Vozani Bouki Babalou

Giorgos Parmenedis

Teaching assistanship:Ε. Androutsopoulou

G. Stavroulaki

On the occasion of the 100 years anniversary since the accession of Thessaloniki in the Modern Greek State, a number of concerns about the identity of the city and its future come into focus. Nowadays, Thessaloniki’s identity is defined by its image of modernity, its historical traces and its particular to-pography as well as by the loss or better the silence of its multicultural character.

The city’s openness towards the sea, resembling the image of ‘the flight of a butterfly’, is diachron-ically one of the most distinctive components of its identity. In the center of the city, the relation be-tween the sea and the buildings which are located right on the coastline and not in distance with the sea and the waterfront tightness responsible for a single perception of buildings and water as if they were one, are aspects that have been commented emphatically by any urban planning or design at-tempt with regard to Thessaloniki.

Implied transverse ‘sections’ are slicing the spread of the marine arc and therefore they are designating different areas-unities. Those areas face each other like ‘speaking with each other’, while maintaining their permanent reference to the sea of Thermai-kos. As such, they are responsible for a sensation of a peculiar theatricality.

Study area

The study area is located on the docks zone, on the northwest part of the city center. At the very end of the marine promenade and adjacent to the center, the study area is looking for a new role after the removal of the commercial port operations that it used to host so far.

How can designing housing -and/or other uses- answer to the concern about determining a new identity for the site and for its connection with the city?

URBAN DESIGN 9

Course schedule

A. Thessaloniki from distance. Preparation for a Trip.

During the first phase, we will focus on under-standing the city of Thessaloniki through research on the available literature and websites. The aim is to map the data that contribute on the understand-ing of the overall image of the city.

Students will be divided into three groups and each group will be responsible for the introduction of three thematic categories. 1. Historical layering as observed in the city. 2. Growth/development trends in the city. 3. Housing/dwelling typologies particularly on sea fronts.

B. Visit / Tour at the study area.

The second phase involves the on-site research on both the city and the study area. During the visit, the faculty of Architecture/Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, will give lectures on the specific fea-tures related to the project.

C. Articulation/Formulation of the project propos-al

During the third phase, students will explore inter-vention strategies able to determine their specific project proposals. This phase will be discussed in two stages corresponding to two intermediate pre-sentations.

1. Diagrammatic description of the design strategy as it was formulated with regard to the understand-ing and analysis of the area

2. Design

The course’s minimum requirements include the final presentation drawings in scales: 1/500 and 1/200 and a physical model in scale1/500 At this stage, a workshop on parametric design will also take place.

The course will be associated with the studio course which is in process at the School of Architecture /ITU and which focuses also on the waterfront area, in this case located on the Asian side of Istanbul. The course attempts to delve deeper the dialectical relationship Thessaloniki / Istanbul.

Kletos Kerou 1966, New Coast Thessaloniki

PROJECT:On the edge

Modern stratedies for waterfront’s ‘habitation’ Thessaloniki

Study area

G. Gerolempos, 2011