Urban Palimpsest Athens
The city of Athens is a field of investigation of urban processes, a mixture of different social groups, building typologies and economic activities. The project area Kerameikos and Metaxourgeio is an area in transition, attracting social groups from several backgrounds: locals, working class, artists and intellectuals, drug addicts, immigrants and tourists. The building stock is as diverse as the social groups coexisting in the area. The objective of the studio was to examine these processes and develop scenarios for the further development of the area, taking into consideration the existing factors, but also through imagining how the area will be like in the future. Furthermore, investigate the connection and Link to the city center, the new mobilities and hierarchies of the network, the public open space regeneration and upgrade. Work with the existing building stock and propose new structures to it, while rethinking the Polykatoikia typology based on the new living and productive concepts.
Results
The subject of this studio was to analyse the factors which contributed to the Kerameikos & Metaxourgeio situation today and to extract the potential of housing, tourism and shared economies. Also, to investigate the existing building stock, the derelicts and the public space and evaluate which are the drivers of change for the area. In other words, to propose a sustainable urban regeneration in an area which is a social melting pot, taking into consideration the assets of the past and how to transform them into a dynamic, productive and liveable quarter for the future.
The studio included a field trip to Athens with a workshop and talks with Greek professors and students from the National Technical University of Athens and further specialists on the city and its development.
Students
Ana Sofia Aguirre Espinoza, Eglė Kliučinskaitė, Maddalena Gioseffe, Laurie Malenfant, Ilona Van Mol, Riemer Tassilo, Sel Pinar, Attar Malaz, Federico Tavella, Yuchun Zhang