SPECIALIZATIONS, INSIGHTS, EXPERIMENTATIONS: ARCHITECTURAL INTERVANTIONS IN THE CITY: FLOATING STRUCTURES ALONG THE OLD WATERFRONT

‘The closed city can be designed and operated top-down; it is a city which belongs to the masters. The open city is a bottom up place; it belongs to the people’. Richard Sennett The course focuses on architectural interventions on the waterfront, whichare of utmost importance within the framework of Urban Design when the goal is the creation of an open city. More specifically, the studio involves the design of floating structures along the old waterfront of Thessaloniki that will negotiate the reorganization of the current inflexible boundary between the sea and the city. The waterfront of the initially walled-in Thessaloniki is perhaps the most important public space of the city. Moreover, while the front presentsto the residents the potential to come in contact with the aquatic element and develop an interchanging relationship with it, the current form of the coastline does not allow such a connection to flourish. On the contrary, the waterfront cultivates an alienation that results from the clear spatial division between the sea and the city In order to re-negotiate the relationship between the city and the sea as well as to study the different architectural qualities that can amplify social interaction, the course proposesnewstructures along the waterfront from the port to the White Tower. Along this coastline, which emerged during the last century after the demolition of the seaside wall of the city, contemporary floating structures are positioned in specific locations. These elements, which could even be transformable, could offer either an alternative continuous route along the seafront or new distinctfunctional elements. These structures are designed so as to offer different experiences to the residents and the visitors. Along the duration of the studio there would be lectures on the topic of open cities and waterfronts in general as well as architectural subjects that negotiate the bipolar notions ofpermanent/ephemeral, parasite/host etc.

17-02-2015