Urban Palimpsest Athens
Design Studio
Athens served as a field of investigation into contemporary urban processes, bringing together diverse social groups, building typologies, and economic activities. The project area of Kerameikos and Metaxourgeio is characterised by ongoing transformation and attracts a wide range of users, including local residents, workers, artists, intellectuals, migrants, tourists, and socially vulnerable groups. The diversity of the building stock reflects the social complexity of the neighbourhood.
The design studio examined these dynamics and developed scenarios for the future development of the area. Particular attention was given to the relationship between the project area and Athens’ city centre, new forms of mobility and network hierarchies, as well as the regeneration and enhancement of public open spaces. Building on the existing urban fabric, the students explored strategies for the adaptive reuse and transformation of the building stock while proposing new structures where appropriate. At the same time, the traditional Athenian polykatoikia was reinterpreted in response to emerging concepts of living and productive urban environments.
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.