OUR SITES OF INTEREST
Cultural hub - Alexis
Thesis questions
Could a redundant industrial site be the node for connection of Elefsina's past, present and future?
One of the most significant industrial shells, amongst various other examples, constitute the missing link for the connection of the city of Elefsina with its waterfront. The creation of a node within the site and the establishment of a new archaeological museum, as the existing one does not meet the modern criteria and the amount of increasing atrefacts, will connect the different zones of the city (archaeological, residential, cultural, industrial) and provide access towards the waterfront. Addiotionally the project will reveal an example of the industrial heritage of Elefsina, create public spaces, develop green areas and provide future potentials for the re vival of the city's image, quality of life and increase of cultural and educational activities.
The Tale of the Lost Girl - Christina
Thesis questions
Can we revive Eleusinas historic past?
Can we resurect the city from its modern dilapidation?
Elefsina is lost. It is an Underworld Ghost city, full of abandoned industrial cites rotting in the intense urban pattern; it has rich fertile but uncultivated lands while the archaeological sites are not celebrated enough. Persephone is being missing from Elefsina for too long now, and her absence is visible on the Uper-world. By helping Demeter to bring back her daughter from the Underworld, the generous goddess will reward us with various agricultural gifts.
The Old Oil Mill will be a new agricultural centre, lands will be cultivated again, there will be more job opportunities and the city’s history will be finally celebrated. As Demetra is the Goddess of of Agriculture, the Old Oil mill is the perfect site. It sits at the end of the Sacred way and links the archaeological site and the sea. By linking these key areas of interest we help Persephone to return from the Underworld.
Built in 1875 the abandoned building of the Oil Mill, will be adapted into an agricultural centre where new harvesting technologies will be introduced. A new basement level will be added to become the Gate forPersephone’s return.
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Aeschylia Apartments - Simon
Thesis questions
How can the introduction of rentable communal living space into Elefsina support the Aeschylia Festival, as well as local business, tourism, agriculture and education?
Every year during the summer, the Aeschylia Festival in Elefsina plays host to a number of artists and performers who put on shows and performances for the public. Unfortunately, due to a lack of hotels in the city, these artists and performers have to commute in from Athens for each day of the festival. The ambition of the Aeschylia Apartments project is to provide accommodation for these people during the festival season, incorporating elements of minimalism and communal living to create a social and lively environment. Outside of the festival season, the building programme will invite universities and schools, both local and international, to visit, allowing all levels of education to learn about Elefsina and its rich history. The building programme also has an agricultural season, where workers within the industry can visit to receive training and contribute to the urban agriculture onsite and around the city.
Hotel and Spa - Sam
Thesis questions
Can the existing archaeological remains of Elefsina be used to attract visitors into the City ? "
Eleusis is going to host a Cultural Capital in 2021. The city has every a few hotels and public accommodations at the moment. Most of the hotels and motels are located in Athen due to many economic issues. Therefore, the building typology for this project is a 5 stars hotel.
There are two unique layers of historical importance such as the ritual of Eleusis Mystery, and Roman Empirical achievement of aqueduct and bath culture. The aim of this project is to prove that by understanding and integrating some of the rituals in ancient Greece can attract more visitors from all over the world (mainly EU). Potentially, making Eleusis a great destination for tourists, which can boost local economy as well as reminding the locals about the importance of their own history.
Adamantios
Reuse Rooftops - Alex
Thesis questions
How can the rooftops of Elefsina be developed for social, environmental and cultural benefit for the city?
Elefsina has a unique roofscape, and whilst intermittently used, as a whole is underutilised by the city.Rooftops can offer the public unique experiences, exposure to the elements and views across the city. Currently rooftops are used in a variety of ways from providing roof terraces to the collection of sustainable energy through PV panels. Rooftops have the potential for Elefsina to expand whilst retaining the identity and historical layers which make its so special. They work at both the individual building scale (private) to larger connected roofscapes (public) and offer the framework for a large variety of uses.
City hall proposal
The city hall historically services the publics needs and acts as a landmark centre for the city. The surrounding sites provide no links and car parks dominate the undeveloped land. Through demolition of several abandoned buildings, the municipality wish to create a new public square, increasing footfall and improving transport links. The rooftops offer the scheme a new level within the city, and with an abundance of flat roofs, the new public square has the ability to work at multiple elevations. Elefsina City Hall is to become the landmark with a new connection allowing the public access to new spaces with views across the city.
Yiannis
Redundant railway line spanning across the city physically divides the urban realm in two segments. The proposal seeks to interweave the two parts of the city through Urban strategies and introduction of new facilities. Amenities of various privacy levels incorporate current local and nationwide infrastructure plans and aim to enhance the transportation network. In addition, the integration of business facilities for small to medium companies, assists is in boosting local economy and transforming the image of the city currently dominated by industrial decay.
Could Elefsina be rejoined?
Thesis questions
The Modern Craftsman in Contemporary Industries - James Norman
The hypothesis aims to bring back an element of production, through art and crafts in their contemporary version. Using the C.C. bid, the proposed sites will be located within the ‘The EU Working Classes’, dealing with the challenge of labour. This area encompasses the coastal zone, the port and many early industries. The industry in Elefsina has shifted from the large-scale; now people can manufacture things in their own garages, allowing the working classes to set up small-scale manufacturing hubs, supporting science, technology and social innovation. The activities undertaken will be linked to ‘The Future Starts Here’ Programme that looks into robotic art, kinetic art, and bio art. Three different sites have been earmarked to show how modern industries can suit three different scenarios around the city. A production centre is proposed within the latent site, manufacturing and testing EPC’s - transportable pods providing local small-scale industries with the required pioneering technologies and equipment to run business and to help educate the local community about the benefits of digital fabrication. Within the disused buildings, the hypothesis allows us use these plug-in industries to undertake pioneering research into new technologies, whilst having the opportunity to live within these units. On a public level, these small industries are to be facilitated on a network, through the transfer of knowledge amongst the working classes with opportunities for CPD sessions. Transferring products and materials throughout the city will be made easier and supported by the proposed master plan.
How can new technologies encourage and support small-scale industries within Elefsina’s ‘working class’ zone?
Thesis questions
The Play Neighbourhood: A new urban and social model for Elefsina
Thesis questions
How can we design the city for human redundancy in the workforce?
Reacting to increasing local unemployment, marginalised communities and unrecognised unpaid work, The Play Neighbourhood outlines the near-future for an area of abandoned sites in Elefsina.
A new social community housing typology is proposed to create a neighbourhood of shared social wealth, ideas and skills. Enabled by a Universal Basic Income and innovative live-work-play units, the project creates the framework for an urban Fun Palace in which residents realise the value of the social economy and the freedom to play.
Enabling this new community to acknowledge the value of unpaid social work, the project can be used as a blueprint for many other future cities, societies and economies.
The Missing Jigsaw Pieces to Elefsina - Grant
Thesis questions
Can a Lost Abandoned Industrial Site be Introduced into the Urban Fabric?
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Can the Buildings of the Site be Continuously Adaptable to Meet the Demands of a Developing City?
With Cities around the world buildings of the past become abandoned and derelict due to economical, social and environmental changes. However, adaptive reuse offers the opportunities for reuse. Though it offers a solution for derelict buildings to have a new lease of life, they do not offer the opportunity for adaption.
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The hypothesis aims to be able to create an adaptable building, by adaptively reusing an derelict industrial site. The building aims to meet the need of the city as its transitions towards the European Capital of Culture 2021. For this the building will be able to house a multitude of functions within, allowing them to alter or change, responding to social, economical and environmental changes.
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Kronos Vertical Vinery - Sophie
Thesis questions
Can Kronos’ resurrection reconnect the city to the sea? Can a industrial sector become a public realm?
To Create a Vertical Winery which revives Kronos site in particular the Kronos tower building and surrounding space. By re-establishing the winery it not only rebuilds its connection with the history of the site it allows for more employment opportunities and to reduce the congested zone within Elefsinas masterplan and widening the movement and activity amongst the town. The Kronos redevelopment will once more reconnect with the waterfront and become an open public space.
The Green Paracite - John
Thesis questions
How can new technologies encourage and support small-scale industries within Elefsina’s ‘working class’ zone?
A proposed route will run through the city of Elefsina, connecting the main town center along a green axis, to the waterfront and the disconnected industrial Kronos site.
The green route will promote healthy connections, with a tramline, cycle lanes, and will take use of the currently under-optimized open brownfield sites, and latent voids which exist throughout the existing journey. These will all be incorporated within a series of alternative technologies and interactive displays, which will lead you through the working class area, to the regenerated Kronos Site.
The regenerated Kronos site will now house ‘The Green Parasite’. The site has been reinvented as an open exhibition space and school for alternative technology. The site will be open to all, 7 days a week, teaching Local communities, schools, and workplaces how to incorporate, clean energies and produce thoughtful environments. Within their own personal workspaces, habitats and environments.
Demeter’s Garden & Persephone’s Festival - Ross
Thesis questions
Is music the key to ensure the cultural legacy of Eleusis 2021?
After the lights have faded and the name has gone can music keep and fund 2021 legacy?
Eleusis has become the European Capital of Culture 2021, this event will spring board the city’s failing economy back into life. A recurring question that keeps comming up is what will be its legacy? Can dancing and music continue the positive effects of 2021 and improve the future prospects of the city? Feeding from the existing masterplan, this proposal aims to create a new culture network in the city. By creating a new vibrant promenade from the city centre and along the seafront, the project will reconnect the city and it inhabitants with its coastline and sea.
The project will create a new costal city park and that also doubles as an event space from the derelict abandoned Kronos Factory Industrial complex. This public development would not only provide more energy to the city and bring in money and new business.
The key issues that have fail to be address in the planning of 2021, are public transport and public space. The lack of transport and coastal access choke the city, keeping it bottle by the surrounding industrial sites. With the introduction of a new tramline, improving movement around the city and access to the train station will bring more visitors and make business more accessible.
Between Shelter and Home - Tim
Can Architecture bridge the gap and better integrate Refugees into established communities?
Thesis questions
The “White tent” is synonymous with the Refugee. Rows and rows of soiled canvas as a reactive measure to an influx of migrating people escaping a world they consider to be uninhabitable, hostile and dangerous. To a Refugee this form of shelter is considered a temporary measure whilst they hope for a return to their homeland.
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Too often, the tent becomes the Refugee’s shelter for longer than anticipated and the prognosis of whether they will ever return home increasingly looks doubtful.
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The old Bauxite mine to the west of Elefsina provides an opportunity to develop a long-term solution to the Refugees arriving in Greece as well as dealing with the issues surrounding the shortage of affordable housing. In solving both issues can Refugees and the local people coexist in synergy and help integrate Refugees in to the local community.
