alexandra papadaki portfolio of selected projects 2011-2018
co-lab for public spaces: an initiative that promotes participatory design practices The ‘co-lab for public spaces’ is a local initiative with main objective the promotion of participatory culture in the society of Heraklion city in crete, Greece. A diverse and multidisciplinary group of people, that initially got together by the need to express a creative counterproposal on the ‘Georgiades Park’ developing plans of the municipality of Heraklion. A team that promotes the dialogue within communities and takes action on issues related to the public space. The intention of the co-lab is to build on the interest, initiative and sensitivity of people who use public spaces every day. It is belived that the prospect of coexistence and self-organization in the public domain is not utopia for the city of Heraklion. The case of Georgiades Park and the unprecedented mobilization to protect it, is an opportunity for wider participation by the local community in matters pertaining to our everyday life and, above all, to the sustainability of our city. The main goal of ‘co-lab’ is to try to disengage the local community from the logic of assigning all responsibilities to the local government, and actively participate in defining the terms and quality of its free time and free space within the city. heraklion crete 2018
v i l la ve e nmo l a g arden vi lla t o f i t i n 2 0sq m Partner: IRIX architects rotterdam 2017-current photos by IRIX architects
archanes home: transformation and rehabilitation of an old stone residence This projects is very personal. It regards the renovation of our future home. A dream-come-true, with all renovation works being done exclusively by ourselves and a group of beloved friends and family from our close community. Design by building and building by design. A great learning experience. archanes, crete 2017-current
n’gambo: tuitakayo! heritage based urban regeneration of zanzibar’s new city centre Ng’ambo Tuitakayo (Swahili for ‘The Ng’ambo we want’). A series of steps that together aim to achieve an inclusive and sustainable, heritage-based urban regeneration for Ng’ambo, Zanzibar’s new city centre. The first explorations were condensed in a pilot project in a small area of Ng’ambo, together with UNESCO in 2014. The HUL methodology - a holistic and integrated approach for heritage based urban regeneration – was tested through workshops with the community and led to a basis for upscaling the approach for the whole Ng’ambo project area. In 2015, with support from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, a project was set up between the Government of Zanzibar and the Municipality of Amsterdam that aimed to develop a Local Area Plan and Structure Plan for Ng’ambo on the basis of the HUL approach. Ng’ambo Tuitakayo involved resident communities and all relevant stakeholders in the area just outside of Stone Town in the development of the Local Area Plan for the area that in the recently developed Master Plan for Zanzibar is earmarked as future city centre of Zanzibar.
The first months were used for an intensive mapping exercise that formed a first basis for the plan. After the symposium ‘Finding Stories’, that was organised in connection with a workshop in Amsterdam in January 2016 and brought together experts on implementation of community consultation, the intangible mapping exercise was rolled out. The Government of Zanzibar has adopted the UNESCO Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach for heritage based urban regeneration and Ng’ambo is forming a pilot project for the implementation of this. In the coming years, projects like the pilot housing project will be realised and create feedback to policies that are developed for up scaling in other historic urban areas. Partners: AforA Architects, AAmatters DoURP Government of Zanzibar zanzibar 2014 - 2017
minazi beach bar a fancy but simple beach bar Design and construction of an attractive beach bar as a part of the newly renovated beach front of the ‘Sunset Bungalows’ holiday resort on Kendwa Beach, north of Zanzibar, Ugunja Island. A beach ‘furniture’ that will respect the natural beauty of a Zanzibari beach and at the same time provide all the expected luxury and comfort and allow the visitor to enjoy one of the most beautiful sunsets on this world. The most noticeable element is the flat roof that it’s alien around the beach. Nobody dared so far to make a flat roof in this very rainy place. The flat roof is in reality a cleverly hidden gable roof from simple corrugated iron sheets. The beach bar’s special timber structure allowed us to give a funky/playful appearance in combination with great use of space. The combination of modern, clear and somehow minimal design with the traditional building and handcraft techniques, brings an amazing result that we cannot really fit into a specific architectural style. The concept was to understand the existing, respect it, embrace it and enhance it, make a plan but be open to alterations and suggestions coming from the experienced local practices, and to try to combine all of this with a result that visitors would appreciate. Local materials, a local workforce and respect for the Zanzibari culture and way of working. Passive design strategies, which are absolutely essential when
designing something in tropical areas. More specifically, the roof has an opening in the middle of it all along the longer side, leading the hot air created under the short ceiling, outwards, creating a space were no mechanical ways for cooling are needed. We also incorporated the existing coconut trees, instead of taking them down, for better cooling results. Publication: Africanism.org Collaborator: Amélie Chauvin, AforA Architects zanzibar 2015
sunset bungalows renovation of the beach front venue A project for the renovation of the beach front facilities of the “Sunset Bungalows” holiday resort in Kendwa Beach, north of Zanzibar, Ugunja island. It is a project that enhances the indubitable natural beauty of a Zanzibari beach, respects its sensitive location and at the same time provides all the expected luxury and comfort and allow the visitor to enjoy one of the most beautiful sunsets on this world. What was special about it and the main motive for us to accept taking the challenge of its renovation, was the open character and identity of the existing situation. Welcoming and facilitating equally the touristic ‘elite’ and the local community. From the first meetings with the owner, we understood that he had a vision to embrace this identity but in a different, more contemporary setting, as the competition from the surrounding emerging holiday resort was growing fast. The most noticeable element is the ‘parapata’, which is the Swahili name for a brilliant architectural feature, existing in most of the residencies around the island. It is a, most often, concrete slab which receives the rain water from the roof and functions like a big gutter, leading the water out of the building and to the ground. The ‘parapata’ is normally located above the entrance hall of the house, serving as a threshold. In our building, we incorporated this idea as an element that would both give a clean finish for the ‘makuti’ (thatched) roof and also function as a gutter for the huge amount of storm water, collected from the roof, during rainy seasons. The combination of modern, clear and somehow minimal design with the traditional building and handcraft techniques,
brought an amazing result that we cannot really fit into a specific architectural style. The concept was to understand the existing, respect it, embrace it and enhance it, make a plan but be open to alterations and suggestions coming from the experienced local practices, and try to combine all this with a result that visitors would appreciate, and… have fun! The inspiration was a combination of things. Definitely the location and landscape, which we loved since the first moment and wanted to create something sensitive and beautiful. But it was mostly the skills of each one of the builders, carpenters, furniture makers, iron welders and so on. The inspiration was an ongoing procedure, influencing our ideas every day by understanding what we had at our disposal and how we could guide it and use it. Local materials, local workforce and respect to the Zanzibari culture and way of working. Passive design strategies, which are absolutely essential when designing something in tropical areas; everything is open and offers a cool and safe experience, only by exploiting sun position, wind direction and vegetation in strategic locations, without the use of any mechanical means. Last but not least, the storm water that is collected from the ‘parapata’ (concrete gutter) is guided in specific outlets and ends up watering the plants. Publication: Africanism.org Collaborator: Amélie Chauvin, AforA Architects zanzibar 2014
international school of zanzibar a design proposal for a multipurpose hall, ISZ The project consists in finishing an existing hall located in the property of the International School of Zanzibar. Already used for different activities, the new construction should provide more flexibility of this empty space for both the students and staff of the school as well as the outsiders. Located at the edge of the property, the new construction should contribute to develop a stronger identity to the school, to improve the daily life of the students and to enhance the connection with the neighbours by offering a useful place for associations, meetings, various events or even additional classrooms for closed-by schools. The existing building is preserved as much as possible and the existing structural frame is used to develop the new walls. The concept of the project places a particular attention on the choice of the material used for the construction considering its properties as both aesthetic and technical values. One specific element, a moulded brick, is repeated in order to shape the envelope creating different patterns on the facade. From this simple principle, variations are added to the facade according the space in between the bricks and create from this game a natural ventilation to the indoors space. Three different bricks are created with a progressively shorter length.
As a simple technical strategy, through these multiple holes, two layers of bricks are created in order to capture the hot air and lead it up to the top of the building to cool the inside space. In addition of its insulation function, the relief created by the superposition of the bricks will also minimize the propagation of the sound indoors. The porosity of each portion of walls will also create an interesting illumination during night making the all building functioning as a lantern, a benchmark recognizable from the surroundings. ​ Collaborator: AmÊlie Chauvin, AforA Architects zanzibar 2014
the game © design your own house A simple board game that is called “Design your own house”. It consists of a wooden board with holes in a grid in which you can put walls in a modular way and then use different wooden symbols to represent the various activities and define the spaces you want the house of your dreams to include. A tool for designers that want to implement participatory approaches in their work. According our own experience this game yields impressive results and long and fruitful conversations regarding housing preferences. Collaborator: Amélie Chauvin, AforA Architects gothenburg - zanzibar 2013
bananhuset: renovation and smart refurbishment ideas of a Million Program residential building in a suburb of Gothenburg The project regards a proposal for the renovation and smart refurbishment ideas of a Million Program residential building in a suburb of Gothenburg, developed through consultation with Familjbostäder and the residents through a participatory approach. The main strategy for retrofitting Bananhuset is to engage the residents and isolate the most important issues to be addressed by our design response. From our initial impressions of the site we indentified challenges with connecting the front and back and engaging the community by rearranging the ground floor. We also intend to address the salient issues of leaking pipes and poor insulation along with general neglect in building maintenance. Responding to the feeing of unsafety many people we spoke to expressed, we want to help neighbors get to know each other. We want to change the dark and shady entrances of the back side. To complete a series of participatory methods, we arranged a workshop, inviting all the tenants of Bananhuset by distributing flyers and making personal contact with our previous interviewees. The workshop took place during one of the weekly Culture Cafés hosted by the Time Banking Network in Bergsjön, in the Utveckling Nordosts facilities.
In general, the workshop was designed to engage the participants via a board game with maps, models and concept cubes, and to start conversations about the vision of a new Bananahouse. We are happy to say that the attendance was satisfactory and a lot of brilliant ideas came up during our interesting conversations with the participants. It was a pleasant evening with a lot of friendly faces and some sweet cookies. We finally focused on a few main important areas. We addressed the clear feelings of unsafety about the area and tried to reinforce pride of one’s home by repairing the old laundry facilities and outdated utilities. To bolster community activity and interchange, we have revised the ground floor as a center for public events and meeting locations. This is meant to bring life to the area and im- prove a sense of safety and community. We also focus on the ground floor’s connection to the courtyard and street, the plan of the apartments and the overall energy efficiency. Partners: Amélie Chauvin, Anna-Katarina Bauder and James Ford. gothenburg 2012
More projects are presented at www.openscape.gr