Realisations

For a building to be determined as ‘abandoned’ it had to be fully unused, so whilst we have been able to find a large number of buildings, this does not cover the structures where the residential upper floors are empty and the ground floor retail units are still in use.

From virtually walking the streets of Athens we were able to not only locate the abandoned buildings but also develop and understanding of the urban environment in more than just a 2D map.

The strict list used to identify the buildings (see page 18) meant that many were excluded. Mainly this was due to the ground floor still being used for retail even if the upper floors were eroding and unused. This observation shows how it is residential that is abandoned, retail is not. This could provide us with an insight into what function to give the buildings in our independent proposals. Moreover, whilst comparing street view to the older digital map we had, we were able to change and update the plan accordingly. We realised there are more ‘gap sites’ than we initially thought. The city is still incredibly dense however it may be exaggerated by lack of interest and differences across the city. It becomes hard to identify holes when they are the same size as the polykatoikias.

Not all the abandoned buildings are left as empty shells. There are a sites where squatters, immigrants and/or refugees use the buildings as places to teach and learn. Where the Greek language is taught and where these teachers can be sheltered.

The abandoned buildings are so common, yet the intricate network they form and the importance of them to the unknown population of Athens should not be lost. Thought will have to go in to ensure these people do not lose their classrooms and homes, instead, we will create these spaces for them - which will also enable a more seamless way for refugees to be integrated into the city.

Fig. 05: Google Street View (2019) Examples of buildings where the ground floor is functioning and upper floors are vacant.