portfolio by Christos Montse

portfolio

CHRISTOS MONTSENIGOS SHORT FOLIO pages 8-103

i n d e x

MOCK RUINS -/+:

4 cases of hybrid gardens in the athenian city centre “I guess it’s a pregnant void, isn’t it, in some ways” Gordon Matta Clark The thesis expands upon the well established notion of architectural heritage by focusing on four unfinished buildings —buildings, the structural frame of which has been fully erected, but the façade has not been fully constructed or not constructed at all— and their transformation into vertical gardens. The buildings are chosen from a wider corpus of unfinished constructions, found in the center of Athens, and are then submitted to actions of subtraction and enhancement of their structural frame. Most of the buildings that we mapped could not have been erected in the contemporary context or legislative framework, which further enhances our statement that they are trapped in an in-between state. Contrary to a “traditional finishing” of the structure which would mean that they cease to be penetrable by air and sunlight, our intervention aims to further “relieve” them. They, therefore, become

similar to the follies, which decorated the European gardens, being of a highly suggestive or even symbolic nature. The four buildings are arranged serially from smallest to largest: small, medium, large, xlarge. This way, each building is more complex than the one that came before it in terms of scale but also richer in terms of program. Assuming the role of regulator, Nature reverses the very notion of decay, constructing lush, botanic scenery out of formerly restricted enclosures. The four vertical gardens being produced should operate together, taking the shape of climaxing urban episodes or hybrid structures oscillating between City and Nature. The anonymity and scale of each building deprive it of the potential to bear the fruits of an individual “bloom” by itself. However, It is by aggregating the four that we come across a somewhat arbitrary common ground, which proves fertile to new possibilities

Diploma project with Eleni Skevaki, NTUA Collection of drawings, diagrams and texts in support of my Design Thesis Thesis supervisors: Panayotis Tournikiotis, Tilemachos Andianopoulos

intention _ localization 11

levels, mapping and sampling 13

conceptualization . . . design formula 15

Geraniou & Peiraios 4 stories + ground floor, 121 Sq m

he first building is located at the confluence of Peiraios and Geraniou street and is constituted by two zones angular to each other, that create immediate views towards the interior of the building and the city. The proposal wishes to tackle the typical floor organization, not only in matters of spatial configuration but also structurally so any subtraction performed on slabs never happens consecutively on two levels in a row but alternates between floors therefore creating a diagonal distribution of the void. The non-typical arrangement of the slabs after the subtraction accentuates visibility transforming the building into a three dimensional frame that also indicates the paths the climbing plants are going to use in order to take over the structure. The buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s corner is remodeled into split-level sitting rooms hovering over the city in a diagonal organization of the subtractions that follows all the way up to the staircaseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very last landing, giving the impression that one is stepping on air. In this case the only addition was this elliptical staircase and a network of piping that serve both as railings as well as watering infrastructure for the vegetation.

this page // bottom down : type 2 floor plan type 1 floor plan ground floor plan cross section parallel to Peiraios Street left page // exploded perspective drawing of the plantingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s distribution

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Clockwise: elevation and plan drawings of the elliptical staircase. The suspended staircase appears as if of a folded, thin, metallic sheet and is accessible only from the level of the first floor. It is the only way one can approach the isolated suspended level hovering midair the ground floorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extended height, since the existing hole, allegedly designed for a spiral staircase to be added, remains inert and useless. The suspended balcony has no particular function. It is mostly viewed as a secluded observatory, hidden in plain view. The fact that it is exposed accentuates the initial desire for this building to be accessible in unpredictable ways.

Menandrou & Peiraios

5 stories + ground floor + 3 top floor apartments 107 Sq m

ase number two on Menandrou street is a narrow seven-floor structure with three aditional top-floor appartments (the typical athenian “retire”) next to an open parking lot situated on Peiraios street. The proposal maintained the primary goal of overturning typical floor arrangement while at the same looked for ways to answer the need of emphasizing the building’s latent verticality as well as acquiring a position to reinterpret the structure’s spatial proximity to the open lot situated right next to it. Subtraction takes place at the middle of the building’s height creating a suspended interior void while at the same time conveying a sense of levitating weight from the three last floors now seemingly floating on air. The central, vertical void is filled with a spiraling movement that, beginning in the form of a flowing ramp, receives visitors from ground level right at the point of the empty lot and then develops into a spiral staircase leading all the way up to the last floor where a spherical metallic umbrella, taken over by climbing vegetation, is situated, creating some sort of garden observatory.

this page// bottom down: from left to right plan on the level of the central vertical void plan on the level of the ascending ramp plan on the level of the garden observatory longitudinal section parallel to Menandrou street next page // exploded persepctive drawing of the plantingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s distribution

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+31.50 Left // bottom down: longitudinal elevation-section drawing of the top-floor’s garden observatory and the spherical umbrella cross elevation-section drawing of the top-floor level plan drawing of the top-floor level perspective drawing of the garden-observatory looking up // The top-floor level of the “retire” is extended in the shape of a metallic structure acting as a viewing platform, opening itself to the city’s view. The building’s outline is complimented from a plexus of pipes that take the form of a perforated, spherical volume. On par with the planting’s full growth, the structure will function as an “umbrella”, it’s round occulus facing the city, allowing the sunlight to pass through the folliage, transforming the roof into a secluded chamber.

Deligiorgi & Ag. Konstantinou

7 stories + ground floor + 1 top-floor apartment 351 Sq m

ase number three presented us with the problem of managing two seperate unfinshed structures into one. The complex is constituted from a late 60s, seven floor concrete skeleton, designed as a hotel at the confluence of Ag. Konstantinou and Deligiorgi street and a heavier, more recent sturcture designed with stricter earthquake regulation. The older and more sensitive building required a more sophisticated manipulation of void and solid. The complex system of beams provided the ideal frame for the plants to develop but the structure did not allow for such radical intervention over it’s structural frame. Only the central area of the building’s slabs is fully subtracted creating an enclosed atrium and thus defining a core. From the south side, slabs are subtracted from the middle up in order for daylight to start pouring inside, while from the other side slabs are subtracted from the middle down in order for an entrance void to be shaped right on the busy street level. This way the building is perceived differently, depending on what side it is observed by the viewer. The proposal additionally introduces a diagonal axis cutting through both buildings in the shape of ramps that grant public access to a larger amount of people than the previous buildings, thus suggesting a hybrid programme of public ammenities and physical exercise facilities. In order for that sort of planning to be realized, the second building is filled with concrete, wall-like elements that act as vessels for the washing facilities as well as circulation distibutors. Apart from that, the buildings second floor is subtracted providing for a suspended garden at the middle of the complex’s height. The building’s last floor is also remodeled into a viewing platform gazing over the city, organized around the central element of a circular occulus. Regarding the ground floor, a system of ramps, stairs and thin corridors sits on top of the soil connecting the two buildings with surrounding spaces and the rest of the neigborhood.

this page // bottom down plan of the top floor garden observatory typical floor plan ground level floor plan section parallel to Ag. Konstantinou cutting through the empty lot and the walking platform next page // exploded perspective drawing of the climbing plantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s diagonal distribution

Bottom: Perspective view of the ground level platform and its connection to the movement of the rest of the building Top Left: corner facade Bottom Right: Detail of the support for the main ramp Right: perspective section, showcasing the newly constructed beams

Plataion & Paramythias

3 stories + ground floor + 2 top-floor apartments 1697 Sq m

he process culminated in case number four where the proposal attempts to introduce programmatic elements in the form of a public swimming pool and a basketball court. The complex is situated on the confluence of Plataion and Paramythias street and introduces a new sense of size and scale as it consists of three seperate, large concrete structures, being refered to here as buildings 1,2 and 3. The main subtraction occurs parallel to the antiseismic joint situated between all three of the buildings, expanding it and creating in the process three seperated volumes. The gap created within them is filled with an M-shaped ramp that restores while at the same time alters the interior circulation between the three volumes. Another bold subtraction occurs at the heart of building 3, situated at the heart of the urban block. The slabs are deleted and a large interior void is created, newly sheltered by a featherlike amphitheatre,seemingly parallel to the sunlights’s angle, now located at the upper end of the afforementioned ramp’s development. The amphitheatre acts as a sitting area and reestablishes the complex’s arrangement as introspective yet open. Since the complex cannot take the shape of a three-dimensional frame for the planting’s development as in previous cases, we maintained the last slab intact therefore creating a continuus surface that binds the complex together in the form of a big suspended meadow that can function as a new kind of urban pic nic area. A waterslide stretches from a small swimming pool at ground level reaching all the way up to the planted slab at the top of the building.

this page// bottom down : from left to right persepctive floor plan of the basketball court’s level perspective floor plan of the amphitheater’s level

Perspective section along the expansion joint of the building// The introduction of the M-shaped ramp restores its internal continuity which was disrupted with th e initial division to three distinct parts. left page// exploded perspective drawing of the slabs and the planted top-floor “field”

A NEW KLATHMONOS SQUARE Our proposal for the new square constitutes an act of uncovering. We understand the urban tissue of modern Athens as a concealing skin that contains and holds back those elements that once characterized the Attic Landscape. The younger city’s upper level, the modern Polykatoikia, forms a blanket forcibly sheltering the topography and traces of the older town’s ancient walling. Klafthmonos square, a place where such tensions, unintentionally gather, is perceived exactly as part of that concealing skin. The act of terminating this concealment, the process of highlighting those things, whose presence has until now, only been implied, resembles the process of paper cutting and modeling. We treat the design surface as a continuous sheet of paper that gets folded, carved, torn apart and displaced in order to achieve the desired sense of continuity. Through this process are being organized, a se-

ries of thresholds and entrances into a downgraded space, a sunken garden located at the heart of the city. The original paper sheet thus takes the form of suspended corridors and platforms that bridge the thresholds all together. The proposed structure reinterprets the notion of passing through public territory while at the same time, it sews together those ruined findings brought back to light. Linear metallic gutters serve as foundations where the new, perforated floors are based, only partially covering the topography underneath, allowing it to breath.

Sous les pavés, la plage !

Academic project with Eleni Skevaki, NTUA Collection of drawings produced during Architectural Design 8A originally titled “τόπος αστικού τοπίου” Architecture of Open Public Spaces in Urban and Natural Landscapes 8th Semester of undergraduate studies Tutors: Babalou-Noukaki Bouki, Athanasios Pagonis

masterplan

structure

light infrastucture

landscape detail

main view

cross se

ection

longitudina

al section

KALLITHEA BATHHOUSE April 2012, a team of undergraduate students presented their design proposals to the public at the SNFCC’s visitor’s center, viewing the Faliron Bay. The projects were produced as part of a studio at the NTUA’s School of Architecture where student teams were ask to work at Kallithea area, on those urban blocks specifically surrounding the site of the SNFCC. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation had at that moment already began the construction of it’s new cultural center, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop in order to house the new facilities of the National Library and National Opera house, as well as to include a new park area. The studio attempted to interpret the possible seismic side effects of such a project’s metropolitan ambition to the surrounding, fragmented and uneven site (therefore Site Effects). Our proposal departed from modifying the given urban block, contrarily focusing on suggesting a restraining gesture by the design of a common public space of special use. We replaced the schemati-

cally designed public, athletic facilities at the south-westerns part of the complex with a longitudinal square, functioning as a linear promenade from city to sea. The square shelters a network of underground spaces, organized around atriums, where the swimming pools and courts originally removed are relocated. The square is defined by an L-shaped chain of high and narrow buildings that resemble a wall, allowing only the lateral streets to cross. Even though visually compact, the complex of buildings is practically open and porous at street level through it’s linear collonade.The buildings are public in use, functioning as holiday infrastructure, offering short stay apartments, operating under a regime similar to that of public beaches. The park and cultural center’s concealment from nearby, already existing blocks and residential buildings was not intended to imply exclusion but to abolish private, privileged view as a form of luxury and a reason for ever-growing rent prizes around areas of urban renovation.

Academic project with Giorgos Fiorentinos and Argyris Chronopoulos, NTUA Drawings created during “Architectural Design 9”, “Athens_the new sea entrance to the city” Architectural and Urban Design,9th semester of undergraduate studies Tutors: Andreas Kourkoulas, Ariadni Vozani, Athanasios Pagonis, Ifigenia Mari

masterplan

cross section

typical floor plan

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building cross section view

cross section view

appartment detail

SEE-SAW

Guggenheim Helsinki

One of two future addition to the institution’s cultural behemoths, together with the upcoming Guggenheim Abu Dabi, the Guggenheim Helsinki’s competition terms were formulated in order to reinforce the foundation’s cultural hegemony as well as, to highlight Helsinki’s potential as an upcoming cultural center of the European North. The local authorities provided the competition with a privileged site at the Southern Port , close to city center, at an area said to provide the first image of the city for any visitor approaching it from sea. By concentrating the given program’s building volume almost at the center point of the area, we decided to aim for a subtler solution, while highlighting the horizontal axis, the one that seems more dominant to ships approaching the port. Letting organization and the presence of the natural environment prevail as design principles, we separated the main volume into pieces, this way

dividing functional units and allowing visual stimuli originating from the building’s surroundings to infiltrate the interior space through glazed fissures. The subtle torsion of those five blocks constituting the building, determined not only its most prominent formal aspects, but the particularities and spatial features of every separate block itself. The slight inclination of the building’s longitudinal axis in a way that it is no longer parallel to the sea shore, intented to take full advantage of the site’s diagonal and therefore, longest distance while aiming at providing richer possibilities for the building to interact with it’s context. The said inclination created two similar yet reflected exterior spaces. The first one sharpens the building’s entrance point, when the second one, at the other end of the complex, softens the building’s meeting point with the sea shore.

Competition submission with KK architects Drawings produced by a team consisting of Giorgos Fiorentinos, Argyris Chronopoulos, Nikos Magouliotis, Alexandra Giovani

volume

split

displace

rotate

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floor 4 - exhibition 2 - restaurant

floor 3 - exhibition 1

floor 2 - offices 2

floor 1- offices 1

ground floor - civic realm

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O u r impulse was to design a the tension of the given waterfront site with the traditional Finnish collection of poems of Kalevathrows (plot twists, supernatural transformations, tele-transpordance to this, we tried to design a museum, based on a path that will infor the surrounding environment to infiltrate the building through various and series of transformations of a conventional rectangular building. The final design occurr are placed in equal distances from each other, so that the surrounding cityscape is constan dinal axis of the design) at a different angle, creating additional views to the city and the po The experience of the museum is aspiring to create a â&#x20AC;&#x153;montageâ&#x20AC;?-effect, through the constant one end of the building to the other. The first two boxes are lifted on the direction of the city, i start lifting towards the seaside, so as to subtly guide the visitor to the shore. The lifted bottom-si um towards the seaside. Inside each box, the spaces are divided in different horizontal levels, whic paths. The main circulation path moves through the 5 boxes and in the 4 gaps it acquires the form floor to the galleries on the floors above. The bridges are attached to the elevator, allowing for the civic realm accommodating all the public functions of the program, apart from the gallery spaces: visit are situated on the upper floors of the museum, where we have varying heights occurring from the in designed as a transition space, taking the visitors from the ground floor to the galleries above. This m and horizontal surfaces of the box. A visitor coming to the museum for the first time can move alon At the same time, various elevators attached to each box allow the frequent visitor to make various s of the boxes are mostly opaque, to allow for controlled light conditions in the galleries. Various w deemed necessary by the curator of an exhibition. The transparent sides looking to the gaps can a es) or closed (in order to isolate each gallery and create controlled light conditions). The buildin clear and large spans inside each box. The frame is mostly covered by materials that are sele as well as the surfaces of the boxes looking to the in-between gaps, are designed to be switching between inside (gallery spaces with controlled light conditions) and The interior facades of the boxes looking to the gaps are designed in means of a large scale steel lattice. The exterior surfaces are work, while the interior is covered with wooden

initial building that will combine the fluctuation and turbulence expressed in la. The main characteristic of Kalevala is its various overtations etc) as well as the dominance of natural elements. In accorcorporate spatial contrasts and disjunctions, while simultaneously allowing unexpected visual connections.The proposed building can be understood as a red from the cutting up of a uniform building slab in five equal volumes. These pieces ntly visible from the interiors of the building. Each volume is rotated (along the longituort and amplifying the effect of a constant communication of the interior with the context. alternation of internal and external views. The angle of each box is gradually shifting from in order to relate to it and signify the entrance. As one moves through the building, the boxes ides of the last two boxes are transparent and look out to the sea, creating an exit for the musech are framed by inclined walls, creating complex and interesting visual relations and movement m of thin bridges at various levels. Inside each slit there is also an elevator that links the ground e maximum flexibility of movement. On the ground-floor level one finds the main path and the tor screening, ticket purchase, cafĂŠ, museum shop, performance and conference hall. The exhibitions nclined walls, allowing for the exhibition of artworks of various sizes.The third (and central) box is movement is organized through a series of ramps and walkways that are combined with the inclined ng the ground floor, in order to reach the third box, through which he is lead to the upper spaces. short-cuts in order to reach a specific gallery. Materiality and Construction. The exterior surfaces windows on these surfaces can remain closed or be opened to create natural light conditions if also alternate between open (to allow for visual continuity through the various exhibition spacng is supported by a steel frame, whose dimensions have been calculated in order to allow for ected according to the function of each element of the building. The bridges and elevators, as transparent as possible, so that the visitor walking along the museum is constantly outside (transparent but heated spaces for the transitions between galleries). order to provide the necessary rigidity for the frame of each box, by covered with exposed concrete, articulated by wooden formthin strips, of scale similar to the exterior.

WOYZECK:

Chronisms of a play

The special course aimed at familiarizing architects with the notions of scenic space and interpretation of theatrical plays in the production of specific design proposals. Each group of students was allowed to choose from a list of selected plays, gathered under the unifying conceptual category “Vision and Power”. We selected Büchner’s play since it represented a feeling of constant surveillance without ever having it mentioned. The fact the Woyzeck was written in scattered notebooks and was probably left unfinished, allowed us to explore that very notion of watching over someone. We considered the play to be fragmented and presented it in a nonlinear way, allowing the scenes to succeed one another continuously or in a chaotic order that departs from typical Woyzeck stage productions, finally interpreting it as some sort of perverted clockwork mechanism. The element of Time and movement made

us abandon the possibility of a conventional stage design in favor of stressing the importance of space itself and the body’s movement within it. As a site, we selected an abandoned industrial warehouse, not only dew to it’s cavernous interior, the visible metallic structure holding the roof, or the linear glazing surrounding the walls, but mainly because it provided us with a certain freedom of movement, allowing us to suggest the spectator’s movement within, treating in a way as a member of the cast. Our stage design ultimately consists of a suspended, rectangular light source hanging from the roof and the dispersion of carefully selected, vintage furniture all around the stage. The director’s main guideline: invisible hands must move the furniture around every time an individual scene closes and the light is temporarily dimmed, preparing the stage and the scenery for the beginning of the next one.

Academic project with Marisa Daouti, NTUA Scenography proposal for the play “Woyzeck” produced during “Special Topics in Architectural Morphology: Evolution of Scenography as the result of transformation in Theater”, 7th semester of undergraduate studies Tutors: Stavros Gyftopoulos, Eleftheria Rapti

Μα

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0. είσοδος θεατών στο χώρο του θεάτρου ανάμεσα στα έπιπλα που απλώνονται σε όλο το χώρο. σβηστά φώτα με ένα μοναδικό προβολέα πάνω στον αφηγητή

1. μπαίνουν οι τέσσερις ηθοποιοί (Βόυτσεκ, Αντρές, Μαργαρίτα, Μαρία) και παίρνουν θέσεις σε δύο επίπεδα- παίζεται η σκηνή στο δάσος

2. η Μαρία και η Μαργαρίτα μένουν μόνες τους στη σκηνή - παρακολουθούν την παρέλαση και συζητούν

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C Β

C Μ

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3. η Μαρία μόνη της στο κέντρο της σκηνής με το μωρό στην αγκαλιά της κοιτάζεται στον καθρέφτη που κρατάει

4. στου λοχαγού - ο λοχαγός κάθεται στην πολυθρόνα και ο Βόυτσεκ τον ξυρίζει

5. στο σπίτι της Μαρίας, η Μαρία συναντιέται με τον Αρχιτυμπανιστή

Γ DR

7. στο ιατρείο, ο Βόυτσεκ και ο γιατρός - ο γιατρός επιπλήττει τον Βόυτσεκ

8. στη σκηνή τοποθετούνται δύο καρέκλες γραφείου - ο λοχαγος και ο γιατρός συζητούν

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ΜC Α

9. στο κτίριο της φρουράς ο Βόυτσεκ και ο Αντρές συζητούν

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6. Βόυτσεκ και Μαρία - ο Βόυτσεκ υποψιάζεται τη μοιχεία - η σκηνή παίζεται πίσω από την οθόνη

10. στην ταβέρνα η Μαρία και ο Αρχιτυμπανιστής χορεύουν ανάμεσα στο πλήθος

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11. ο Βόυτσεκ και ο Αντρές στο ίδιο κρεβάτι συζητούν

12. στην ταβέρνα - ο Βόυτσεκ τσακώνεται με τον Αρχιτυμπανιστή ανάμεσα στους θαμώνες και τελικά αποχωρεί ταπεινωμένος

13. στο κέντρο της σκηνής ο Βόυτσεκ αγοράζει ένα μαχαίρι από τον Εβραίο ο οποίος κάθεται με την πλάτη στο κοινό

14. η Μαρία στην άκρη της σκηνής διαβάζει σελίδες της Βίβλου από μια μεγάλη οθόνη

Μ Α DR

15. ο Βόυτσεκ εισβάλλει στη σκηνή και αδειάζει μία κούτα με σκουπίδια - ο Αντρές τον παρακολουθεί να ψάχνει τα πράγματα του UR

16. στο σπίτι της Μαρίας - η Μαρία κάθεται στις ξαπλώστρες και σε βίντεο προβάλλεται ο διάλογος των δύο παιδιών και της γιαγιάς UR

17. σε άδεια σκηνή ο Βόυτσεκ δολοφονεί τη Μαρία

ΒC

18. το πτώμα της Μαρίας στο κέντρο της σκηνής και γύρω το πλήθος - το νεκρό σώμα μαγνητοσκοπείται και προβάλλεται στην οθόνη στο βάθος της σκηνής UR

CΒ

Β DR

19. στην ταβέρνα ο Βόυτσεκ παραλογίζεται - το τραγούδι της Καίτης ακούγεται από τα μεγάφωνα UR

20. η οθόνη προβάλλει το νεκρό σώμα της σκηνής 18 και από τα μεγάφωνα ακούγεται ο ηχογραφημένος διάλογος των παιδιών UR

21. άδεια σκηνή- ο Βόυτσεκ μόνος του

C Γ

22. μια μπανιέρα τοποθετείται στο κέντρο της σκηνής ο Βόυτσεκ ανοίγει τη βρύση και μπαίνει μέσα UR

Κ DR

23. στο κέντρο της σκηνής μια παλιά τηλεόραση προβάλλει το άλογο του τσίρκου και ο κράχτης το παρουσιάζει - ο κόσμος κάθεται σε καρέκλες περιμετρικά

24. ο γιατρός , ο λοχαγός και ο Βόυτσεκ περπατούν και συζητούν - ο γιατρός ανεβαίνει σε μια καρέκλα στο κέντρο της σκηνής - το πείραμα με τη γάτα και τον Βόυτσεκ παίζεται πίσω από την οθόνη

25. ο Βόυτσεκ στο πίσω μέρος της σκηνής κρατά το ξύλινο άλογο και μονολογεί

27. το τέλος

Why is Woyzeck a tragic figure? Reading Buchnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unfinished notebooks, we observe a strenuous effort to describe a monotonous life of exploitation. Woyzeck is unlike any other male role, not at all a man of heroic deeds and not to be judged as good or bad. Never possessed by fear of death, he lives a life of pain and humiliation where catharsis seems unobtainable. Absorbed by the swirl of grotesque figures and distorted situations, Woyzeck surrenders to insanity and collapse. Translating a practically unfinished text, recognising that the tragedy derives from the repetition of humiliating acts and chores, the very notion of randomness and repetition becomes central. The abandoned industrial building of Pireos 260 in Athens, will serve as the background of our unusual play. The stage, filled with old furniture, is indicated only by the rectangular lighting source hanging from the roof structure, consequently stressed in the four corners of a square, but at the same time producing a felling of ominous, yet profound freedom. Inside of it, we introduce the enigmatic figure of a narrator, a human figure floating over two worlds, the real and the theatrical.

Ho l d ing the playâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s order in his hands, he comments and criticizes, reflecting upon what he sees, even forgetting sometimes, returning to previous scenes in order to relive and make clear. Inspired by the complicated emotional topography of the troubled Woyzeck, the direction obliges the audience to follow randomness and realize the escalation of the plot through the constant repetition of scenes. The material set obeys the Narrator, falling apart and being reassembled in a choreographic way by actors dressed as backstage workers, with the spotlights turned out and the stage deemed into darkness as if the play pauses. The egotistic Narrator, being the Voice of Reason, holds Woyzeck captive in this constant Theatrical act. He and the main character are not simply the same person. Their co-existence indicates Woyzeckâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interior fission. Theatre then is just a simulating machine, a fragmented psycheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s last attempt to react to the falling apart of everything. Reality proves crueler than Fantasy. Bestial Woyzeck is set free. The Narrator remains, still defending this Hall of Mirrors. Each viewer is expected to choose sides.

NIGHTSCAPE: Agora Intruders

The course’s goal was the conceptual understanding and formulation of design intentions towards existing spaces of the city. After wondering around Athens, we decided to negotiate the Ancient Agora’s relationship with the city and more specifically, the permeability of the boundary separating the one from the other, through notions of inverted privacy. Every archaeological site’s preservation and restoration is considered to be part of collective responsibility since places like that constitute material manifestations of national identity. Their protection however is self-evident without them being active elements in the city’s life. The Ancient Agora, like any other archaeological site is an extremely regulated place, limitations having to do with the site’s accessibility, its itinerary and entering hours, the ticket price, the restrictions and proper behavior once you are inside. The one prevailing limitation that seems to define the experience of someone approaching the Agora, is the enclosure it-

self, the very element that incorporates the site’s secession from the surrounding space and its withdrawal in some sort of suspended situation. Crossing the fence, signals one person’s arrival in a place under spatial regulation. Restricted area signs, manipulated movement through seemingly ancient pathways and a strict schedule that doesn’t allow access during the night. The city’s open spaces have always been inhabited by transgressors of all sorts. Homeless citizens, simple night strollers or people in search of sexual encounters. The type of the enclosure is always determining to what sort of transgression might be going on inside or the potentiality of encounters, since it either implies openness and permeability or suggests isolation and seclusion. Transgression is a perfectly personal act. By recommending an act of violent ownership, it produces sentiments of conquering and emotional belonging at the same time. By crossing the fence, space is suddenly made personal.

Academic project with Natasa Lekkou, NTUA Research project during “Special Topics in Architectural Space and communication: Conceptual approach of design problems”, 9th semester of undergraduate studies Tutors: Constantinos Moraitis, Stavros Stavridis, Nikolaos-Ion Terzoglou

cityspeeds

reading We started off by completing a first “reading” of the area. First we focused on the alternation of the frequencies of the city’s speeds, noises and crowd densities. Secondly, we analysed the topographic and geographic characteristics of the site, which frecuently compose clearings and spots of clear, long visions along the area.

soundscape

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glances

directing/ decision Trespassing a protected area through a hidden pass creates a distinctive relation of intimacy between the trespasser and the site. The place is experienced outside its normal regulations and gives itself to the offender as a virgin conquest. The Value of the place is being multiplied. On the one hand entering illegaly is a risk and on the other that risk is being rewarded by a unique night experience in Athensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Ancient Agora. In maintaining the personal and discrete character of a violation, we directed a procedure of scouting seven new hidden portals to the Agora, giving birth in a way to our very urban

myth.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;During night

hours nobody gives a damn about obeying the rules. â&#x20AC;?

outside We reached the perimeter of the Agora in order to detect its vulnerable zones, the most sensitive spots of the fencing, that would be ideal for our â&#x20AC;&#x153;trimmingâ&#x20AC;?. Firstly, to the spots were access is actually possible but difficult, some railings are being removed, in places which are already hidden by the vegetation and can only recognized through the

sence of touch.

Secondly, we choose a few more spots of the fencing were we are carefully replacing the metallic railings with flexible rubber manikins. Again, these can only be perceivable through touching.

ways of trespassing

find the railings that are missing. climb.

find the fake railings. hold. open. enter.

7 new portals to the Agora

look for holes behind the foliage. enter

inside We are looking forward to design an alternative guide of illegal access when the lights go out. Therefore, by this being the only way in which we are interfering to the inside of the Agora, we are designing a lighting network with the installation of small bright tiles to the ground, in a way that will soflty enlighten, but never betray, the existence of night meetings. The tiles are placed in a way that are brightening the paths towards the exits, and at the same time amplifying the atmosphere of the penumbra, pointing out small little details that are rarely being captivated by a visitor during the day.

We are facing a phenomenal situation, of an almost private and pers 100

sonal condition occurring to the very heart of a common public place. 101

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We questioned whether we should remove the entirety of the fencing, probing the Agoraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s complete permutation into common use with no limitations but such an act would only have diminished those very elements that bestowed the enclosed territory with its unique atmosphere in the first place. We chose to puzzle ourselves further. We realized that freedom is not so much a total loss of boundaries and limitations but a spectrum of possibilities in a given context. Being public property, the Agora is already in common use. The reversal we are seeking should be one of reinterpreting and overthrowing spatial meanings and significance. The Agora might be public but it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem to be authentically inhabited, its expansion of possible realities should therefore be met in a horizon of appropriation and ownership. The austere schedule of opening and closing hours is much more suffocating that the fences, as it completely abolishes the eventuality of nocturnal inhabitation. Sites like that are usually sealed early in the afternoon, to open again in the morning after they have been cleansed and made proper again. The Agora extents in a large area, full of alterations of the neighboring territories and the texture of the material boundary itself. Trespassing into such a place during late hours is almost certain. With our proposal we are simply looking forward to encouraging that minor transgression through a crossing of the boundary. After having reach to the inside, the transgressor faces a simple but spectacular design, energizing sensation, encouraging encounters and reestablishing excitement. Crossing is succeeded by wandering. There lies probably the very essence of inhabiting a place. The Agoraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interior awaits, longing to be mapped.

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thank you for your time

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