Dimitris Panayotopoulos - architecture & urban planning student -
HI!
I am a 22 years old architecture student from the UniversitÊ Libre de Bruxelles. Greek but born in Belgium, I was lucky to grow up in Brussels, where I experienced very early various multicultural environments. At the moment, in the first year of the Master’s degree, I pursue my studies here in Japan, where I am on exchange for one year in the Architecture Department of the Tohoku University. Before graduating, I had the luck to work for one year as an intern with ICI Architectes, an office whose works, remotedly contemporary and concerned by sustainable development had a big impact on my way of thinking. Being part of a family more than a team, I got introduced to a forward-looking architectural thought and learned to be autonomous both in time planning and thinking of the project. During the later years of my studies, my interest has grown towards urban planning. I believe that with the pace our cities evolve and spread, a broader thinking concerning the larger scale must take place. We came to believe that living in our polluted cities is not bothersome and we forgot how relieving the wild environment can be. I see urban planning as a means to recover the once existing bond between the human and nature. I like to look at architecture with a critical eye. Questioning the why, and always trying to find an underlying purpose. I believe that architecture is not only form, but also functionality and art. An art on the largest possible scale. A discipline furiously jumping from concrete materiality to abstract conception and back. This uncertainty is what keeps me going and wanting for more. I like to explore the limits and I am a big believer of the fact that you have to aim high to end up even higher. I am fluently working in English, Greek and French. Hoping to be able to do the same in Japanese in the near future, I’m currently walking the path of learning the language. Concerning architecture and urban planning, my strengths reside in conception but also production. Models and drawings, digital or hand-drawn, are for me the best tools to express myself and my work. Believing that happiness is also found in the smaller scale, I am also interested in other creative fields such as industrial and graphic design and have a passion for photography.
architecture
urban design
urban pl anning
conceptual
photogr aphy
2 012
along the canal living in bet ween
2 013
urban seed
when architecture becomes cit y
undefined sceneries
green touch model hope for communit y
2 014 urban pelago
below zero
academic
along the canal living in between when architecture becomes city urbanpelago
shell bloc - along the canal -
This project is twofold. First came the drawing up of a master plan, which was then used to design a collective housing project. The project takes place in a diverse place in Brussels. The site consists of an incomplete urban lot, a wasteland with great potential, the canal, and a road that creates a rupture in space. Our response is to mend the urban fabric with a housing bloc, convert the wasteland into a park and create a mineral public space that stretches to the banks of the canal and creates a continuity in the landscape.
buildings
vegetation
public sapce
activities
social
trees
routes
water
shell bloc - living in between -
The bloc, in this case, is an in-between, both a physical boundary between private and public space, and a symbolic link between community and individualism. It takes the form of a rigorous system, of a machine making the transition between components of urban life. 40 dwellings based on six different typologies are organized on a calculated grid of 90cm x 90cm. More than 16 different housing plans, are offered wich, through the concept of the “+ ROOM� multiply and to stand out towards a mix of cultures and social statuses maximum. This building can be seen as an attempt at a synthesis between individual and collective housing where the first door you open is home.
GENAPPE - when architecture becomes cit y -
The theme of the project being, “How housing can consolidate, urban territory and landscape� of the city, Genappe, the proposal is based on the historical heritage that is the city. The intervention consists of a linear element based on visual and physical sequences that connect North and South zones while structuring the intermidiate space. It is an ever changing organism which emphasizes the attributes of the surrounding area and possesses different characters to blend with the context. To strengthen this process of linearity, an urbanistic rule, to build within a 15m wide speculative bar, has been imposed. There were then defined several different morphological parts. Finally, the linearity implied endings which were treated not as ends but as attachment points that suggest a potential of future development.
3
1
2
4
1 new ecodistrict
2 individual housing
3 marshland housing
4 revitalised market
YIl an, taiwan - urbanpelago -
We think our project as a model that could expand throughout RURAL YILAN. The current development is made along the roads and main axis, leaving big empty areas that create big disparities among Yilan. We would like to think of a smoother way to urbanise the territory. We see each distort as a self sufficient node from which a smoother urbanisation can take start. Also, we consider those districts as larger areas of intervention. That said, these areas are not perceived as high density areas. They are composed of course of buildings but include also public space and agriculture areas. It is important to use to raise the agriculture question. We want to preserve as much as possible the existing landscape and farming activity of the area. We based our work on the topography of the site. Yilan is an area of heavy rainfall and the topography plays a big role in the water management. By creating new retention areas inside each district we are able to control the flood and avoid the high concentration on the lower levels of the site.
landscape change
RECREATION & AGRICULTURE
POTTAGER RESIDENT
COMMON KITCHEN
RICE
EXCHANGE SERVICE
EXCHANGE PRODUCT
COMMON KITCHEN
VEGETABLE
IRRIGATION
cation du lE
Ec
tem ys os
OUTSIDER
Environmen ta
Outsider
Ecotope
DISTRICT PRODUCTION
Yilan
New Districts
agriculture
re, Landsc ap ctu e ite
EDUCATION FACILITY
YILAN PRODUCTION
exchange
education
Ar ch
RESIDENT
water
competitions workshops
europan 12 - urban seed the green touch model keikankaika X: hope for community
europan12: ciney - urban seed -
It is commonly admitted that an ecologically sustainable land management has to combine the 4 P’s : People/Planet/Prosperity/Participatory governance, while thinking the scales on a “glocal” base (think global, act local). It is then essential for it to insert Time, a parameter that provides and imposes a serie of returns to the initial programation. Nature is thus an essential and strategic founding principle of sustainable land management. Our approach was to create a “protected natural area” integrating the green and blue network of Ciney’s region. In order to promote multimodal transport we focused on planning the station’s surroundings. The Edge Buildings along the railroad tracks offer modularity thanks to their structure and dimensions that allow many allocations. It is thus possible to plan a function mixity by buildings, by storeys or within it. The number of storeys of the late, increase as we approach the city. The Prairie Houses are built on stilts to preserve the continuity of the vegetation and its biodiversity throughout the site. The buildings allow combinations of modules that match the user’s needs.
NEEDS
PRODUCTION
rchasing pu
wind turbine
grou p
EPB
ng
CONSOMMATION
on
situ
fer t
er ilis
RENEWABLE PRODUCTION
n
loc a
land s
pe ca
oduction pr i
carsharing
entral sort i lc
co
t pos m
sustainable transport
solar energy
TRANSFORMATION
heat pump
foo d
en e
y producti rg
cogeneration
fo
od
CONSOMMATION
NEIGHBOURHOOD
water recovery « le Leignon »
tank
community recovery
individual recovery
sewer
TOWN
DESTINATION
participation cohesion
Quality
Climbing area
Sufficiency
Seat
Shaded area
LEISURE
Reuse
integration
Percolation
Planter
Hammock
LEISURE
REST
MOBILITY
INFORMATION
INFORMATION
MOBILITY
Bike storage
Neighbourhood information
Signage
Access area
REGION
Ecosystem information
Wi-fi Area
Picnic table
LEISURE
INFORMATION
REST High seat
MOBILITY Deckchair
Skate park
shanghai, china - green touch model -
The Green Touch Model (GTM) is a process model for thinking and designing street space in urban China. It engages the existing city and aims to balance the urban environment, nature and people through strategic investments and interventions. The Lujiazui area, Shanghai, was selected as the pilot district for The GTM, because life there goes around commerce, business and out-of-human-scale buildings. The proposal aims to create new kind of a public space. To do so, the current state of affairs must change into one that takes into account the flow of people and their needs. The GTM creates and sustains street life by making the street space more appealing. It is necessary to connect all the green areas that already exist in the neighbourhood and at the same time create new ones. It combines the traditional planning as for the construction phase with the planning of actual street use and street life. The point of the emphasis of Green Touch Model will develop over the years and will vary from area to area. The idea and basic concept of the model is thought in a way that can be used in the future in various places in urban China.
ishinomaki, japan - hope for communit y -
The Hope For Community Project is an approach to rethink the disaster facilities in Japan. It proposes a unified and unifying intervention among the core of the urban space, taking into consideration the living organism that is the city, its citizens and their needs. The place of work is Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, devastated by the 2013 tsunamu needs an imminent response. The site selected is not single, the project takes place among the streets of Ishinomaki. It seemed logical not to create one facility but to dispatch it though out the city. A network, extends from the railway station to the sea front. The centre takes the form of four, smaller scale, buildings that echo and blend with the existing urbanisation. By this means it also becomes easier to help the different affected zones. Four sites were selected, taking as condition that the proposal must blending together education and prevention. The key appeared instantly: School’s surroundings. Indeed: Each module includes, shelter, seminar and conference rooms, emergency communication room, the proper administration spaces, parking and “multiuse� rooms. The proposal aims to respond to those challenges by connecting people and places thus becoming part of everyday life.
1
1
2
Located near the city centre and an elementary school, this building should refer to the historical memory of Ishinomaki. It should be inspired by the so called “fishermen’s housing” built on multiple levels. It will provide an open space on the ground floor in order to host outdoor events such as local markets, animations etc. hosted by the residents. It will also provide additional indoors space for a play-room in order to give the kids a place to attend to multiple happenings.
Built on a large site now dedicated only to parking, this module is situated near 2 Jr. High Schools and 1 High School. Therefore, it will be the larger of the four, containing a library, a café and parking space. This building can be seen as an impenetrable structure that holds the most important thing: knowledge thus, it should adopt a monolithical morphology with some well thought openings to create intimate and calm spaces.
This way, will be created a place where people could even “drop in” for 10 minutes generating interaction and ex-
As an added value, the café will animate a neighbourhood that is for now in lack of public attractions (coffee shops, restaurants…).
change within different age groups of the community.
2 3
4
3
4
Integrated into a cosy area among residences and narrow streets, this building will blend completely with its surroundings. It will be a low-rise structure perhaps only one level, that will host among the other functions, a simulation room in order to make available the latest learning technology about disaster prevention. Its site is in front of a High-School making it a perfect location for an educational facility of this kind.
Completely immersed in a green park, this site is the nearest to Hiyori Yama hill and thus to the greatest view spot of Ishinomaki. It is difficult then to imagine there something else than a harmonic combination of disaster management and culture. This last edifice will need to be thought as a tree house.
The building should relate by its morphology as well by its function to the everyday lives of the people.
NATURAL AREA
INTERVENTION AREA
NETWORK
1
MAJOR HUB / FACILITY
EXISTING KEY BUILDING
INTERMEDIATE HUB
MEMORIAL PARK
END HUB
Held in levitation, it releases the ground level from any heavy intervention, making it possible to hold different kind of exhibitions and events. Due to the topography, this can be interpreted as a public platform, a “plaza” from where a path begins towards the Memorial Park and the actual city of Ishinomaki.
Dubai energy forum - below zero -
“below 0”, a building as much as a statement, embraces Dubai’s current path to a more sustainable future. In one of the most diverse cities on earth, qualitative public space is heavily missing, while highways are dominating the urban space. Combining architecture and landscape, the design aims to create an attractive public space for anyone. Rooted in the people’s habits, it proposes an area of transition where lucky encounters are encouraged. Indeed, at the core of the forum, the central plaza, links the program together and as an open space, gives the opportunity for a variety of events to see light. Acting as a “platform of knowledge”, generous windows provide a glimpse into the conference rooms sending a message of belonging regarding the active change Dubai is undertaking. Finally, the project connects to the bus station all the major attractions of the area, and keeps out of sight the cars in its two story-basement, poetically converting driving into walking and cycling. Putting the individual on the same balance as the global could be one of the paths to a better future. One of the paths Dubai might start to walk on.
models
selected works
models - a students hell and heaven -
The model is the best way for an architecture student to have a complete vision of his design. It is also the only three-dimensional physical representation he can have of the final project. This is the reason why building a final model must be one of the Architect’s main concerns. It constitutes both the outcome of one’s work and the best way to debate on it.
photography
undefined sceneries
photography - undefined sceneries -
The cities are filled. they overflow. they hardly ever sleep. and still.. We believe we know everything about them. that they belong to us. just because we in some way built them. and still.. So many corners contain their mysteries. their stories. their people. and still.. We ignore them. all of them. we fear them. probably because we don’t take time to get to know them. we reject them. and still.. If you just look a bit closer. just a bit. not much. with a bit more focus. something might pop. something. perhaps. we’ll see.
“Architecture was a means of survival that humanity had sought, it was a means of expressing the fundamental research of happiness” Aldo Rossi - A Scientific Autobiography.
d.panayotopoulos@gmail.com jp.linkedin.com/in/dpana +81 (0) 90 9425 5962 (mobile)