2015 in Istanbul, Prishtina, thessaloniki

ECOWEEK 2015 Projects in Istanbul, Turkey

Hosted for the first time by Yeditepe University, ECOWEEK took place for a second time in Istanbul on April 19-25, 2015, initiated and coordinated by architecture students Doga Gizem Memis and Melih Can Alan. It was hosted at the Yapi-Endustri Merkezi, Yeditepe University and Studio-X in Istanbul. Among the keynote speakers were architect Anna Heringer (Switzerland), architect Marco Navarra (Spain) and designer Elisabetta terragni (USA), and speakers and workshop leaders included landscape architect Silvia Lupini (Italy), rusen Aktas (Turkey), PAttu (Turkey), architect Johannes Peter Steidl (Liechtenstein), and architects Arman Akdogan and Alexander Sherdlov (The Netherlands) addressing diverse themes in the historic city of Istanbul.

W7: Re-cycling in Istanbul

WorKSHoP Leaders: Emanuele Marcotullio (Architect, Italy) with tutor Emre Alp Sahin (Architect, Turkey).

WorKSHoP team: Chiara Corradetti, Teresa D’Ascenzo, Federica Gattafoni, Safa Hilmi Aktas, Nazli Yilmaz, and Onur Unlu.

W7: re-cycling as a Sophisticated and uncanny Expressive research Form Based on Kadikoy Harbour, the workshop departed from the premise of Architecture as a recyclable material. Re-cycling, today, is not just an economically, politically and anthropologically correct, but also one of the most sophisticated and uncanny expressive research forms used by contemporary architects.

As the mechanism that transforms a functional reuse into a creative act, a functional device into the genesis of a multi-layered architectural work, the workshop engaged in mapping the site, and then recovered spaces by addressing overtaking city limits, ensuring different activities and experiences and creating minimum spaces for maximum city.

W9: Urban Archaeology

WorKSHoP Leaders: Arman Akdogan (Architect, IND, The Netherlands) and Alexander Sherdlov (Architect, SVESMI, The Netherlands).

WorKSHoP team: Funda Akbilek, Gozde Hammaz, Isil Ince, Merve Kirkesoglu, Zeliha Ozgecan Kucuk, and Kardelen Tekci.

W9: urban Archaeology The workshop focused on mapping the center of Goztepe, a place lacking collective plan and collective space, to reveal multiple layers of history colliding together in one space, with a bazaar, a mosque, and an abandoned train station in the center of the area. The challenge was to see urban renewal as an opportunity to produce new unexpected qualities in the urban fabric.

The workshop engaged into dialogue with the community, and heard their own opinion about keeping the memories of the place. Their strategy included revealing and bringing into play valuable historical elements, uniting smaller plots to form a more integrated vision of the area, and create new public spaces with public uses around them.

W10: Recycling Blank Façades

WorKSHoP Leaders: Akos Hutter (Architect, Hungary) and Zeynep Halu (Architect, Turkey).

WorKSHoP team: Beril Caka, Aslihan Cigerci, Bahar Dikensak, Cansu Inandim, Senem Kartal, Cemal Umut Kilic, and Nilay Ozkan.

W10: recycling Blank Facades for the Vulnerable In the urban environment, one can see some blank façades. Even though there are some attempts to enhance them, these are mostly two dimensional artistic creations. In the urban environment, once will also find vulnerable beings - cats and dogs, children, homeless people. Could these walls inhabit/host a space for these vulnerable beings and function as a shelter?

The workshop mapped the blank facades in Yeldegirmeni and identified potential users of these facades. Then proposed solutions using recycled materials.

ECOWEEK 2015 Projects in Prishtina, Kosovo

Glocal Architecture

Hosted for the second time in Prishtina, Kosovo, ECOWEEK took place on September 28 to October 3 at the Modelarium of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Prishtina ‘Hasan Prishtina’. It was organized by architect Argjira Kraniqi (ECOCIETY) and a team of dedicated volunteers. With keynote speakers and workshop leaders architect Jean robert Mazaud (SPACE, France), architect Gezim Pacarizi (Kosovo), architect Nicola delon (Encore Heureux, France), artist Miran Mohar (Slovenia), architect Artan raca (Albania), artist Margot clerc (France), architect Valentina tahirsylaj (Netherlands), architect rozafa Basha (Kosovo), architect and artist Jetik doli (Kosovo), graphic artist taulant Qerkini (Kosovo), and landscape architect despoina Kouinoglou (ECOWEEK, Greece). The workshop included a variety of sites and scales, from conceptual projects, to actual proposals for the entrance pavilion to Germia park, to hands-on interventions in the University of Prishtina campus using recycled and reclaimed materials.

W1: Design an Ecological House in Kosovo

WorKSHoP Leaders: Gezim Pacarizi (Architect, POLITBYRO, Kosovo), Brixhita deda (Architect, Kosovo), and Arnisa Kryeziu (Architect, Kosovo).

WorKSHoP team: Art Zymberi, Dren Begolli, Ibrahim Beqiri, Emira Haxhikadrija, Egzon Islami, Fjolla Januzi, Jeton Haxhimustafa, Tauran Kuqi, Korab Mahmuti, Genita Salihaj, Vlerim Sojeva, and Amir Zejnullahu.

W1: design an Ecological House in Kosovo The workshop group was assigned a specific site in Lagja e Muhaxhereve close to the center of Prishtina, Kosovo, exact programmatic requirements for the extended family of 6 and their needs, and were asked to design a house with its own identity, expressed through form and adaptation to the local context, and to take into consideration the local micro-climate and environmental conditions, and to use local materials. The students studied various scenarios, visited environmentallyconsciously designed houses and gained valuable professional experience for their future development as architects in Kosovo.

W2: Prishtina: The Poetic City

WorKSHoP Leaders: Fitore Isufi/Koja (Artist, Kosovo), Ajhan Bajmaku (Artist, Turkey), and Miran Mohar (Artist, Slovenia).

WorKSHoP team: Donat Aga, Urate Ahmetaj, Merita Asllani, Drilona Hyseni, Drita Laura Hyseni, Arta Ibrahimi, Nermina Lama, Melisa Syla, Hana Malazogu, Greta Shehu, and Zexhina Shehu.

W2: Prishtina: the Poetic city of Impossible combinations The topic of the workshop was the city of Prishtina, its urban and architectural conditions. Despite numerous problems, the workshop focused on identifying positive aspects of the process of urbanization, where many forces and interests meet in a dramatic crash.

The workshop took a pro-active approach, making the students themselves the agents of change. They determined their role through ‘activism’ in the city, by stopping traffic for several minutes in a pedestrian crossing in the center of Prishtina, experiencing an act of re-claiming public space for pedestrians, dominated today by parked cars on sidewalks and any available open space.

The workshop documented random valuable proposals, hidden by ‘chaotic ugliness’, and addressed the role of the city residents in determining the informality of architecture and the needs of the city.

W5: UP-Cycling Campus

WorKSHoP Leaders: Elias Messinas (Architect, ECOWEEK), teuta Jashari-Kajtazi (Architect, Kosovo), and Elizabeta Poljoska (Architect, FYROM).

WorKSHoP team: Dren Ahmeti, Dhurata Avdiu, Diellzë Bucaliu, Arbnore Cakaj, Vjosë Cakolli, Art Emini, Anila Ferati, Donika Hajdari, Edison Heta, Valmira Hoxha, Krejonë Kastrati, Mirlinda Maliqi, Agnesa Morina, Artan Morina, Gresa Morina, Rexhie Mushica, Edona Paçarizi, Yllka Pllana, Erza Raskova, Florian Shala, Besart Ymeri, Kaltrinë Ymeri, Blerina Zhitija, Diellzë Zogaj, and Errita Zuna,

W5: uP-cycling campus: design and Build Small Structures The workshop focused on interventions within the campus of the Faculty of Architecture, University of Prishtina. On one hand, this was a place students see every day and therefore not so likely to ‘inspire’ them; on the other hand, being a place they saw every day, they knew the place well, and were able to quickly identify its needs and to find solutions. Further, being a place they spend most of their time, they had a vested interest in making the place inviting and comfortable.

The group worked together to generate ideas and to find design solutions for each one of the chosen locations in the campus. Then the group split into sub-groups, went out to find materials, and each started constructing a different location: a bicycle parking – made of used tires, a get-together swing - made of empty crates, paths – made of bottles and salvaged wood, and an outdoor seating area made of salvaged wooden pallets, re-used tires and shading – made of chains and string.

Upon completion of their separate tasks, the group merged again to enjoy the new installations, as university workers and students from the adjacent public school joined them in sitting and socializing – at last – outdoors on a sunny October day.

ECOWEEK 2015 Projects in Thessaloniki, Greece

Sustainability in Public Space

After a long break, ECOWEEK took place again in Thessaloniki, Greece on November 1-7, initiated and coordinated by landscape architecture graduate student Despoina Kouinoglou, and made possible thanks to a team of dedicated volunteers. ECOWEEK was hosted at AKTO Art and Design College and took place under the auspices of the City of Thessaloniki, TEE-TKM and AUTH Architecture Department. Keynote speakers and workshop leaders included architect Einar Jarmund (Norway), architects Michiel Smits and Gie Steenput (Netherlands), architect thomas Kauertz and engineer Anja Markwart (Germany), award-winning architects Prodromos Nikiforidis and Bernard cuomo (Greece), architect Johannes Peter Steidl (Lichtenstein/Germany), Martijn Schildkamp (Netherlands), landscape architect Natalia Pantelidou (Greece/Denmark), urban Soul Project, ubuPlan, KArd, and SPArcH (Greece). The week opened with a sketching session and tour of the city coordinated by ECOWEEK Chairman architect Elias Messinas. The workshops addressed the design upgrade of a public school, urban planning, construction with newspapers and wood, developing a new product based on nanotechnology, hands-on workshops using recycled and reclaimed materials, and addressing the needs of refugee camps and homeless people.

W1: Wood

WorKSHoP Leaders: Einar Jarmund (Architect, Norway).

WorKSHoP team: TRANSPARENT VIEWS: Federico Magenes, Mado Milosi, and Kyriakos Papadopoulos; TREE PAVILION: Panagoula Beltsou, Angeliki Chalkia, and Anastasia Papathoma; URBAN CORRIDOR: Margarita Kyanidou and Antonis Sontras; MOVEMENT: Panayiota Kyriakou and Christina Skitsa; and WAVE FRAME: Kai Kattge, Eirini Koutsoumani, and Danae Petrou.

W1: Wood: urban corridor A small wooden pavilion in Aristotelous square by the sea front, in the form of an urban corridor. The pavilion is a simple gesture that defines movement in the space of the square, and provides three simple qualities: rest, view and protection from the sun. The form is a poetic reminder of motion, change, a reminder of the waves of the sea.

W9: The Art of Upcycling

WorKSHoP Leaders: Martijn Schildkamp (Smart Shelter Research, Netherlands)

WorKSHoP team: PAPER TUBES: Manos Bestas, Aristeidis Moutafidis, and Robert Piecha; FISHING NETS: Theodora Papidi, Alexandra Sounidi, and Carola Wageringel; CARDBOARD: Stephanie Franke, Janina von Korff, and Elisavet Parisi; COFEE LIDS: Ioanna Moysidou and Aikaterini Georgia Touska; PLASTIC BAGS: Alexandra Dima and Artemis Kyriakou; BOTTLE CAPS: Eleftheria Porfyriadi and Konstatinos Tzerniadakis; FOOD STICKS: Rafaela Logkari, Christos Trompoukis, and Flora Maria Vletsi.

W9: the Art of upcycling: Making Art, Products and Structures with Waste Materials The workshop explored the possibilities of reusing banal materials which we usually disregard after a brief use. The group split into sub-groups, each one focusing on a different material. The aim was to make a usable product, to build an arch or a tower, but not use any glue and tape.

W11: Discovering the Unknown City

WorKSHoP Leaders: Anastasia Papadopoulou and Vanessa tsakalidou (40.22 Architects, Greece) with the collaboration of Pantelis Petridis (Architect, Greece) and Georgios Vlachodimos (assistant).

WorKSHoP team: Eleni Antoniadou, Athina Athiana, Maria-Eleni Karavioti, Lydia Kontozoglou, Maria Papakostantinou, Georgia Petri, Martha Seitanidou, Areti Tsagkouri, Anastasia Voutsa, and Christina Zafiriou-Hatzikiriakou.

W11: discovering the unknown city: Akalyptos at Ippodromiou Street Akalyptos in Greek means the space which remains unbuilt in a building plot. It has an irregular shape, has no access to the city or the surrounding properties, and as a result it assumes no particular use.

The workshop focused on the historic context of Thessaloniki, at Ippodromiou street, an area of mainly residential buildings, with shops at street level.

The akalyptos chosed is a linear space with a central core and two secondary areas on either side. It has two possible entries from Ippodromiou street and two possible access points at two churches, St. Antonios and St. Konstantinos, at the edges. The site lies neglected with garbage and wild vegetation.

The proposal was to transform the akalyptos into a small park, with flexible uses, eco-friendly materials, such as wood, gravel, soil for the common spaces, and reclaimed metal meshes, and vegetation - trees, bushes and mosses (ailanthus altissima, cercis siliquastrum, buxus sempervirens, mahonia aquifolium, delphinium ajacis, and portulaca grandiflora).