CULTURAL HUB at the Port of Patras

Democritus University of Thrace • School of Engineering • Department of Architecture

CULTURAL HUB for Design, Upcycling Practices and Product Exchange at the Port of Patras Loukas Protopapas | Marietta Spyrou | Konstantinos Tsimpouris supervisors: P. Kokkoris G. Patrikios G. Papagiannopoulos advisor: K. Keventsides

intro This project presents an architectural design for a centre for recycling, reuse, exchange and/or trading of objects, while re-claiming a wide expanse of the old, and now abandoned, port of the city of Patras.

Modern practices worldwide favour the reduction, reuse and recycling of mass-produced items, and have given rise to the term “upcycling”, used to refer to the creative transformation of damaged objects that often find their way to exchange markets. The current socio-economic situation in Greece, in particular, has encouraged professionals from different occupational backgrounds to collaborate in order to respond to current financial difficulties and to fulfil multi-faceted public needs. In this sense, this is an adaptive reuse project that concerns the city of Patras, but opens out to wider urban design issues considered within their social and political context.

The port of Patras has always been a significant commercial and touristic hub. The recent relocation of the port further north the coastline of the city has left the remaining facilities in decay, opening up the possibility for the re-use of the docks and the re-activation the old port as an urban space for the citizens of Patras.

The fact that there is an on-going discussion amongst politicians about part of the docks returning to the ownership of the Municipality of Patras, instead of the Port Authority where it now belongs, raises the stakes in designing a desirable public space, which citizens will embrace and care for. Following our examination of the urban environment of the site, we choose to focus on the Gounaris Dock, where the abandoned building of the old Port Authority is located. This particular building is the result of an architectural competition that ran during the mid-70s and is designed by the well-known architect Aleksandros Siriopoulos. We therefore view this building as a built shelter worth preserving and we have tried to re-vitalize it under the use described above.

Aiming to embed the dock back onto the urban web, we have considered the existing building as a public, un-blocked, two-way “filter” which restores not only the mass-movement from the city towards the sea front, but also the view to the sea and the horizon. We have formulated the dock area as a quiet, walking path running parallel to the coastline and surrounding a square in the center of the dock, in front of the old rear view of the building, which now becomes the dominant façade. This path also opens to two-way passages that serve additional functions of the building and lead to the open-air market. The steel add-on that we propose is intended to converse with the existing building in a way that preserves the latter’s unique architectural character. At the connection point between the building and the proposed structure we have placed open-air ramps that improve movement inside the building and provide an elegant solution for the interaction between the two structures. Finally, the open-air market at the end of the dock consists of semipermanent, folding kiosks that “slide” on gutters dividing the dock's surface.

The proposed built environment includes a space for designing, crafting and repairing old objects [design offices, work stations, a large warehouse], to be marketed via an exchange trade policy. This space is supported by secondary functions, mostly commercial [i.e. small shops, open-air market, thrift shop], educational [i.e. public classrooms and halls owned and managed by the Municipality of Patras, public library and reading room] and recreational [exhibition space, food hall, small cafés].

Overall then, the project proposes the application of handicraft methods and practices involving secondary and tertiary factors of production as a contemporary professional habitat. Most importantly, it capitalizes on the social movement of reduce/reuse/recycle/upcycle as an essential organizing principle of architectural design aiming to reclaim urban voids and non-places.

plan A: MAINTENANCE

i] maintenance ii] available by cash/ exchange/point-system

ARCHITECTURAL PROGRAMME

plan C: NEW PRODUCT

i] design ii] search for materials iii] production iv] available by cash/ exchange/point-system

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plan B: RE/UP-CYCLE

i] disassembly ii] reuse and recycle

i] disassembly ii] upcycle

iii] available by cash/ exchange/point-system

iii] available by cash/ exchange/point-system

[craftsmen]

[craftsmen+designers]

AN ALY SIS prevailing urban uses

landmarks

current urban sectors of the sea front sorted by prevailing uses and character

abandoned buildings worth re-using

MARINA

bars/cafĂŠ

NORTH SECTOR OF THE OLD PORT train station public services restaurants

SOUTH SECTOR OF THE OLD PORT FISH MARKET

PARK PORT

primary street network ringroad railway squares and parks

the "border" dividing the city and the sea front

proposed allocation of urban sectors and uses of the sea front MARINA, URBAN AMENITIES marina, entertainment & sports facilities, parking space PORT AUTHORITIES administration and port services URBAN AMENITIES recreation, culture, commerce, parking space FISH MARKET fish market, recreation LIGHTHOUSE, PARK, PUBLIC POOL recreation, sports, parking space NEW PORT

bicycle lane tram lane proposed underground train route reclaiming of former Port Facilities by the Municipality of Patras squares and parks

preserved buildings on the sea front D. Gounari boulevard

diagramme of proposed bicycle, street, tram and pedestrian lanes at the sea front

PORT AUTHORITIES BUILDING

Alexandros Siriopoulos, 1977

isometric development depicting the stairs and elevators distribution inside the building

STUDIO TIME

researching the relations between different areas of the dock

view | clear horizon

the building VS the dock

project purposes:

χα ρά

ξε ις

- reclaiming public space - clear design axes - view | relation to the sea - adaptive reuse of the existing building

the point where the old building meets the new structure

MASTERPLAN

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mod

:500

LE 1 , SCA

representative sections depicting the proposed transport regulations

PLANS

ground floor plan, level + 0.70

front view [parallel to the building]

side view [parallel to the extension]

section parallel to the extension

floor plan level +8.50

west facade

section parallel to the building

floor plan level +11.50

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sin

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f th

om ec

tr

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o vel

e ic d

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the extension

open-air market

persective section at the point where the old building meets the new structure

mobile, folding bench for oper-air market needs

view of the open-air market

MODEL SCALE 1:200

RENDERED IMAGES

XANTHI 2015