Thesis title: Through means ( “Δια- μέσου”) Suburban reformation in Milies, Pelion Aristotel University of Thessaloniki, A.U.TH. Department of Architecture Date: Thirsday 1 July 2010 Student Team: Stella Papazoglou, Marianna Kazakou Tutor: Vana Tentokali
CONTENTS
Introduction
pp. 7-15
Methodology/ Concept
pp. 17-21
Site analysis/ Context
pp. 23-29
“Activation”
pp. 31-37
Results
pp 39-55
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Introduction
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1. GENERAL INFO ABOUT MOUNT PELION
According to geologists, it was about one hundred and forty million years ago, when earth had the shape of a very big sea. At that point the Pelagoniki mountain chain appeared through the water. It was a narrow pass of land which started from south Macedonia, crossed mount Olympus, Ossa and Pelion and ended in south Evoia. Himalaya, Alps, Pyrenees and mount chain of Pindos emerged a hundred and fifteen million years later. The story of Pelion is rich, the folk muse since the ancient years shaped traditions and legends. The older inhabitants were the Kentauroi, the Lapithes and the Magnites. Kentauros Hiron was living on the highest hilltop and he was fed with lion’s flesh. During the giant’s battle, the giants tried to subtract Pelion and locate it over Ossa so that they could reach the height of mount Olympus and dethrone the Olympian Gods. On the hilltop, Pileas and Thetidas wedding took place and using the mountain’s timber, the famous “Argo” was built. Pelion was mainly known for its medicine and the Kentaurous. Medicine was mainly evolved due the great variety of special herbs in the region. Kentauroi, even up to now, remain in confusion, mixed in between legends, myths and history. Mythology says that they were creatures, half horse, half men. According to Isiodos and Pindaros, Asklipios origin was Lakereia, south of Pelion. Asklipios was brought up in Pelion by the kentauros Hironas and was taught the cure for all wounds either through herbs, special prescriptions or surgery. His name, Asklipios, derives from the Greek word “ασκελής” (askelis) which means tough and gentle at the same time because he made human pain mild. Due to the fact that Asklipios used for his treatments a huge variety of herbs and roots he was himself considered to be the representative of the healing forces of nature. During the expedition of Troia, the inhabitants of Pelion took part with Filoktitis, Eumilos and Prothoos. Later, in the Byzantine period, there were not many important political events reported. At the golf of Pagasitikos there was the city of Dimitrias and since the 13th century the Lexonia. At the west part the town Zagora was built and during the last Byzantine period Laukos is mentioned. The whole region of Thessaly met invasions of many people, Gotthoi, Slavoi and during the 10th century Vlahoi. The Fragkoi merchants were the ones to close the special agreement so that they could have international commercial exchanges. The 13th and 14th century were considered the robbery period from Sarakinous, Catalans and Albanians. In 1453 the region became occupied by the Turks and since then the villages of Pelion were created and started evolving. On the maps of the Middle Ages the monasteries of the area are spotted. Those monasteries functioned as the residential cores of the most important villages. Due to the fact that they provided considerable protection and independency they gradually gathered fugitives from the rest of Thessaly, Evoia and Aegean islands. So, the tower houses with the special local features of Pelion started being built around each monastery. In the beginning of 17th century many settlements were formed, and those settlements slowly evolved into today’s 24 villages of Pelion. During the 18th and 19th century they were given many privileges by the Turks and as a result they established an important financial and cultural activity. Fourteen of those villages were named “vakoufia” which means that they were devoted to charitable institutions and the rest of them “hasia” meaning the Sultans property. Makrinitsa, Drakia, Ag. Laurentios, Karampasi, Pinakates, Vyzitsa, Argalasti, Sykia, Laukos, Promyri, Anilio, Kissos, Mouresi and Makrirahi are considered to be “vakoufia” while Zagora, upper Volos, Portaria, Katihori, Milies, Neohori and Tsagkarada, “hasia”. During the revolution of 1821, one of the principals was Anthimos Gazis who was a pastor and an academic from Milies. The fact that the revolution didn’t occur in favor of the great interests of the conquers of the region led to a big bloodshed. The 1854 movement did not succeed but in 1878 after great battles and the English intervention the Berlin congress took place in which, Thessaly and part of Hpeiros became free. The annexation took place in August of 1881. Today, most of the villages in Pelion and the greater region of Magnesia, retain the same toponomy, sustaining this way their strong Greek identity. Pelion in particular has shaped its own multidimensional personality which is a combination of a rare primitive strength in the forces of nature and a gentle and fruitful character. Those characteristics along with its ancient history form this unique aura Pelion has and is considered unfeasible in the contemporary life: it simply makes time move slower. Actually it is quite unique place, which for decades has been the secret and favorite place for the few Greeks and foreigners, who have had the chance to discover it and be charmed in such a degree that they keep coming over and over again.
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THE TRAIN OF PELION The train of Pelion started being constructed in 1894 and the first part of the line between Volos and Ano Lehonia (12 kilometers length) operated in 1895. The year 1903 the whole line was finished and its total length reached 16 kilometers, having as the last stop the village Milies. The legendary train functioned for seventy six years (1895-1971) transferring people and goods and it had a decisive role in the rapid development of the city and the region in total. The car becoming familiar as a means of transport, the train became gradually forgotten until finally in June 1971 it was abolished as unprofitable. The train stopped for twenty five years. During this period a group of people opposing this act, created a group called “The train’s friends”. This group in collaboration with the department of culture, succeeded in marking the train as a traditional landmark and part of the cultural heritage. In 1996 the train starts again part of its route, Ano Lexonia- Milies. The train is now considered to be a museum touristic piece, using the old coaches and two of the steamer engines called “Milies” and “Iason” that were preserved. Those engines even though they had been repaired, they still had functioning problems. As a result in February 2000 the department of transportation initiated two new diesel engines of the power of 22hp, having as a goal to make the train more reliable in terms of routes and quality of transportation. Evaristo de Chirico, was the constructor of the train line with the support of the corporation Rail routes of Thessaly. Evaristo was an Italian mechanic and the father of the famous Giorgio de Chirico. He used all his imagination and knowledge so to build in between the olive groves of the mountain and the hills one of the more beautiful rail lines of the world, having the width of 60 centimeters. The first part of the construction of the route Volos- Ano Lehonia had no difficulties. Very important works are the two bridges of Anauros and Vryxona. The bridge of Vryxona to be exact was the very first in Greece to be built with reinforced concrete. On the contrary, the second part, Ano Lexonia- Milies was a quite difficult and expensive work. Seven stone and one metal bridge, two tunnels, five stone inclined passages, seventy eight gutters and many supporting walls were constructed. Identical and impressive is the five arched stone bridge as well as the metal bridge right before reaching the station of Milies. In the wide connected arch of the only metal bridge of the flow of Taksiarxis, that is also called flow of “de Chirico” to owner the mechanic’s incredible and rare work, the lines graph a curve over the straight medium. The train now begins its trip from the station of Ano Lexonia. It used to be the only steamer train in Greece. After having its engines replaced to diesel ones, the train has been updated and adapted the contemporary needs. This evolution was very considerate to the aesthetics of the shape of the train so that today’s traveller can enjoy and admire not only the spectacular view but also the elegant technical works realizing the attention and elegance those technicians worked with so to achieve a successful relation with the environment.
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Concept
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2. GENERAL PROJECT DESCRIPTION The subject of our thesis is an intervention in the region of this old railway station in Milies, and the connection of this region with the village. The journey with the famous «train of Pelion» on the one hand and the site itself, the mountain as landscape, as nature, as myth, were the starting points of our project. We studied the conditions between the route and the stops and the relations in-between them. At this time the train is available mainly in summer and functions only as a site sign for tourists and other visitors. An existing research conducted by «GAIA OSE» proposes the re-operation of the train as means of transport with more frequent itineraries and cheaper ticket prices. Coming from the village someone can reach the terminal station of Milies, either by the motorway or by a small stiff path. Intending to create a stronger motivation for the visitor to choose the train over the car, we decided to create a more complex pedestrian connection between the station and the settlement, continuing the journey for the pedestrian giving the visitor the chance to experience the space in different ways. Added to this, we took into consideration the overall tendency of Pelion to cultural activities (music-village in Agios-Laurentios, the abbey of Paou in Argalasti, the potery workshops in Milies, etc).
3. DATA From the villages of the west Pelion, we studied those that follow the railway line and also those in a small distance with them, also connected with paths: Ano Lexonia, Gatzea, Milies and also Saint Lavrentios, Vyzitsa, Pinakates. Pelion villages do not come from a specific urban planning, they are more like a living organism with operating and aesthetic spontaneity. Pelion villages have emerged from a combination of circulatory needs, orientation, topology, allocation of natural goods and financial and social contacts. Villages’ origin from abbeys, from smaller settlements, or from migrations due to safety reasons. There are three types of villages, from an urban planning point of view: the simple one, with a center, usually a square, and the residences around it; the complex one, with four cells in almost linear position and a separate social center for each one; and finally, the seaports that serve sea transportation needs for highland settlements. After studying these settlements, we focused on Milies, and the region between the railway station and the village.
4. METHODOLOGY +CONCEPT The approach we used so to find our work tools started as a quick initial record of the train route with different representation means all concluding to the same result or all trying to communicate the same thing. We made a model, a design and text and then we attempted to deconstruct them so to decode the way we, ourselves used to compose them. From our model, we detected ribbons of the same thickness, that curve once or more and in some cases they turn. They do not intersect one another and they do not adjoin since each of them move on different levels (and have different heights). At some points they are parallel to each other and at some others they cross, as a result they either have parallel or section relations. Their in between space, meaning the voids between the ribbons, vary in shape and size. They can either be long linear surfaces, medium sized triangles or even ellipsoid in considerably larger sizes. The linear voids are mainly spotted in between the object and its reflection (meaning in heterogeneous elements) while in some cases those two adjoin or intersect without leaving any in between space. The larger ellipsoid voids are mainly spotted either in between the original objects or in between their reflections, meaning in uniform elements.
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κατασκευασμένο κείμενο αυτόματης γραφής
model’s parts/ topview
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model’s parts/ front view
model’s evolution/ long sections
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Site analysis/ context
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5. SITE ANALYSIS/ CONTEXT The next step was to study the place. According to our previous attempt, we recorded the networks found in the region, streets, passages, rivers and streams, since we wanted to create an abstract network record of the area (so the result was a shape which includes the built environment of the settlement and takes its dimensions and direction from it). Afterwards, having the intention to introduce the third dimension in our approach, we attempted to represent those networks through movement. In this direction, we used the Hungarian’s artist Victor’s Vasareli’s norm. He imprinted crooked or curved flows through movement, creating this way the illusion of height or depth. The result of this experiment in our case is a particular implicit terrain. Next we wanted to see the place in detail, so we focused on a certain village. We still tried to use Vasareli’s technique of grid to understand the different relations that occur in the settlement. So we represented it through the different grids that derive from its built mass. We spotted four normal orthogonal grids of different directions in the region, with two of them being the dominant ones. In our study, the street network functions as a footprint so that we can record the settlement into smaller subdivisions of built mass. The shapes included in the street footprint are irregular due to the terrain. In every subdivision of the settlement we came across two or three different grids, it was never just one and never more than three. So, at this point we realized there is a strong core in the settlement, since as approaching the center of it, the grid becomes denser and particularly from both sides of its main street axis, who can be considered to be the bone of the whole settlement. The terrain was obviously a quite important factor in the settlement’s evolution so we wanted to see the gradual development of the built mass accordingly to the terrain. Apparently, the built mass mainly follows the ground’s curves but of course there are also certain exceptions. This means that the sequential direction changes of the terrain conclude to sequential alteration of the built mass evolution. The central ground curve, which comes across the center of the settlement and develops almost parallel to the main road axis, is the one that marks the greater variety in terms of directions, which again justifies the complexity of the grid in the settlement’s central zone. In a similar way, we studied two areas of train terminals, meaning we studied a smaller scale. Even in this case we observed three or four different girds in the place, congener to the settlement’s subdivisions. In the terminal’s case, the bone and central axis is the train line, which of course is subdued to the terrain. This combination of grids constituted for us a nexus that rules the area and will become the foundation in which our methodological tool will be based upon, in other words the context with which it will interact to produce new shapes. Victor’s Vasarely’s studies and particularly the way in which he used the grid gave us another perspective in the way we could analyze the site, meaning the mass, voids and topography of the area. As a result we marked a void network, a series of foldings and a grid system.
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Victor Vasarely’s works
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site analysis using Victor Vasarely’s norm
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terminal site analysis
site analysis of the in between area
“Activation”
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6. “ACTIVATION� (design process) The three systems above constituted our design tools. We used the void networks by projecting them to the site and then re-allocate them to the terminal area based on uses (entrancesexits, ground qualities, pedestrian movement, and train path). Those networks functioned as the guides for our second tool, the folding. Our aim was to create a new terrain through them, a sculpture landscape, which would be almost completely accessible and passable and could function regardless of the routes that we were about to design on the landscape. Finally, the grid constitutes the footprint on which we were going to place our built interventions, meaning ramps or stairs and some small buildings. The next phase was to reach a smaller scale and resolve the relation between the pedestrian and both the train route and terminal as well as the adjustment settlement. To do so, we decided to create an imaginable continuity of the train route for the pedestrian. As a result we studied the spatial scenes one can came across during this train route and we translated them into spatial qualities of our interventions, turning this way the terminal to a takeoff spot of a new pedestrian
the grid in three dimensions
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experimenting with our new sculptural landscape, the routes and the built environment
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studies of the different spatial conditions we come across during the train route
work tools
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Results
39
the imprint of our intervention
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7. RESULTS We created parallel route lines and friezes based on the landscape’s foldings and also one almost vertical to them ascension path with ramps and stairs using the grid’s footprints. The overall movement we wanted to succeed is basically immiscible and we also wanted both the systems above to be in a direct relation. The route also continues through the buildings which complete the narrative in an alternation of mass and void, each of them with a different thematic regarding the existing and evolving cultural activity of the place. Considering the complexity of the different readings of a route, our proposal gives a series of alternative transition ways, so everyone can choose his own path. The visitor has the chance to decide the way he wants to meet this spatial experience. He can choose from a direct accession or cathode, to the participation to the periodical activities of the site or attendance to local exhibitions. So, having the historian’s train route as a starting point, we created a spatial experience alteration, aiming to re-define the relation between the terminal and the settlement as well as the train route itself.
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masterplan
mass and void diagrams/ buildings
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floorplans and selected sections of the buildings
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renderings of our interventions
thesis presentation/ July 2010