- INITIAL THOUGHTS AND EXPERIMENTATIONS -

- INITIAL THOUGHTS AND EXPERIMENTATIONS - The founding of Universities in the city of Volos, caused an urgent need for the erection of college student residences. The striking majority of the submitted proposals, suggests that a huge edifice should be built on the border of the city’s main core. In such a case, in order to avoid the isolation of the college students, an attempt should be made, to attract the rest of the citizens, through the addition of sport facilities, cafes, restaurants, parks etc. The problem is that, the more the facilities that are added, the more independent the building becomes. So, the result may end up being the exact opposite from the aimed one, as a small ‘‘city’’ will grow on the border of the existing city. In my architecture thesis, I tried to find a way to spread college student residences across the city in an organized way. One way to do this, is to build student residences in, around and on top of the city’s blocks of flats. However, this really differs from the current situation, where students rent existing apartments, only in morphological terms. Buying all the existing housing blocks, just to make college student residences distinctive parasites, is not a satisfactory enough solution. So, I decided that I should experiment with the erection of housing units on public spaces. In my initial illustrations, three types of buildings can be spotted. The POINT, which is a tower. The LINE, which is a building that follows a pedestrian route. And the PLANE, which is a structure that covers a plaza or a park. These three typologies became the starting point of the second phase.

- FINAL DIMENSIONED PROPOSALS -

- FINAL DIMENSIONED PROPOSALS - After my initial illustrations, I decided to design three buildings. One for each typology. The POINT, the LINE and the PLANE. In these final dimensioned proposals, I focused mainly on the integration of the student residences with the public space on which they are built. So, the form of each building evolved through the analysis of the public space’s characteristics. The basic idea is that, public space should invade into the voids of the building, surrounding the student residences. This way, building on a public space, becomes the means to multiply this public space vertically. What if, the public space that surrounds the college student rooms, was also equipped with concrete benches and tables, so that any citizen could sit, relax, order food or even grill there ? The POINT is built on one of the cities roundabouts.The LINE covers the pedestrian route behind the city’s biggest park.The PLANE hovers above a plaza with a street market. Each of the buildings, consist of three types of spaces. The private rooms that belong to the college students. The communal rooms, that also belong to the students and include a living room, a kitchen and a dining table. There is one such room for every eight students. And of course, the surrounding public space that belongs to every citizen and is equiped with concrete benches and tables.

- THE POINT -

- THE POINT - The roundabouts and the traffic islands are spaces, that are sacrificed for the sake of the cars. No one and nothing, moves on them. Everyone and everything moves around or near them. Even the crossings are more important for the pedestrians than these wasted spaces. Unless, people are attracted on them, there will only be kitsch decoration. Unfortunately enough though, the area of the roundabout is too small to be used as a plaza or a park. If the capacity of the roundabout is dramatically increased, though the erection of more levels, people will more eagerly take the risk and cross the surrounding streets to reach it. So, the idea is that a concrete tower, the solid parts of which are college student rooms and the voids around them are public space, could multiply the existing public space vertically. Off course in such a case, the energy of the whole surrounding area would reach its highest levels, on the rooftop of the tower. From the city’s highest point, any citizen may observe his city.

- THE LINE -

- THE LINE - The coastal promenade in front of Agios Kwstantinos park, is the city’s most beloved and most crowed public space. However, the park itself fails to attract people inside it and is just a beautiful background for the coastal promenade. Behind the park, is a quite narrow pedestrian route, with few people and a car parking on its right side. What, I tried to do, is to convert this secondary pedestrian route into an important one, through the addition of college student residences. If there were two attraction poles, people would move between them and the park would come alive. The concept is the same as before. Building on this public space, becomes the way to multiply it vertically. This time, two more levels, that are equipped with concrete benches and tables, are added. The corridors and the rooftop. Given the fact that rooms are small, a way had to be found to make them feel commodious. So, I designed two beds, one that slides under the closet and one on top of the closet. I also added a small desk on the second bed, so that students can move between two different positions in order to study or sleep. This way some kind of mezzanine is created. The LINE can expand way beyond the park following the pedestrian route it covers and providing hundreds of student rooms. Here, I depict a typical group of eight rooms and their communal room.

- THE PLANE - Plateia Eleutherias is a beautiful, small park. However, given the fact that the surrounding area is full of cafes, restaurants and food stores, it does not really fit with its context. It would be much better for the local economy, to replace it with a plaza and a street market. Furthermore, the Courthouse on the opposite side of the street, is surrounded by an enclosed court, that is not open to the citizens of Volos. The plaza and the street market could expand there, converting this wasted space into public space. Students residences could be the street market’s roof, hovering above the plaza, the street and the Courthouse. Once again, the building consists of college student rooms, communal rooms and wide corridors, that are considered public space and they are equipped with concrete benches and tables. Student rooms, are grouped in two, so that the gaps between them get bigger and the field of view of the surrounding blocks of flats is reduced less.

- POSITIONS ON THE MAP OF VOLOS - The three buildings form a triangle, that encloses the city’s most important streets, pedestrian routes, parks and plazas. Of course, more POINTS and more PLANES could be erected on the rest of the city’s public spaces. The LINE could expand, way beyond the park, following the pedestrian route it covers. Given the fact that, it provides the biggest capacity of student rooms at the lowest cost, it is the most efficient of the three typologies. So this is my attempt to spread college student residences across the city of Volos, in an organized way. If the public space, on which they are built, invades into the building, then the city’s public spaces will be improved and multiplied.

I want to thanks my advisor, professor Kwsths Panhgurhs, for his advices. And my parents for supporting my architecture studies.