architectural design course, University of Patras, 2018
tutor: Alcestis Rodi
The aim of this studio was to redesign an urban block in Kolonaki, shifting focus away from the typical pedestrianization or public space design that dominates urban planning in Greece. Instead, the goal was to highlight the often-overlooked private, interior life of the city. My initial approach was to explore ways of unifying the entire urban block to create a new housing system. However, the irregularities in elevation and floor heights between buildings made it impossible to design a “typical” floor plan. Consequently, I focused on areas where slab heights were more consistent—specifically, three neoclassical buildings at the corner of Alopekis and Loukianou Streets. In this context, I experimented with communal housing and sought to create smaller living units with a significant emphasis on shared spaces—something largely absent in the current polykatoikia model, where only circulation areas are shared. For the first and second floors of the polykatoikias, I removed sections of the floors, leaving only the connecting beams and parts of the slab, which created a two-story void. In this space, I introduced 10 apartments, each with a steel staircase, kitchenette, washroom, and shower or bathtub. The remaining area was designed as a communal space, equipped with washing machines, large tables, stoves, and fridges. By applying this strategy to the Greek urban landscape of polykatoikias, it could result in a more porous, hollowed-out fabric that increases both density and the number of living units, while also providing the potential for new housing typologies to emerge.
