Receptors of

Definition of Arbitrary:
1. Determined by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity,
reason, or principle.
2. Based on or subject to individual judgment or preference.
3. Law Relating to a decision made by a court or legislature that
lacks a grounding in law or fact.
4. Not limited by law; despotic.

Arbitrariness analysis / historical facts, urbanism, typology, morfol-

polykatoikea contemporary spontaneous
The following project is about a special urban In an effort to find a solution between those initial formation of city ottoman era refugee house
condition that is taking place in the city of Thes- two conditions, the following project seeks a 60s-70s shelter
1922-...
saloniki (Greece). A neighborhood at the borders way to incorporate those elements into a long 80s-90s
of the citys historical center in an area marked term strategy applied in the region, using the
by the ruins of the byzantine muralls. Those lin- experience of informal techniques inside a new
ear city walls along with a green unbuilt strip framework. This way the very tenants of the
at both sides of them, create a crack at the removed houses (but also the tenants of the
contemporary urban grid. Being in a situation surrounding building blocks) will have the oppor-
of constant decay, the area gathers unoficial- tunity to reappropriate the space of that grey
spontaneous shelter-houses on unoccupied land zone, through a radical collaborative scheme.
around and onto the byzantine city wall. Vernac-
ular informal structures, built by the hands of At the same time the project tries to produce a
their very residents (usually of a particular social new form of urban vernacular- a strategy that
group). essentially informalizes the formal. The tenants-
During the postwar expansion of the citys core, users become again the builders of their own
outside the city walls, those unofficial structru- houses according to their needs, following their
res ended up coexisting with the newly con- re-edited techniques towards the dirrection of
structed appartment blocks closely around the the new strategy. y introducing a new urban Urban landscape.
planned urban tissue. typology, the project also reconsiders the greek Product of interactin between
construction model, hit by the crisis, that was the historical phases
initial formation
Minor Asia & refugee wave The absence of specified building
According to the modern urban practices, these the basic factor of the greek economy. A struc- hellinistic era Byzantium
Ottoman Empire catastrophe new shelters-huts appear
Today laws, converted the murall zone into a
residential formations are being considered out- ture more editable and flexible with embeded 4th c. 5th c. 1453 1830 1860 1880 1917 1922 1960 1968 1978 1979 1980 1981 1995 1996 1997 1998 2001 2002 2005 2007
greyzone, letting constructors build
dated and pathogenic and have been threatened infrstructures, that can host houses accord ing
great fire of laws about demolision of the refugee close to the monument, even demolish
by demolishion the past decades. Nevertheless to their tenants needs, against the dying mod- roman empire
50 A.D. - 3rd c. Thessaloniki shelters attached to the walls. it partially, in order to achieve the highest
the way they developed and self-organised (as el of the strict and irreversible current housing profit (60s). The housing needs of
an aggregation, but also as single units), has an blocks. the rural population that
important value for the social and architectural This long term procedure aims to achieve social inhabited the city led to
history of the city. resilience, between the different current social massive construction.
The programmed restoration of the city walls groups, by promoting self-organised architec-
and the design of public green spaces along ture through collaborative acts.
them, does not include those buildings.

/intervention- proposal- strategy /textures & materials

Goes vertical.
Enhances collaboration within the community/ Resilience
Doesnt touches the ground
Gathers the spontaneous structuring. Collection of elements and tex-
Framework --> DIY architecture tures found in the area by-prod-
ucts of the various activities (liv-
ing, arbitrary strustures, aged
buildings)

The dominant Textures define the

image of the area.
Reused & raw materials,
Unofficial built elements-
improvised techniques,
Old traditional houses in decay
revealing their structure,
Construnction junk,
Revealed brick structures
Fallen plaster,
Old wooden decks,
Rusty metal sheets,
Plywood panels as walls,
Old and reused doors & window
frames

Reinterpretation of the elements and

textures, gathered, into new formations
and assembly techniques, to apply to
the proposed project-strategy.

Reassembly the textures, and the struc-

tural tecniques of the existing elements,
in order to cover the needs of the new
residencies (natural light, ventilation,
privacy, heating, weather protection
etc.) of the proposed project.

At the same time the reassembled

textures will help the new proposed
structure to integrate gradually to its
surroundings.

Map of shelter- houses of the urban crack facade, materials warehouse, textures palette, landmark, shared spac- Framework, structural system of new dwellings, potential combinations of houses on floors, in relation
es receptor of the spontaneous building activity. to the water supply network and electricity
Future tenants get the materials needed from the facade-warehouse, they copy assem- Includes the necessary facilities for water supply
bly techniques from the pallette, to build their new homes, which gradually integrated and electricity.
into the urban environment in terms of materiality and scale. Functions as a Landmark.
It collects and displays materials and textures of the elements of the area.
preserved
The more tenants come to build their homes, the more the facade gets emptied of
buildings
materials, assigning the revealed area to the shared space.
Most tenants-users = more shared space

total area division potential

1050 m2 into configuration
modules of housing
modules

vertical circulation

constuction materials/ techniques/

shared spaces
bricks, tubes, metal and wooden
beams, planks etc. electricity
water network
wet spaces
collection of rainwater

/evolution of the strategy

north facade
north facade, section north facade, section

phase phase phase