Messolonghi

Student : Nella Stafanatou
Supervising professors: Antreas Kourkoulas
Consulting professor: Eirini Efesiou, Xrisanthos Kirpotin, Mpouki Mpampalou-Noukaki, Konstantinos Serraos
National Technological University of Athens
Date : 02/12/2011

The object of this diploma project was my hometown Messolonghi. The whole discussion, begins with the relationship of the city and the water. From my point of view, Messolonghi is an integral and indivisible whole of town and countryside and is not consisted only of the residential area. My personal study on the place  showed that, the special, intense and strong identity of the landscape is what determines the development of the city. The city derives its atmosphere from the landscape itself: the horizontality, the flatness of the shallow sea, the reflection, the trails in the lagoon and the constructions in the water shape the spatial context of Missolonghi. It could be one of the invisible cities described by Italo Calvino. It is a dual city as always carries its idol, is a water-city.

Nowadays,unfortunately,  the balance of the system  'city and water', is disturbed. In my opinion, that has happened because the city has been developed without taking into account the parameters and characteristics of the landscape. Continued excavation conducted from 1874 until today removed the sea from the town. Today, there is a coastal zone with large blocks, which fuctions a barrier. As a result, the city seems to turn its back to the sea. Furthermore,the relationship between the residents and the water has been altered. Although  the reference point of the city, is the lagoon,  Messolonghi can not be guided by it. The movement is indirect and blocked by the "wall-dam." Moreover, the unique channel of the city is a limit and the city is cut off from the port.

Aiming to restore this relationship and redefine city's identity, i intervene into specific points in order to change  the identity of the city. Indicative deal with almost every scale always taking into account the characteristics of the landscape, in a strategy that seeks to restore the city's identity. My goal is to rebalance the two poles of the ecosystem : anthropogenic and natural one, by a penetrating inside the other.

Intervention points

1. shaking down the "wall" of the coastal front, breaking the large blocks
2. restoring  the discontinuities of the urban tissue
3. proposing a general extension of the city to the sea
4. configuring the network traffic of pedestrians and vehicles to and from the city and the lake
5. readjusting the boundary zone of the mixed ecosystem, in an effort to smooth transition and filtering by one to the other pole
6. Finally,i focus on the design of a structure in the water that enhances browsing on aquatic park and is intended to operate as a local and supra attraction. It acts as a sinker for the locals, in order the lagoon to join in their everyday lives. Specifically,  I propose the construction of an additional fish market in the heart of the lagoon, including a restaurant and a lounge where you can embark in small boats and so as to navigate at sea in the lake and visit the historic islands.