Community and cultural center at the former power plant in the city of Rhodes

Students: Maria Kelepera, Paraskevi Stasi
Instructors: Tassis Papaioannou, Stavros Gyftopoulos
School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens
Presentation date: July 2012

Main objective of this project is to create a community and cultural center at the abandoned power station in the former industrial zone "Kova" in Rhodes.The intense residential and touristic development have led to the deindustrialization of the area and to its exclusion from the rest of the urban fabric, transforming it into a brownfield. Today, Kova's main characteristic is an unplanned concentration of incompatible uses as well as issues of nuisance and environmental degradation. Furthermore, the abandoned industrial zone combined with the new highway and the port facilities hinder the connection between the adjacent residential area and the sea front. Main goal of the design is to reuse the industrial heritage of the area, and specifically the former power plant station in order to create a building complex that not only will it be integrated in the local area and community but -based on the size and the importance of the building- it will also address the whole city and attempt to restore the connection with the sea front. It will be transformed into a multi-functional, non-commercialized public space that will house functions related to culture, education and social welfare. Main feature of the proposal is a public route that leads the passengers first in the main open public space of the complex and then to the sea front through a ­footbridge.

Measured drawings of the former power plant.

New marina's proposal.

Final concept.

Final plans.

Final models.