Patras’ Northern pier reformation

Student: Vassiliki Lalioti
Supervisors: Konstantinos Moraitis, Sofia Tsiraki
School of architecture, NTUA
Date of presentation: 17 July 2012

The objective of the current graduation thesis is the management of Patras' coast side' s empty area which emerged after the recent partial port transfer from downtown to a city's southern location. More thoroughly, the detailed proposal seeks to redevelop the Northern pier.

At an early stage, as attempting to manage the whole untapped coastal front, I noticed an abundance of space, as the extent of 3.5 kilometers of the old port includes not only a linear coastal zone but also four piers. In each of these, a different main use could be imparted, depending on the specific location' s characteristics in which is placed and its connection to the city.

Northern pier's main feature is its proximity to the unique, for the moment, marina of Patras. Therefore, its relationship with elements such as water or boats is strengthened compared to the remaining three piers. The selection of the proposed land uses, apart from the obvious association with the aquatic element and its attempted emergence, came after a thorough analysis of Patras and its needs. The aim is to strengthen the character of watersport that dominates in this pier's region, which has the potential to attract even international tourist interest as a sailing center.

As regards the urban scale, the verticality of many road routes to the shoreline serves the implementation of so-called "green roads". According to this, the selected axes, which can be either motorways or walkways, are filled with green. On the one hand they emanate from the forest preserve and on the other hand end up to the coastal zone, while networking the existing open spaces.

The central design procedure contains the fragmentation of the flat, cement Northern pier and its connection to the city through one of the suggested "green roads", that of "Agias Sofias". Thus, the aim is to strengthen the bonds between citizen and water and this particular element's emergence through four different forms of it, located in an equal number of sections: a new marina, a sailing club, a recreational pool and an artificial park.

Metaphor plays a crucial role in the design process. From the beginning, I envisioned a pier where a "green road" invades impetuously and transforms it, while creating a three-dimensional "river delta". Subsequently the wave, the seagulls, the sails, the ship-bow and the typical archway of Patras are "transferred" morphologically into the building structures.

Plethora of maritime ecosystems are found near Patras. Regarding to the Northern pier, the choice of placing there an artificial park with maritime ecosystem's features is justified by the possibility of its accession to the existing network.

Moreover, referring to the Chinese garden, the attempted artificial ecosystem has been captured as a miniature of Kalogria, a nearby holiday region, which also includes a significant wetland. Due to an old Chinese approach, water contains the artery of the garden, mountains its skeleton and plants only its hair.

The first forms of water are related to the large marina' s use, the creation of the sailing club' s small marina and the option of placing the pool. The latter, in fact, refers to the historical water polo games that took place in the port basins of the old port and is has been designed to use filtered seawater. The other two forms are, on the one hand, found in the artificial park, where a creation of a body of saltwater that imitates lagoon is being attempted and, on the other hand, in the sailing club. There, an outdoor stripe of fresh water has been designed, which is related, by its lining tracks, to the repositioned water reservoir of the Train Organisation. This proposal 'transfers' an urbanized handling, which is typically found in downtown squares.