New functional species

Students : Elpiniki Kekelou, Nikos Margaritis
Supervisor: Kostis Panigiris, Aspasia Kouzoupi
University of Thessaly_ Department of Architecture Engineering
Date of Presentation: : March 2011

At the north-eastern part of the region of Drama, on the Rhodope Mountains, lies the slum settlement of Thermia where thermal baths are located. The 120-hut settlement, which are made from all sorts of materials, has a special target group which consists of hunters and tourists. 7 huts are used as baths that are open to public and the rest for accommodation.

The aim of the Municipality of Paranesti, which owns the site of the baths, is to take advantage of it by replacing the slums with modern bathing and accommodation facilities.
Our suggestion to the Municipality's project is the creation of a new bath complex next to the existing settlement and the establishment of a second community in its limits that will be interdependent from the old one. Thus, our ambition is to create a new balance between the residents in order to make them indispensable to each other, and so, maintain the old village.

Even though the settlement of Thermia is developed with the principles of addition during the past years, we decided for the proposed complex to remove parts of the granite mountain in order to create enclosed areas that could host the functions that we propose. A linear square, parallel to the stream which is next to the settlement, hosts the bathing facilities. These rooms are made of perforated metal sheets while the baths are formed by the removal of granite parts that is covered with special mortar. The spatial qualities of this square are derived from our research in the old settlement. Five smaller squares, vertically placed to the bigger one, create four mountain arms. These rocks are not covered by any material as the region's granite quality gives us the opportunity to get advantage of its solidness. Even most of its plants are maintained.

Inside the mountain arms and in different heights, holes which are used for accommodation are opened. Apart from the public thermal baths, each room has its own private bath. The way that these baths are placed in the rooms make them seem like they hang over the five squares.

The restaurant, the dining room and the small shop, which can be used by both settlements, are located in such holes, too.