AGRO-URBAN NETWORKS: INCLUSIVE HOUSING AND SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE IN ELEONAS

NTUA

IO CARYDI

Project idea

The word Eleonas (Ελαιώνας) translates to "olive grove". In antiquity, this low-lying basin was the revered agricultural heart of Athens, operating as a natural landscape sponge that absorbed seasonal floods and protected the ancient city. However, today it is an impermeable socio-spatial "black hole", that triggers devastating flash floods downstream while acting as an infrastructural barrier that cuts through the city. Our plot is a Bus Workshop and Parking that sits right into this “hole”.

In response to contemporary Greece’s severe housing cost crisis the project weaves together a resilient, mixed-use Intergenerational Social Housing Complex in Eleonas. By pairing vulnerable youth and elderly demographics, the architecture establishes a supportive community infrastructure that restores the site's historic agricultural legacy and environmental metabolism. Our goals were to solve 3 big problems:

• The Flood/Water Crisis
• Food Insecurity
• The Housing Crisis

To create our community we studied and applied models and techniques found of housing complexes and communities all over Greece and Europe.

Project description

Our Project sits at the path between the city center and a new Development zone that includes among other projects, a big new stadium.

The masterplan is made from agricultural and built zones alternating horizontally through the plot, connected by a linear Water Treatment Park and a Pergola Market Square. The ground Floor hosts public uses like Commercial Spaces, Libraries and Community Spaces while the agricultural fields are slightly sunken to collect flood waters. To lift the domestic quarters safely above the flood line, a car-free circulation deck network is elevated above the soil layer, allowing residents to walk directly atop active agricultural fields.

The housing programmatic split builds a symbiotic social pact between students and senior care apartments to eliminate institutional isolation. The building massing steps down horizontally in each horizontal zone to optimize south-facing solar gain and cross-ventilation while a social Façade, public Pavilions and Rooftop agriculture connect the community.

Preserving industrial memory, the Structure of the Bus Workshop building is retrofitted into a public Square. The surrounding grounds are sculpted into an open-air Water Treatment Park. This decentralized Sustainable Drainage System (SUDs) collects toxic runoff from neighbouring zones, filtering it through sequential eco-engineering filters to supply the community’s agricultural fields and rooftop greenhouses with recycled water. In case of intense rain, a big flood Plaza is shielding the community.

Technical information

• Total Site Area: 40,000 m2
• Total Built Footprint (Floor Area Ratio = 0.8): 32,000m2 max allowable built area.
• Building Coverage Coefficient: 40%
• Maximum Architectural Height: 23 meters
• Programmatic Core Split:
o 60% Senior & Student Public Housing
o 20% Other Public and Private housing
o 20% Public Pavilions, Ground Floor Commercial Spaces, Libraries etc
• Adaptive Reuse Volume: Preservation of Existing Building’s Structure, creating a Pergola Square hosting a Produce Market.
• Eco-Engineering Water Treatment System: Multi-stage Sustainable Drainage System (SUDs) containing a sedimentation tank, vertical and horizontal flow and pond systems.
• Agricultural Capacity and Yield: Open-field farming paired with rooftop production yielding an estimated 60 tons of organic produce annually.

Documentation

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