Municipality of Thessaloniki / 2nd Prize for the Open Architectural Design Competition of ideas for the Construction of a Wooden Deck on Piles on the Old Beach of Thessaloniki

Architectural Approach

The proposal for the extension of the deck of the Old Beach of thessaloniki attempts to manage both the new ambitions of the city of Thessaloniki as a contemporary metropolis, as well as to establish a dialectical relationship with its centuries-old history.

In this direction, the basic architectural gestures of the proposal, in brief, concern:

1. The creation of an enlarged joint between the new, statically independent, platform and the old one, by spacing them by 4 meters.
2. The definition of the interconnections of the 2 decks, in width and direction according to the tracing of the urban fabric, and the extension of the urban axes on the seafront in the form of small jetties.
3. The creation of 4 information points for urban transformations that define chapters in the narration of the city’s history, while highlighting the location of the monuments and the organizations that manage the cultural heritage of each period.
4. The development of an abstract, three-dimensional, linear pattern on the new deck, visible from both low and high angles, in its geometric and morphological characteristics, which includes all the required operational equipment as well as the necessary supporting spaces of the intervention, while using contemporary online technologies and special lighting to highlight the artwork.

The way of connecting the White Tower with the first pier of the Th.P.A., the straight historical sea front of the city, has to be, in our opinion, the timeless landmark of the city.

The geometric formulation of the timeless relationship of the city with the sea, defines the background of the architectural handling.