Subject: Subway Terminal at Mikra (Thessaloniki)
The basic concerns during the projects's initial elaboration, was whether a subway station with a tight functional program, could accept new uses of public character and in which way the forced descent/ascent commonplace in this kind of places could be undone. The same concept of the new use of public spaces was also put into consideration by the Lettrists during the 50's.
Compositional starting point: Opposite concepts, linked with the subways: open/close, stillness/motion, free/fixed motion.
Scenario: Thessaloniki 2023 –at Mikra area there is a 42x74x25m hole. It is the subway station that never was.
Routes: Inside the hole a 3d motion diagram is formed by creating four routes: motion, sound, nature and drifting, that guide the visitor down, besides the drifting’s route that amplifies the mood for walking in the interior space. The concept routes -constructed like glass tubes, compose a peculiar net that seems to levitate.
Rooms: Adjoined on the motion diagram there are small cubic rooms, that are in line with the theme of every route and intend to create stops. Inside the rooms, “atmospheres” interact with the visitor, recalling memories and experiences. Many of them are in a stand-by state, levitating in space, with a vertical movement option, while those on the net can move horizontally along the tubes.
Support system: The construction is adjusted to vertical elements which give rhythm to the whole. Those elements are seen once again at the ground level, thus creating an artificial forest.
Ground Level: The pattern of the holes on the ground level is created by the projection of the motion diagram onto it.
Concluding, a new space is being created that reminds of the subway's map which was never constructed (due to the economic crisis). It is a space that could host the subway but without having a determinded use.

CV