Transformation of the Kronos Distillery, Elefsina, Greece
Master Project 2023 | Technical University of Munich | with Tanjina Khaleque
Chair of Landscape Architecture and Transformation | Prof. Dr. sc. ETH Zürich Udo Weilacher
“Reconnecting” aims to transform the site of an abandoned distillery on the waterfront of Elefsina into an engaging open space and artistic and academic focal point of a culturally developing, formerly industrial dominant urban area. The design proposes the use of the Kronos Distillery as a model and catalyst for future projects in a city experiencing a complete shift of character from an active industrial area to a potentially culturally vibrant community.
The complex and interlaced challenges posed by the former Kronos Distillery to be addressed by landscape architecture include the inaccessibility of the waterfront to the community due to the industrial infrastructure, heavy pollution caused by previous industrial activity, and future demands of a rising sea level and increased temperatures. As the city of Elefsina develops into a new phase, the transformation of such former industrial areas could be critical in shaping a new identity for the area. This design aims to highlight and celebrate the industrial history which has shaped the current city. Simultaneously, it disassembles this phase enough to undo the damage it has caused. More specifically, its goal is to reconnect the city not only to the more recent past activities that have shaped its spaces, but also to the natural landscape, the waterfront and the gulf, which supported the initial settlement of the Elefsina area and its strategic development into an industrial port location.
In achieving these seemingly contradictory goals—highlighting one layer of history, the built industry, which must also be dismantled in order to reconnect to an even more fundamentally shaping layer, the natural landscape—this project focuses on the balance and interplay between the built and natural worlds. “Reconnecting” celebrates the past and repurposes its abandoned structures to create an open space that supports connection between the users and the natural contexts which have shaped, and will continue to shape, its unique landscape character; at the same time, the design looks back towards the urban border, offering an architecturally characteristic, identity- forming space in which an expanding community can meet, engage, and grow.
The concept is based on the interplay between two main spatial characters. These two distinct areas— a plant dominant one and a built dominant one—interplay and are bound by the historical features of the site. The functions of the site also follow the spatial organization, and the historical elements act as a binding core between different user groups. Cultural history is both the spatial/physical and the functional heart of the proposal, unifying contrasting elements and building a strong, site specific identity while allowing the site to take on a completely new face.
(Section with Tanjina Khaleque)
Vegetation Pollutant Filtration System (with Tanjina Khaleque)