architecture portfolio '14

T E R P S I L A O P O U L O U

architectureP O R T F O L I O april 2014

ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI / RWTH AACHEN

SHORT CV

EDUCATION

2006-2014 Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Diploma of Architect Enginner. Grade: 9.34 /10

2010-2011 Rheinisch-Westflische Technische Hochschule Aachen Certificateofexchangestudies

WORK EXPERIENCE

Freelance drafting work for architect F. Zografou(Aachen, Germany), Dec.-Jul. 2010/2011

LANGUAGES

Greek nativeEnglish C2 / CPE-grade AGerman B2/Goethe-ZertifikatB1 courses in GermanySpanish B2 / DELE, Nivel B2- Intermedio

SOFTWARE SKILLS

Autodesk AutoCAD /v.2006-2011, advanced 2dRhinoceros 3D /v.4-5, advanced Adobe PS, AI, ID /v.CS3-CS5 - advancedSketchUp /v.6-8, advancedAutodesk3dsmax /v.9-2009,intermediate

Terpsithea Laopoulou

date of birth: 07.07.1988 /Thessaloniki, Greece

nationality - citizenship: Greek

m: [email protected]

p: +30 6938421660

CONTENTS

DIPLOMA PROJECTS

Diploma Design Thesis p. 04-13 Diploma Research Thesis p. 14-17

URBAN DESIGN AND PLANNING Transitional Places p. 18-25 Planning for the Municipality of Mygdonia p. 26-33 ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Atzelberg-Turm p. 34-39

Small Hotel andSpaComplex p.40-45

ASSORTED PROJECTS

Sit or Strip p. 46-49

Void Network p. 50-53

ExplorationsonPublicSpaceintheCityCentersidewalks, intersections, rest points etc., for the center of Thessaloniki

Among the many and complicated issues re-lated to public space and its design, this thesis researches a rather small field: the bas re-lief of the urban ground (physical form of the space between buildings) and its interrelation with the movement within it, concentrating especially on pedestrian movement and the pedestrian-friendly aspect of central urban space. Pedestrian-friendly can be further defined, in the context of the densely builtcenter of Thessaloniki, not only as the provision of comfortable walking space, but also by the degree to which pedestrians are given (per-ceptional) priority over vehicles, the degree to which urban design offers attractive rest points, highlights landmarks and generally en-hancestheflaneurexperienceofthecity.

Within this framework then, this project propos-es a prototype for minimal interventions, a sys-tem of urban acupuncture points, where a layer of concrete shapes a new urban ground. This new terrain incorporates public seating and other small elements of urban equip-ment, reclaiming residual spaces revealed by a careful re-alignment of (pedestrian and vehicular)lanesofmovement.Acurved,flow-y form is chosen as the main structural prin-ciple of this new terrain, constructed partly

of in-situ cast concrete -like functional urban sculpture. Additionally, in order to allow this systemenoughflexibility toaccommodateavariety of urban corners, seven standardized elementsaredefined-smallvolumesmadeofthe same concrete material and following the same, curved, principle, albeit simplifiedac-cording to a number of desired functions.

In order to determine suitable intervention points, the center of Thessaloniki was gradually analyzed into sub-areas, taking into account factors such as: trends of spatial arrangement and dynamics of commerce /entertainment venues, movement axes, pedestrian densi-ties,perceptionalobstacles,existingandde-sired landmarks etc. In the end, fourteen pro-posedsitesareidentified,acoherentnetworkof micro-spaces, each one of which refers to a particularly interesting urban structure (en-try point, passage, void, important building etc.). Of those fourteen sites, two are cho-sentobespecificallydesigned,asexamplesof implementation. The first is a busy centralintersection (Ermou - Venizelou str.) and the second a part of two secondary streets (Dia-manti - Ebrar), where a small unbuild plot lays crammed among dense ten-story buildings.

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diploma design thesis

individual project defended: supervisor: AUTh Department of Architecture Feb. 2014 A.Alexopoulou

DIPLOMA PROJECTS

05

DIPLOMA PROJECTS

Proposed intervention points network

Analysis diagrams

movement densities/sub-areas,

flowobstacles/flowimprovements,

poits of interest

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DIPLOMA DESIGN THESIS

Standardization of construction

Concept diagrams

explorationsonfunctionality and form

principles, for each intervention

point

preconstucted concrete elements and

examplesofcombinations

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DIPLOMA PROJECTS

Site 1: Intersection(Ermou-Venizelou strs.)

site-specificdiagramsplan - section 1:200

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Site 2: Small Void(Ebrar-Diamanti strs.)

site-specificdiagramsplan - isometric section 1:200

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DIPLOMA PROJECTS

Site 1: Intersectionmodel 1:200 / perspective sketch

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Site 1: Intersectionmodel 1:200 / perspective sketch

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DIPLOMA PROJECTS

Site 2: Small Voidmodel 1:200 / perspective sketch

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DIPLOMA DESIGN THESIS 13

Re-examiningtheGlobalInformalCityinvestigations on urban informality in cities of the global south

This research paper focuses on the ways in which the notion of urban informal-ity has been perceived by, researched and dealt with by the (broad) academ-ic field of Architecture in recent years.The particularity of this revived attention to informal settlements is that current research often seems to be seeking an-swers from them, instead of just propos-ing them.

In an attempt to define the roots, theinfluenceandthepossibleoutcomesofsuch appoaches, common threads are traced from two directions, Urban Ge-ography on the one hand and Repre-sentations on the other, and three case studies from architectural offices arereviewed within the framework these threads create. The objective is not to come to definitive conclusions, but tocriticallyexaminesuchapproachesanddefinebothproblematicandpromisingaspects. [~15.000 words]

introduction

appendix1attempts at defining informal

chapter 1_ informality as part of the discussion on the city

1.1_ models of analysis of the urban condition Chicago School Political Economy Los Angeles School of Urbanism Global Cities

1.2_ the Global South issue

1.3_the paradigm shift idea

1.4_the role of informality

Contents

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diploma research thesis

individual project defended: supervisor: AUTh Department of Architecture Feb. 2013 K. Tsoukala

DIPLOMA PROJECTS

chapter 2_ readings and representations

appendix2Dionisio Gonzlez Favelas Series

2.1_ reading informality

2.2_ two-dimensional interventions

JR photography Favela Painting

2.3_ projecting informality the case of Torre David

2.4_ favela chic / a discussion on aesthetics and aestheticization representation

chapter 3_ architecture

3.1_ Rem Koolhaas / Harvard Project on the City

3.2_ Urban Think Tank

3.3_ Teddy Cruz

afterword

bibliography

image sources

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DIPLOMA PROJECTS

According to most urban surveys carried out by the U.N. and otherinstitutions,towardstheendof2007acriticalpoint inthecourseofglobalurbanizationcanbepinpointed:thefirsttime in history that the largest portion of the planets popula-tion resided in urban, as opposed to rural, environments. So far East Africa remains the least urbanized area, but even there it is estimated that the critical point will have beenbypassed by mid-century. Urbanization is, of course, already a historical procedure, but urban concentrations of 10, 20 or 30 million have only emerged during the last decades of the 20th century - most of them situated in developing countries andcontinuingtoexhibitthehighestpopulationgrowthrates.Urbanconcentrations, insteadof cities,becausethe lineshavebeenblurred.Thetermcity,whiletraditionallysignify-ing a settlement of (relatively) high population density within a distinct spatial area, is becoming more and more theoretical, almost abstract - in the meantime, for the description of ac-tual situations, a number of new terms have been conceived: city-region, metropolitan region, megapolis, greater [] area, urbancorridoretc.Thislinguisticconfusionseemstoreflectanexisting researchproblem:each survey,each researchpro-ject must set its own (spatial) boundaries from scratch, as there hardlyexistsaunifiedmodeofcategorizingurbanareas.

Writing Sample : Introduction

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DIPLOMA RESEARCH THESIS

Withinthisframeofrenegotiationsofboundariesanddefinitions,therehas recently appeared another one: the global informal city. Infor-malhas thecentral rolehere,a termdifficult toaccuratelydefine -someattemptsarepresentedatappendix1.Inaverygeneralsense,itis used in current literature to describe settlements that could be called slums, areas within or on the edges of cities, made up of more or less poorly constructed lodges and lacking infrastructure, which are often (butnotalways) the resultof squatting.Thisphenomenon isdefinitelynot new - it is in fact part of almost all European and North-American cities history -, however its proportions today are unprecedented, as in many mega-cities in the developing world a very large portion of the population (in some cases even half or more) lives in such condi-tions. Local differentiations between such cities are great, but there are also common elements, most importantly the fact that they were until recently(andtoacertainextentstillare)absentfromthecitiesworldmap, although their size is considerable, to say the least. In todays intensifyingglobal urbanization context though, andwith theGlobalSouth gradually claiming an important place in urban studies, urban informalityisreceivingmoreandmoreattentionfromthefieldofarchi-tecture (in the broadest sense, including urban design, planning, etc.). Itisnot,ofcourse,thefirsttimearchitecturehasdealtwiththesubject,but what clearly distinguishes recent approaches is the fact that they tend to view it in a different light - a very positive one. Characteristically, most recent publications on the subject of urban informality come with titles such as learning from or a new paradigm.

Thisrenewedinterestinthedarksideofthecityispreciselythesubjectof the present paper. What is the basis for this new positive perception of a situation that used to be regarded as unacceptable, or simply ig-noredasanecessaryevil?Whatarethedifferentexpressionsofsucha perception, and to what sort of approaches do they seem to lead? Canarchitectureinfluencelifeininformalsettlementsand,evenmore,can architecture really learn something from them?

In the attempt to investigate the above questions, this paper begins fromthefieldofsocialstudiesonthecity,especiallyurbangeography,as it is there where the theoretical framework begins to take shape, in which the architectural discourse on the city takes place. The other side ofthisframeworkisexaminedinthesecondchapter,whichfocusesonthe image of informality, or better yet on the representations of infor-mality - verbal or pictorial. This particular discussion is, up to a degree, ofgreatinteresttothefieldofarchitecture,notjustbecauseitsuggestsa trend in perceptions, but also because architecture is, just like art, also bound to the issue of representation (of ideas, ideologies, identi-ties, ). Finally, three particular architectural approaches in relation to informalityarepresentedandexaminedwithintheframeworksetinthefirstchapters.Thechosenexamplesdefinitelydonotcoverthewholeavailable range, they do however represent three similar views of the subject, originating from different geographical points, and comple-menting the conceptual threads formed in chapters one and two.

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Transitional Placesurban design at the edges of the city

The broader object of study of this design stu-dio was the former industrial area of Thessalon-iki, located just to the west of the city center. Since the industries moved out -the last ones only a couple of decades ago-, the areas sta-tus and identity have been rather uncertain. New uses have moved in -hotels, shopping and entertainment venues on the one hand, immigrant communities on the other, and the sexindustrysomewhereinbetween-butnoneofthemhassofarmanagedtodefineneitherthe building stock, nor the large and valuable unbuilt portion of space - and the same goes for the city authorities. Hence the characteri-zation transitional.

Within this framework, each team of students wasaskedtothemselvesdefineamorespe-cific area or intervention and an appropri-ate concept. After the initial analysis, our team chose the area of the old railway sta-tion, which is in itself a peculiar space: It is still in use as a commerce station, but only barely (about one small train per day), and as an open warehouse for old wagons. This means that it is still walled and somewhat guarded, but essentially abandonded, a sort of secret space crammed between two high-speed roads, the west entrances to the city.

In light of that, and guided by our perconal perceptions of the space, we decided to de-fineandtreatitasaterrainvague,bytheterm of Ignasi de Sota Morales. A place that resiststhetrendforover-exploitationthatchar-acterizes so much portion of all Greek cities. A true residual place.

Because of that understanding, and also be-cause of the internally divided structure of the space (a result of the old functional require-ments), we opted not to design for the area as whole,butinsteadtocreatefiveincidents,orepisodes. Five specific spatial structuresplacedin,andguidedby,fiveparticularsiteswithin the old station:

#1: The Apple of Discord | #2: Double Agent | #3: Thin Red Line | #4 On the Last Wagon | #5: After we missed the train

We viewed this project as an architectural nar-rative, told in pieces - episodes, each of them amplifying speciic spatial characteristcs, and held together by a the common thread of the terrain vague concept. The result is neitheran urban park, nor a multi-purpose space, but a real urban void, activated through spe-cific,limitedinterventions.

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urban design studio

group project, with: spring semester supervisors: AUTh Department of Architecture MariosPapanikolaou 2011/2012 A.AlexopoulouNefeli Vasilopoulou A. Lada

URBAN DESIGN AND PLANNING

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Analysis:

diagrams of sub-areas and elements, initialexloratorymodels

Interpretations: concept collages of impressions and intentions (partial reproduc-tions)

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TRANSITIONAL PLACES

#1#3

#5

#4

#2

#1: The Apple of Discord an observatory tower, a landmark gesture, on the

narrow end of the station towards the city

#2: Double Agent between two linear buildings, another one. A transi-

tion from the city to the inside of the station

#3: Thin Red Line an aerial promenade enhancing the linear perspec-

tive, tribute to the rail and electric lines

#4: On the Last Wagon routes and rest points through the area where old

wagons are stored

#5: After We Missed the Train A concrete canopy activates the space between

two old repair stations

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Episode 1: The Apple of Discord

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TRANSITIONAL PLACES

Episode 2: Double Agent

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Episode 5: After We Missed the Train

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TRANSITIONAL PLACES 25

Planning for the Municipality of Mygdoniaurban strategies and design for peripheral towns

The Municipality of Mygdonia lies just north of the Metropolitan Area of Thessaloniki, and currently it could be described as a buffer zone between the urban area of the city and the purely rural areas further north. There are three main towns in the municipality: Liti, DrymosandMelissoxori, Litibeing the largestamong them, as well as home to all municipal authorities. The whole area is closely linked, or rather dependent on, the city of Thessaloniki, in both an economical and a general sense (e.g. most children living in the area actually attend school in Thessaloniki). Therefore, it also functions as a sort of peripheral-suburb.

The assignment of this studio was divided in fourparts.Thefirst two,AnalysisandGeneralStrategy, concerned the whole of the munici-pality, and asked that student teams produce a coherent strategic plan for the the future of the area, both in urban and rural sections. With up-to-date researches taken into ac-count, each team was to come up with a plan for the evolution of the three main towns and their inter-relations. Large-scale land uses were to be specified, and also calculationswere to be made, regarding area size of pos-sibleexpansionsandsoforth.

The next two parts, Urban planning and Ur-ban Design, concerned the town of Liti. Ac-cording to the conclusions drawn in the pre-vious phase, student teams were to specify planning policies for Liti. This entailed detailed calculations of housing, service and public spatial needs, in accordance to current leg-islation, as well as the division of the town into sectorsandthespecificationofbuildingreg-ulations for each sub-area. The urban plan-ning phase concludes with the production of a general masterplan, showing the general structure of the proposed new areas (road alignments, public-private space etc.) and the exact placement of communal facilitiessuch as schools.

Finally, the urban design phase focuses on the center of Liti. For this phase, the masterplan is to depict the general guidelines for the design of public spaces and buildings (such as the townhall),streetconfigurationsandtheprovi-sion of parking spaces, as well as the division of housing blocks into individual private plots. We do not further elaborate into speciic building plans, but indicative representations are pro-duced, showing the resulting form of blocks in differentsectorsandgivingexamplesofstreetdesign.

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regional and urban planning studio

group project, with: winter semester supervisors: AUTh Department of Architecture Nefeli Vasilopoulou 2009/2010 D. Kotsakis A. Tasopoulou G. Gemenetzi


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Area of study and general strategy:

The three towns of the municipality already show signs of blending with each other: the areas in between are occupied with residencies, to the point where it isdifficulttotellonetownfromtheother.Wecanthereforeidentifyexpansiontendensiesoreachtown,andplanaccordigly,sothatadequateinfrastructureisset up. Outside off the three-town urban cluster, we propose special regulation areas, aimed at protecting the agriculture lands in betweeen and the forest to thesouthwest.Heavyindustryisgatheredintwospecifiedareas,alongthemainroadconnections.

URBAN DESIGN AND PLANNING28

PLANNING FOR THE MUNICIPALITY OF MYGDONIA

Planning for the town of Liti:

Accordingtothegeneralstrategyandthepopulationpredictionsdevelopedinthefirstphase,wedecidetoplanforalmostadoublinginsizeforthetownofLIti.Wespecifyeightsectors,thefirstsevenbeingnewlyplannedareas.Sectoreightistheoldcoreofthetown,whichismainlypreservedasis,withafewminor changes to improve street alignment and to provide space for communal infrastructure. The other sectors are set so that, by differenciating building regulations in each, we can achieve variations of density - around the new town center (V), sectors are designed to accomodate denser housing and to facili-tate commerce, while sectors on the border of the forest (I, IV) or the old town (VII) are set for lower density, single-family houses and the creation of coherent neighborhoods.

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General masterplan of Liti: /1:2000

part of the old section (right) and adjusentexpansionsectors,withrepresentation of different street types - building regulations for each zone (red-green-yellow-orange lines). Limits: at the bottom, protected forest area. At the top: highway and green buffer zone. Alsospecified:greenzonesnetwork, spaces reserved for communal uses (hatches and symbols for different uses - edu-cation, sports, etc.)

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concept sketches for the structure of theexpandedcity.

above: street orientations, commu-nal spaces, new city center (red)

below: proposed bus routes

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Focus on the new center of Liti: / 1:500

Urban and landscape design guidelines for the new Town Hall of Liti, to the purpose of creating a network of pub-lic spaces and incorporat-ing the river into it. Types of roads (normal, pedestrian-only, woonerfs) and parking spots around the area ar also specified.Withinthebuildingblocks, property divisions are proposed, based on regula-tions and estimations of site-specificneeds.

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Indicative blocks of sectors III and IV

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Atzelberg-Turmwooden observation tower on the Atzelberg hill in Taunus, Germany

The object of this studio was to design an ob-servation tower, about thirty-five meters tall,constructed primarily out of wood or with a combination of wood and metal. The tower is to be situated on top of the Atzelberg hill in Taunus, near Frankurt, where the basis of an earlier similar structure (now destroyed), still exists.Thenewtowershouldbethoughtofasa landmark / tourist attraction. The main focus is the structural system, of which wood should be the main element. Thus the architectural and structural design are in this case closely interrelated, almost identical.

With the concept of not only providing a viewing spot, but also an interpretation of the view, the form chosen for the tower is a curved, asymmetrical one. The whole struc-ture is situated in a way that draws the viewers eye mainly to the northeast, towards the val-ley of Frankurt, while decreasing the impact of a nearby, much taller, concrete television tower.

The free form of the tower is guided by the outlines of four ellipses, with different sizes and degrees of deformation, which are the view-ing platforms. These are enclosed in a net-like structure, a curved space frame constructed

of two overlapping layers of wood strips. This is the principal structural system of the tower, constructed of curved composite lumber strips with metal connectors. The platforms are also wooden, made with cross laminated timber which allows for fewer support beams. They dividetheexternalspaceframeintofivesec-tions, which are preconstructed an assembled on site. The stairway is a self-supporting light metal structure, situated in the core of the towerandconnenctedtotheexternalstruc-tural systam at the level of the platforms.

Apart from the design of the tower and the material choices, part of the project was the structural calcluation and the production of construction details for the grounding and the connections points of the structure.

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design and technology studio

individual project winter semester supervisors: RWTH Department of Architecture 2010/2011 M. Trautz C. Koj M. Ayoubi

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

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Initial model/1:100

Final models/1:100 - /1:50

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ATZELBERG-TURM 37


detail D3/1:5

section and plans/1:50

detail D4/1:5

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ATZELBERG-TURM 39

SmallHotelandSpaComplexin the area of Mikra, Thessaloniki

The site assigned for this project lies at the east part of the coastline of Thessaloniki, just out-side of the city, and it is the point where one the areas streams reaches the sea. The land-scapeisflatanditofferswideviewsoftheseaand the city. To the north, one encounters a rathertypicalexo-urbanhighwaylandscape,with large department stores, parking areas etc.

The building program calls for a hotel unit of around 30 rooms, a restaurant with ade-quate kitchen space and a small spa station with swimming pool. The spatial requirements are relatively small, compared to the size of the plot, leaving the rest of the space to ac-commodate vehicle movement and parking, some sports facilities and the integration be-tween building and landscape.

The main goal of our design was precisely this integration with the natural elements of the site, most of all water, in its two forms (stream, sea).On thefirstbasicchoices inourdesignwas to leave the coastline zone open as a public promenade, and to assign a more in-troverted quality to the stream. Therfore, the hotel rooms unit is situated further inside the site, along the north side of the stream looking

south, as to enjoy a better sense of privacy. The rest of the building units, having a more collective, semi-public, character, turn to-wards the sea. The spa station stands on the other side off the stream, autonomous but connected to the hotel.

This connection is materialized via a long lin-ear pedestrian pathway, which begins at the entrance of the site and ends at its east end, forming a small dock. At the core of the whole synthesis, the part from the hotel up until the spa unti, it is covered by a wooden canopy. The pathway and the canopy form the back-bone of the whole synthesis, a strong linear el-ement, temporarily enlarged when it meets a building volume.

In the second phase of the studio, we detailed the design further, solving material and con-struction issues. Our main choice was to try to avoid concrete wherever possible, especially in those sections that are very close to water, such as the rooms. Instead we opted for light-weight construction with steel and wood.

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annual architectural design studio

group project, with: winter semester supervisors: AUTh Department of Architecture Periklis Kyriakidis 2008/2009 G. Zoidis C. Connena


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ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN42

SMALL HOTEL AND SPA COMPLEX 43


sketch of entrance area to the hotel and restaurant volumes

section, hotel lobby connection to the rooms area /1:50

model, view of the stream and with the room terraces on the left /1:500

sketch, section perpendicular to the stream

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SMALL HOTEL AND SPA COMPLEX

model, view of the stream and with the room terraces on the left /1:500

sketch, section perpendicular to the stream

sketch, sunshades system

constructiondetail,floor/glassdoor

Construction detail sectionroom terraces (south wall) /1:20

45

Sit or Striptransformable sitting module

The assignment for this short course was to design and construct an 1:1 proto-type for a seat that is more than a seat - that is, a module that can be used for sitting but also easily transformable for at least one more use.

Our project was a cubic stool that could be disassembled into three corner piec-es, which can then be fitted verticallyto create a small and light partition. The cube ismadeupfromsixpanels,eachof which is a square wooden frame cov-ered with a grid of leather cloth strips. The panels are paired in right-angle cor-ner pieces, which fit into one anotherwith the help of small wooden connec-tors.

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short-term industrial design course living design: sitz!

group project, with: winter semester supervisors: RWTH Department of Architecture Emeline Gayerie 2010/2011 A. Karthaus T. Klauser

ASSORTED PROJECTS

47

ASSORTED PROJECTS

presentationflyer

48

SIT OR STRIP 49

Void Networkgenerative design

As starting point for this studio, a picture of a mechanical or natural structure is giventoeachteam.Thefirstassignmentis reproduction o this image as digital 3d model.

Afterwards, the requirement is to formu-late a structured procedure, simulating an algorithm, based on the same prin-ciples as the original input, and to use it to transform the original structure into an architectural object. The scale and/or function are to be determined later, in thefinalphase.Inourcase,wesuggestthefinalobjectasanurbansculpture.

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secondary studio cad and digital representations

group project, with: winter semester supervisors: AUTh Department of Architecture Peni Michailidou 2011/2012 S. Vergopoulos D. Gourdoukis S. Duque

ASSORTED PROJECTS

51

ASSORTED PROJECTS

procedureinitial area +points diviision of area (voronoi) skeleton + surfaces

submersion of selected points of skeleton

determinationoffilledvs.void sections

angular > curvedTransformation concept

Initial image and 3d model

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VOID NETWORK

finalobject

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architecture portfolio '14

Documents

urban design

urban acupuncture points

new urban ground

small elements of urban

pedestrian movement

o p o u

functional urban sculpture

urban ground physical