Feleki Athina, Tzahrista Katerina

2013 - 2014Moraitis Konstantinos, Tsiraki Sofia

National Technical University of Athens / School of Architecture

Diploma project

Department I, Architectural design

Aracthos is the 8th largest river of Greece and it surrounds the city of Arta, constituting the main physical barrier to its urban spread. The construction of the hydroelectric dam Pournari I, at 1981, signaled a series of projects, such as the encasement of the riverbed, which gradually distorted the natural environment. The present project involves a landscape intervention located in the riparian area of Aracthos, attempting to redefine the relationship between the city and the river. Drawing on maintaining and enhancing the natural characteristics of the site area, we suggest a mild intervention, which will realize the transition from the urban to the natural landscape, implementing access to the riparian area and thus to the river. We propose the con-struction of an overhead linear path in contact with descending nodes which allows movement on two levels. The ground level is used for the cultivation of experimental crops which are placed to follow the flowshop development of the landscape and they may correlate social relationships with nature through collective practices. The constant change of the river’s elements predetermined the choice of construction methods and material and lead to the design of an ephemeral construction where in the event of natural transforma-tions will be completely destroyed without effecting environmental impact. The form of the path – bridge is a reference to simple makeshift constructions encountered in the area, which were made to meet specific needs. Finally, the random placement of the structure’s components is a reference to the accidental presence of natural elements.

Arta City Bridge - A landscape intervention in the suburban area of