A SYMBIOTIC URBAN REEF

PHASE I - IRIS

E C O W E E K C R E T E 2016Agios Nikolaos, Crete. Greece

Workshop Leaders: Chris Doray + Pooya KhaliliWorkshop Team Members: Ming Rang Bai, Maria Mavrogeni, Maria Eleni Manika,Alexia Stavropoulou, Imge EsmerGuest Team Members: Ewa Sroczynska + Piotr Pasierbinski

W3

W3 took on the challenge to explore an urban intervention that would revitalize one kilometre of waterfront in the City of Agios Nikolaos. Presently, the elevated Akti Koundourou (approx 9m above sea level) presents itself as a hostile strip of thoroughfare, restricting access to the City’s greatest recreational amenity - the crystal waters of the Aegean Sea.

In concert with the Urban Reef Proposal, W3 has explored a Phase I scenario to this ambitious proposal. We call it ‘IRIS’ after the legendary Greek Goddess of the Rainbow. IRIS is a hybrid proposal between infrastructure and public art. We have chosen to adopt the reef metaphor and tame it to a seductive series of urban armatures of rhythm and colour. The portals collectively form a new gateway to the city centre and the subtle colours on its interior faces contribute positively to the ‘cheer and delight’ of the white-washed facades often found in Cretan architecture. By night, IRIS will transform into an elegant luminous necklace instead of the otherwise dark tedious waterfront of Agios Nikolaos.

Our proposal is a bold and symbiotic approach to stitch the city to the sea. Borrowing from the marine geography of coral reefs in the Aegean Sea, we have adopted to choreograph a skeleton structure along this ‘vehicular-stricken’ shoreline. An urban reef fashioned after the ascending vernacular of the hillside cityscape and the Cretan mountain range that forms the rugged backdrop to this tranquil seaside resort.

We also inherited an architectural archetype often found in beach resorts, i.e. a ‘cabana’ as a precedent to this multi-tiered assemblage. It was paramount that we maintained transparency at all times and hence the decision to keep this ‘urban reef’ as porous as possible.

The skeleton assemblage builds itself to higher elevations that allows the reef to stitch into the hinterland of Agios Nikolaos. The organic structure blends and merges into the city’s street grid and its topology providing access to residents in their hillside homes to descend easily to the water’s edge for endless recreational amenities. These connecting bridges shall house renewable energy devices to harvest both the abundant solar and wind energies that this coastal city is blessed with. The ‘urban reef’ shall sustain its own energy requirements without having to plug into the city power grid.

The roadway (Akti Koundourou) is maintained but re-finished with traditional cobblestone pavers which will act as a traffic dampener. The reef will enable the expansion of the pedestrian realm at the street level and even permit pedestrians on wheels, i.e. cyclists and skateboarders to inhabit the street level promenade. The street level promenade will also house arts and crafts galleries, artist workshops and selective urban herbal farms for the food and beverage outlets in the reef.

The primary objective of this infrastructural intervention is to provide new accessibility for residents and tourist to the water’s edge. The ‘reef’ is highly permeable so access from the street to the water’s edge is made available along the entire stretch of Akti Koundourou. The water’s edge is designed as a strictly pedestrian promenade - a generous broad-walk that enables active engagement with the sea for the tourist and residents. This new waterside promenade is lined with cafes, wine bars, an open-air reading room beside a piazza filled with hammocks for a lazy afternoon siesta. In addition, a diving and sailing club with storage for sailboats and kayaks, multiple infinity edge ‘ocean-fed’ swimming pools and even an open-air ‘theatre-in-the-round’ for musical recitals.

Water’s Edge Amenities

Street Edge Culture + Arts

Renewable Energy