SOTIRIA SARRI
MSc Spatial Design UCL, M.Arch, BA (Hons)
Industrial City 2.0 _ Thesis Project
Ursus, Warsaw | Master of architecture | Stage 2
The site of my final year thesis project was situated in the district of Ursus, Warsaw, within the 180 hectare site of the former Ursus Tractor Factory. The M.Arch programme were invited to Warsaw by an association of currently on site who wish to challenge current plans for a developer led speculative housing scheme by proposing alternatives that could allow the site to continue as a productive part of the city.
Ursus at the moment can be characterized as the edge land of the city of Warsaw. The district faces the challenge of finding a new identity between the continuation of its industrial past in a new incarnation, and a bedroom‐city for those working in the central areas of Warsaw. The urban strategy builds upon existing synergies on site to achieve an industrial symbiosis and bring socioeconomic growth to the area. It aims not only to enhance the flow and inhabitation of public spaces in the city, but also to promote people’s awareness in relation to innovative and interactive ways of energy production.
The communication of the proposal aims to convey the whole presentation as a hybrid type of drawing, by mixing a variety of graphic techniques. The whole presentation is conceived as a series of interconnected routes between interconnected scales - tied together with the contextual research and theory that underpinned the project.
The communication of the proposal aims to convey the whole presentation as a hybrid type of drawing, by mixing a variety of graphic techniques. The whole presentation is conceived as a series of interconnected routes between interconnected scales - tied together with the contextual research and theory that underpinned the project.
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![kinesis electri[city].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4f72b8_02a7c6e497ed15da6183bb0ef2dd2af3.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_554,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/4f72b8_02a7c6e497ed15da6183bb0ef2dd2af3.jpg)
urban strategy final presentation which I completed with two fellow students, Maria Michail and Sofia Souglidou.
The strategy takes Henri Lefebvre's "Nested Scale" theory as a basis for a methodology that works and expands across scales, time and networks.
The tool above formed part of an experiment carried out to test piezoelectricity. The same tool was reproduced and was later embedded in the 1:2500 physical model, where it was used to illustrate an interactive representation of the proposed energy production points within identified public spaces.
urban strategy final presentation which I completed with two fellow students, Maria Michail and Sofia Souglidou.
Project completed jointly with Maria Michail and Sofia Souglidou
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This strategic vision formed the basis for the development of my building proposal.
In February 2013, the Urban Strategy was presented as part of a that the School of Architecture hosted in London. This symposium acted as a first step of the school's ongoing discussion regarding urban regeneration through re-industrialization and brought together a wider group of practitioners, activists, academics and students into dialogue.
[re]claiming the body politik
main thesis project _ building proposition
‘’The term recovery, implies something once lost, devalued, forgotten, or misplaced is found again, retrieved, and brought forward with renewed vitality’’. Corner (1999)
Conceived as an experimental energy recovery and film center, the scheme proposes a building-catalyst which acts as a mediator for the integration of various community groups and the evolution of industries.
The overarching intention of the project is to facilitate a conscious understanding of the often invisible systems of energy production and consumption that drive our world. With an appreciation of the ‘extensions’ of the body politik coupled with a more comprehensive education, the scheme unfolds a collective sense of agency and understanding towards these issues.
[re]claiming the body politik opens a debate about the kind of bodies that are required for political participation and for the proper functioning of economic systems. Creating and enabling the use of new technologies is re-industrialization's central point. However, the emergency of a 'cultural re-industrialization' which educates/fabricates active citizens, is also crucial for the achievement of a truly sustainable future.
kinesis electri[city]
thesis project part A _ urban strategy
Kinesis electri[city] aims not only to enhance the flow and inhabitation of public spaces in the city, but also to promote people’s awareness in relation to innovative and interactive ways of energy production.
The programme operates at three transitional scales (Ursus, Warsaw and Poland); each of these is integrated within the other and all are internally differentiated.
Ursus Factory becomes the core of renewable energy production; new infrastructures are developed on site and existing industries are involved in the manufacturing of the piezoelectric tiles process. An industrial symbiosis is developed between actors, synergies and processes, with a long term plan to make Warsaw a self-sufficient city in terms of energy production and enable urban regeneration.
The strategy not only amplifies the role of the ground but also multiplies it, to produce it as multiple grounds. A new topography is being introduced which influences both material processes and social encounters.
Waterfront Regeneration Project
Plymouth, UK | Master of Architecture | Stage 1
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Narrative C takes the new fish market in Coxside; its clinical, industrial nature makes it inaccessible and cut off from the public. Through permanence of structures and events, this will allow for reconnection. The seeding is a byproduct to increase biodiversity, and enhance water life. This type allows for the three types of systems to take place; economic, ecological and social.
Project completed jointly with Isla Melville
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plymouth seed bank
building proposition in Coxside, Plymouth
Plymouth Seed Bank points out the relation between, on the one hand, the biogenetic material and the seeds which are cultivated and, on the other, the kind of landscape in which we live and the way we are being metabolized. Metabolism itself is not a biological but a cultural process.
The placement of the building’s spaces has been chosen as such, so that there is a straight metaphor with the developmental process of the seed. Space for a market area is also developed on the back of the site, which works in collaboration with the fish market and enables the establishment of local businesses.
The proposed seed bank seeks to reintroduce in the industrial area of Coxside a space of culture in its double meaning; of agriculture and civilization. In contrast with other seed banks all over the world which are detached from the city and the community, Plymouth seed bank is situated at the very heart of the urban fabric.
seeded revolt
Plymouth Waterfront urban strategy
"Cities have the capability of providing something for everyone, only because, and only when, they are created by everyone"
Jacobs (1961)
Plymouth has left behind voids, past times have been forgotten and replaced by deprivation and deterioration. It has not only forgotten its physical spaces, but also the people who occupy it.
In the political context of the Plymouth Waterfront BID, which places focus on Plymouth as a tourist destination, the urban strategy argues that as a first step, the city needs to sustain itself, strengthen the identity it already has and then look to the external.
The strategy works on a basis of remembrance and revolt to create resilience. Utilizing those forgotten elements of the city as a starting point for revolt, it works in two ways; the first is event and the second is seeding. Through this proposed framework, Plymouth is considered to become resilient over time.