(B)reeding between the lines

The master design thesis explores the embodiment of the railway station of Athens into the urban fabric, serving not as a barrier but as a design tool in the city's architecture. Considering the role it plays in the urban fabric today, we find that the railway station is governed by a complexity in terms of the needs it serves, as it is a microcosm of city life. In the case of the railway station of Athens, it is also interesting to have its location. At first, is located in the suburbs of the city. As the city expands, the station is required to integrate with the city and serve additional needs. Instead, what has contributed to the development of the city has gradually worked as an obstacle, a constraint for urban planning. Existing railway lines and the lack of passages create a strong boundary between the two sides of the station. The rupture of the continuity of the urban fabric results in the creation of sub-areas with difficulty communicating with each other, thus eliminating the users themselves.

It is therefore attempted to link the two areas through the building itself. The active existence is revised and gives its place to flow areas created through a network. The steps of the design logic are: a) the intervention area is approached as a flow and link system. b) where different systems collide with each other, they create information exchange nodes. c) as the network is formed, levels are created that allow for flexibility and attract all kinds of operations. d) we ask for an aggregation, where each element is an event, we ask for a transformation and not a simple combination. Thus, the design process does not focus on the fact that a plane is placed over the other, but in the flow state resulting from the cross-section of multiple elements. e) the nodes created activate the intervention area and act as joints of social and cultural activities. f) the resulting volumes and surfaces are not expressed as solid levels, but as a line and point complex, an assemblage of elements. As for the construction, it is about a metal frame that bridges the two sides and rests on concrete elements. Additionally, this system allows the columns not to enter the building, as the entire static structure acts as a frame. The lining is made of concrete panels. Along with the creation of the building, its background is also planned. Basic design moves are the creation of a central reservation (car and TAXI parking, bus stops and subway entrance),as well as a bicycle line, the addition of a 2nd subway entrance to the other side of the area, the design of the square of the Railway Station as a meeting and separation point, and the use of the preserved building of the Peloponnese Station as a museum and the design of the background that surrounds it. Particularly because the area at Peloponnese Station is on a higher level, it is treated as an observatory and for the creation of a space for social and cultural events, the existing road “Sidirodromon” is removed. Experiencing the building becomes an open-ended process of definition and redefinition. Spaces that allow energy and movement to freely pass, that blurs the line between exteriority and interiority, transparency and obscurity, regularity and the unexpected.