Reprogramming

 

 

midcrit

Athens

The site locates in the area of Ampelokipi to the northwest of Acropolis, It’s a refugee housing complex at Alexandras avenue, comprises 8 three floors blocks, the reason why I chose this site is because there is a huge contradiction and contrast between the blocks and the surrounding environment.

It was a public housing project that the government built for the refugees from aisa minor. Back to the aisa minor disaster happened in 1922, a huge volume of refugees about 1,200,000 were transported to Greece without all their possessions,25% of them arrived in Athens, there were no settlements for them at first, they had to build their houses by whatever building materials they could find, so the settlements used to existed as tent villages and shanty towns, there was a refugee camp to the southwest of the stadium during 1922-1930, 10 years after that the social housing development began, the Alexandras complex was built in 1935, and it’s one of the earliest examples of modern movement in Greece, it’s distinctive in its abundance open space between the buildings. Physically it’s a progress for the living condition but socially it’s a place where the refugees were secluded, not only because one of the most infamous prisons stood next to them but also because of the formless outdoor space was left and contain the blocks. It’s a kind of loose space with no defined uses even without trees, a wide highway sits infront of them, it’s symbolically be set apart from the urban fabric,I defined it a heterotopia in this area.

Although the refugees were demonized as invaders that would destroy the public lives, they successfully re-etablished their social life by making their own social network, they planted trees，renovated the pavements, turned the space in between into a crucial node for public space that connected the indoor space and the outdoor space, like the staircases ,the laundry rooms and the extended courtyards even balconies became a part of the network, it became an active space with high complex urban curlture, since then it slowly integrated to the surrounding neibourhood.

 

But long time after, the government planned to demolish it and promised a park in place, the pressure for the inhabitants made them hesitant to spend any more money for the maintenance, the condition of the complex got worse and worse, some owners sold their houses, some rented their flats to new immigrants or low income person, some moved out left it empty.

Now, the complex has fallen into ruin, the flats are occupied by the new immigrants, squatters, all of them are low-income class, the space between the buildings become an imformal parking lot for the surrounding public buildings, the prison nearby was replaced by the court of justice, while the police headquarter sits on the other side, the relationship of those three is a kind of subtle, two institutions represent power located on both sides while the imformal housing with some illegal squatters just sits in between.

 HK

SSP locates to the northwest of Tsi Sha Chui ,it is one of the oldest area in HK and where the urban renewal project mainly take place now. My interest for this site is also the huge contrast between the old and new and what the urban renewal projects will bring to the heaven for low-income class. There are some similarities between Sham Shui Po and the complex, they are both settlements for new immigrants  and low income class, the condition of the buildings are both degraded and they all have a huge contrast between the old and new, however the 2 sites are facing different situation.

Hong kong is a city with extremely high density, the city changes very fast, while Greece is facing the urban decay with the development stopped, and there will be a big change in social structure in SSP by the URP which is unstoppable that the government want to develop the protential economic value of this area so they started to integrate this area with the middle class but I doult if it’s really integration or just want to kick the low income class out, because SSP has a very good location.

The diagram below shows the changes in street vitality from the center area of Sham Shui Po to the edge area where the urban renewal project take place, I walked from Apliu street down to the West Kowloon Corridor through 7 blocks,I can obviously feel that the street vitality and the commercial activities reduced but an increase in the number of high-rise buildings and abandoned tang-lou more shut down shops and fewer pedistrains.

And I want to figure out what’s behind this phenomenon,then I realized that the vitality reduce because of the decrease in diversity. The reason why the central area is so prosperous is because the space is multi- functional like residential ,commercial, market ,feast ,eating, recreational and any other kind of spontaneous activities, some of these functions are long-lasting ,some are temporal, some are overlapping without any boundries , the  variaty in the forms of stalls is a good example of multi use space,this combination of such diversity stimulate the vitality.

 

While what URP do is to simplify the function lke move the street market into podium and left the pavements just a places for crossing.I took this photo from a market in podium and make a comparson with the market on street, it’s easy to find the differences.

But now the vitality is dissapearing because of the change in social structure, the boundries of different functions are slowly forming by the Urban Renewal Project.

The site in Athens has the same problems,they have clear boundries between different functions, and the function of each space is so simple ,and what I want to do for the next step is bluring the boundries between different functions and generate these  abandoned fragments ,reuse and integrate the unuse land by creating a diverse functional environment which would help to active the blocks and the surrounding space.

essay

Essay

Current Situation of The Refugee Housing

During the trip to Athens,I visited the site three times as well as the neighbourhood,this area is very close to the center of Athens，the main buildings surrounded including two hospitals,a stadium,the police headquarter, the court of justice and a bank with several clocks on the facade all show a strong contrast between themselves and the abandoned refugee housing,both in scale and facade.

The “refugee” neighbourhood at Alexandras avenue, situated at a nodal point within the network of the city, occupies in total a site of 14.323 m2, comprises 8 three floors apartment blocks, 228 flats (each about 45 m2 in area), and covers a built total surface of 13.620 m2.

This area is mostly be occupied by multi-storey residential houses except for those public buildings I mentioned above.The modern multi-storey buildings have a totally different typology with continous balconies and sunshades.

section of the difference btween the refugee housing and the multi-storey residential building

typology of the multi-storey residential buildings

 

No physical connections between the "old" and the "new" except the hanging lamps in-between,below is an interesting view of the open space in between with the glass and concrete facade of the distant Court of Justice.

Alexandras Avenue Refugee Building Complex

Background

1.1922

After the "Asia minor disaster",a treaty was signed specifying a large-scale population exchange.Some 1,2000,000 Greeks,mostly from cities on Turkey's Aegean coast,had to leave their homes and be transported to Greece,deprived of all their possessions,while Turks from Greek mainland,mainly peasants,had to follow the opposite route.

2.Shanty Towns

Greece's government keep almost half population of the refugees around the major cities,so as to control them and to "integrate" them into the local economy.The other half who were allowed to stay in Athens had to build their houses on empty public lots mainly outside the city by whatever materials they could find.Shanty towns with no roads and living facilities had appeared since then around Athens and Piraeus.

The country showed a strong hostile to those uprooted people,they are demonized as invaders who would destroy the city's public life,and those shanty towns were spatially and socially formed as ghettoes.

3.The refugee housing complex

Almost ten years after the Asia Minor,a slum clearance project produced a series of model settlements.The Alexandras complex was built during the years 1934-35,which was distinctive in its abundance of open space between the buildings.

All these residential apartments are small but offer air and light from both sides,  consist of a sitting room, a bedroom, a small kitchen and a tiny toilet. And it's one of the earliest examples of the modern movement in Greece.

Balconies as boxes(1943)

Be treated like "others"

Socially the buildings were a place where the refugees were to be secluded.No care was taken for the remaining open space,no initiatives were established for the complexes to be incorporated into the city.Those complexes were both physically and symbolically set apart from the city,surrounded as they were by amorous public space easily read as separating zone.Residents had to face a unfrendly environment.

Self-organized public place

Nevertheless,an evolving comman life burst out of the buildings thanks to the loose spaces with no defined uses in between. Residents transformed outdoor space into an ambiguous network of small courtyards,pavements,tree-shaded areas,improvised playgrounds and meeting points.

The outdoor space was not marked by absolute boundaries, the staircases were not simply used to cross but noisy play areas especially in winter,the laundry room became the living room for women,most of the basement flat were extended into small courtyards.

Decay

Since the late 1960s,the complex have been the focus of the governments who promised a park in place of a degrated housing area.The pressure produced a precarious situation for the residents who were hesitant to spend money for housing maintenance.The fomer public places like the staircases,the laundry rooms and the pavements started crumbling.Also this ares became a large informal parking lot for people using the nearby hospitals or stadium.

Most of the owners sold their apartments,while others abandoned their houses or have rented them to comtemporary immigrants or low income people.The buildings appeared to be almost abandoned.

During the Athens 2004 Olympic games, a huge cloth with Acopolis printed on it was used to cover the facade of the building facing the Alexandras Avenue.

 

However,some  public events like exhibitions or festivals were orgnized by volunteers and those who resist the demolition,they attended to regenerate the former vivid public place,and tried to show that the history of the buildings has transformed them to protential sites of an osmotic public life.

Wonderland

The scale of SSP is very interesting .On the street level, original buildings were built in human scale whilst new private estates look like giants who ate the "EAT ME" cake from the "Alice in Wonderland" story and grew to such a tremendous size. The exaggerated contrast between the old and new makes SSP looks like Alice's wonderland.

SSP is famous for the vivid street life,however,the "new giants” cover the sky，and seems like alien to the neighborhood.Some blocks in Cheung Sha Wan has already be replaced by those "modern giants",and the street market has been moved to business buildings in the  podium.

See the  spatial difference I illustrated below:

original street of SSP  V.S.  street occupied by the giants

The street view in the second illustration is just the status quo in some blocks in Cheung Sha Wan,and may be the future of central SSP.No more attractive street markets,only a few pedestrians walking by in a rush and the sidewalk turned from an active outdoor place into an aisleway carrying pedestrians and wheeled traffic.

This contrast remind me Jane Jacob's view about the relationship between  streets and the city“If a city's streets look interesting,the city looks interesting;if they look dull,the city looks dull."

market in the business building V.S. market on the street

Besides,SSP is a wonderland for skilled craftsmen and small traders because there is a lot of tiny stalls or shops although the shopkeepers are continuously struggling against spatial and temporal constraints.These shops and stalls are nexus of social and econimic networks and hubs of community memory,sth that is becoming rare in other new districts.

 

Start from the last day in SSP

Last day in SSP, I continue to explore the area where URP is about to take place,a few blocks to the southwest of the SSP station,followed the route I searched online:Yen Chow St.----Tai Nan St.---Yee Kuk St.---Haitan St.---Tung Chau St.

The Yen Chow St. Hawker Bazaar impressed me most, it's like a squatter fabric market and you can find almost any fabric you want with a good price.I tried interview the stall owners but they seemed to be Cantonese speaker and hate to be bothered,after be refused unfriendly several times,I was really embarrased,but fortunately，I successed to get an interview with an elderly owner even he didn't want to be in the camera that I only recorded our conversation.He told me they used to run their bussness in the underground mall where locates the tube satation now,and the government moved the market to where they were right now in order to make room for the station constraction, and they were promised to  stay here temporarily，but they have been there for 32 yrs since the promise from the government, and they don't know how much longer they have to wait for the promise to be achieved.

I never doubt the URP would give a better living conditions to the residents and  bussnessmen,but temporary placements seems to be a problem, especially for those lower income class.

the location of this market

 

And I found another replacement market under the West Kowloon Corrador, but this one is much better that at least they are phisical buildings.