Flashy design
If you happen to be driving out to Menemeni, past the slaughterhouses and the ruined (though extremely atmospheric) Fix complex on the western outskirts of the city, you can’t miss the line of new multicolored apartment blocks that have taken over formerly unbuilt land and deserted sites. It is an impressive sight, and a welcome attempt at organized stylish construction (every balcony has been encased in plexiglass of different colors). But it is also depressing when you take a closer look and see how close together all the buildings are. To its credit, the construction company that is running the project requested studies from large architecture firms in Thessaloniki, which is unusual. Unfortunately, the good intentions went no further. Gaudy It is a disappointingly shallow approach when a show of design is used to balance a glaring absence of common areas and elementary town infrastructure. The first residents have already moved in and pedestrians have to navigate muddy roads and piles of building materials. Compared with the gaudy apartments at Menemeni, workers’ residences that were built back in the 1930s look like villas designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
