NEWS

Thessaloniki a beacon of architectural hope

The No 78 bus crosses the city, linking Thessaloniki railway station with Macedonia Airport. I recommend it unreservedly to anyone who wants to get better acquainted with the northern port city. Thessaloniki buses tend to crawl rather than race, so you have time to look out the window and observe shop windows, the city’s people and their habits. And if you’re an Athenian, you can’t help but notice that the city has a better relationship with its public spaces. The broad sidewalks of Kalamaria and Vassilis Olgas Avenue have always impressed me. Likewise there is a sense of open space around the exhibition complex and taking a seafront walk along Nikis Street. Not that I want to idealize it, nor fall into the old Athenian trap of making endless comparisons. Thessaloniki has its own problems, which often are the same as the capital’s – sidewalks clogged with motorcycles and cars and impenetrable crossings. Aesthetics In striking contrast to Athens since the 2004 Olympic Games, however, Thessaloniki is leading the way with projects for managing emblematic public areas. Major projects such as White Tower Square (designed by Katerina Tsigarida, Alexandros Skouvaklis and Nikos Kalogirou), and the refurbishment of a large chunk of Nea Paralia (Prodromos Nikiforidis, Bernard Cuomo, Atelier R. Castro, S. Denissof) were delivered this year. In 2009, thousands of Thessaloniki residents and visitors enjoyed using the two revamped public spaces, which also have great sentimental value. Apart from its role as a monument that symbolizes Thessaloniki, the White Tower is also a hub of urban life between the old and new waterfronts. The memory of the polygonal fortifications hovers over the renovated tower. The surrounding area has been opened up and made more functional. The architectural interventions are low-key. As Tsigarida sees it, White Tower Square was never a coincidental meeting of city and geometry. «It had to transcribe in space the encounter of historical, topological and emotional references in contemporary Macedonia.» The Nea Paralia project involved a 1.5-kilometer stretch from the sailing club to the concert hall. The part that continues to the White Tower is yet to be done, and Thessaloniki Municipality plans to call for tenders soon. At present, five handsome parks delineate an aesthetically pleasing space. «Thessaloniki’s Nea Paralia is a linear space that is relatively narrow and very long,» Nikiforidis told Kathimerini. This, he explained, gives it «the look of a front to the thin strip that runs along the difficult and challenging border between land and sea, and the natural and built landscape.» The planning along that border «has to coexist and converse with the water, with nature in its most unstable form,» he said. «The sea forms an extraordinary backdrop to the Gulf of Thessaloniki, where the ephemeral and the mobile dominate, creating a constantly changing atmosphere. Any intervention in that setting takes on its color. It cannot compete with it, only coexist and gain from its inexhaustible luster.» Both the architects and the municipality of Thessaloniki deserve congratulations on these successful projects.

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