Aspra Spitia 2015

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Aspra Spitia 2015: intentions and transformations Constantinos A. Doxiadis' industrial settlement and its development 1

S. Yiannoudes1*, N. Patsavos2,4, V. Tsesmetzis3,4

School of Architecture, Technical University of Crete, K4 Kounoupidiana Campus, 73000, Chania, Greece 2 Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly, Pedion Areos, 38334, Volos, Greece 3 School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens, 10682, Patission Campus, Greece 4 Ctrl_Space Lab, Architecture & Research, 30-32 Eirinis Ave., 16345, Helioupolis, Attiki, Greece *Corresponding author: E-mail: sgiannoudis@arch.tuc.gr Tel +30 28210 37115

Abstract Aspra Spitia, Constantinos A. Doxiadis' only European example of a complete realisation of his ekistic theory, was originally planned and constructed between 1961 and 1964 for the French aluminium company Pechiney and its Greek subsidiary Aluminium of Greece at Distomitika, in the Southern shore of Mount Parnassos in Voiotia, Greece. As a whole, Aspra Spitia was presented by Doxiadis as a paradigmatic application of Doxiadis' anthropocentric attempt to revive the ancient Greek city in the context of both a radical critique to modern planning and architecture, and the urgent challenges of the future. It is in this very same theoretical framework, as defined by C. A. Doxiadis, that one may today look for a new recodification of the settlement's programmatic and spatial logic in order to enhance its future social, economic and environmental sustainability, in the light of contemporary values and methods while being based on a substantial analysis of the current condition of the settlement and its historical continuous dynamics. This has been the object of a continuing preliminary research project followed by the School of Architecture of the Technical University of Crete, Aluminium of Greece and Ctrl_Space Lab since October 2014. Keywords: Doxiadis; Aspra Spitia; Aluminium of Greece; industrial settlement; ekistics.

1. INTRODUCTION Aspra Spitia, Constantinos A. Doxiadis' only European example of a complete realisation of his ekistic theory, usually illustrated with other exemplary large scale projects in the developing world such as Islamabadh, was originally planned and constructed between 1961 and 1964 for the French aluminium company Pechiney and its Greek subsidiary Aluminium of Greece at Distomitika, nearby Antikyra and the historical settlement of Distomo in the Southern shore of Mount Parnassos in Voiotia, Greece. In a text originally published by Doxiadis at the Greek review ΑΡΧΙΤΕΚΤΟΝΙΚΗ/ ARCHITEKTONIKI in 1965 [1], the planner and his team had the opportunity not just to present the facts related to the project, but also the principles underlying its concept and the tools they had applied in order to achieve the relative goals, as well as the criteria of its possible success. As a whole, Aspra Spitia were presented as a paradigmatic application of Doxiadis' anthropocentric attempt to revive the ancient Greek city in the context of both a radical critique to modern planning and architecture, and the urgent challenges of the future, culminating in the ideas featured in Doxiadis’ books Anthropopolis and Actions for Human Settlements [2]. In that sense, Aspra Spitia, while being an applied project negotiated by all the practical, technologicaleconomical and social, concerns governing it, was claiming at the same time, the character of a theoretical statement and a case study able to demonstrate the validity of the hypotheses, the methods and the tools defining its epistemological identity. It is in this very same theoretical framework, as defined by C. A. Doxiadis, that one may today look for a new recodification of the settlement's programmatic and spatial logic in order to enhance its future social, economic and environmental sustainability. In other words, how could we assess Doxiadis' original intentions and their realisation at place? How could we define retrospectively the fifty years ongoing evolution of the settlement? What's the current situation and how could an Proceedings of the International Conference on Changing Cities II: Spatial, Design, Landscape & Socio-economic Dimensions ISBN: 978-960-6865-88-6, Porto Heli, Greece , June 22-26, 2015

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