Ahmed El Gamal Y5

A Personal Athenian Restaurant | Athens, Greece | Unit 21 | 2019

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Athens has an epidemic of abandoned buildings post the 2008 recession. The decreased economic activity stagnated these assets. In addition, the viability of reinvestment in such properties was hindered by their occupancy of squatters in need. As a result, the government’s solution was to tear down fully abandoned and squatted properties to empty lots. In hopes of attracting investment to a clean slate . Usually targeting foreign investment to invest on a large scale like the Piraeus port. This approach commonly disregards the needs of local community on the intimate scale . Such as the fact the most squatting establishments are public needs , Schools, food shops , anti drug establishments rather than purely residential occupancy. The project attempts to address the stagnation of the athenian built environment from the bottom – up , through individualistic action . rather than the complete reliance on government intervention tackling some of the community needs in the process.

The first half of the project explores the relationship between overarching systems and their users. Specifically in terms of categorization and influence . I used tech companies and digital space as the example for such systems since they are the most intrusive . In terms of a digital footprint are my actions as individual limited to my categorization in the population. Or can I be more impactful in the digital space . I limited myself to data generated by my physical footprint and to certain parameters in a limited space. Generating spatial drawings of different actions in space. Understanding that this digital footprint would be only accessible to me, I designed a national experience and spatial system to portray it to others . Extending the reach of my presence into the digital space.

The notational experience developed in the first half is used to tackle the program ,moving forward .The built project employs the physical actions of the individual as the base for its architectural language. Engraving the occupants signature in the built space , while remaining true to the hill scape of greek topography . The subject for this program is a local cook in the Exarchia area. the program is a restaurant and residential quarters for him , built on a site of demolished and abandoned buildings and supplemented by a small farm . Inspired by another bottom – up phenomena of Athenian urban farmers. Tackling needs of social care , inactive land and in this case ,fresh ingredients. An alley like space splits the program in two masses and offers an open communal space. Extending on this common scene in the athenian built environment.

The project aims to produce a viable way of promoting individual action as a possible solution to accumulating social and spatial issues caused by the last recession, in contrast to the rhetoric of the dependency on governing system as the source of all action .