The purpose of this thesis project, is to create an experimental structure of common living, in the center of Athens, using the existent building reserve of the city, in order to redefine the housing status as we know it.
The starting point of the project, was the study of the identity of the modern day resident of the post-modern city, as well as the ever changing relations that influence the urban living. In another level was considered crucial to analyze a wide spectrum of older and modern examples of housing, in order to identify those elements that traditionally connect the resident, the residence and the city. Using the post-modern urban subject as a starting unit, the project concentrates on creating a new way of living in the city, with an openness to the “outside” as well as to the “common”, a way to live collectively as a part of a wider community. The structure that is being proposed lays on the in-between space, created by the existing structures, where the city recomposes itself in a new level, where the social conditions are fluid and non-definite and the living is oriented on the “outside”. A space is created, around and between social identities, but differs from them. This space was decided to be presented as a wooden structure with wooden filling panels of different transparencies, creating a more apparent contrast of this hybrid situation to the rest of the compact built environment of the Greek capital.
The objective of the whole project is to experiment with those elements that traditionally shape a “home», in its wider meaning, and the deconstruction of them, in order to create a new way of living together, and broadening the definition of dwelling in general, using the city and the resident as a starting point instead of the housing complexes.