In recent years, in the city of Volos, empty shops have been converted into ground-floor residences. Shop windows are replaced by walls, with doors and windows. In the earlier Research project it was examined who first tries living in these ground floor spaces, usually students or young people. This, in combination with the housing problem due to the rise of the property market and the lack of accommodation for students in Volos gave us the idea of converting ground floor shops into student residences.
 

 Our proposal concerns an alternative model of student accommodation, scattered throughout the city, piloting a different version of the reuse of this building stock. Specifically, it is proposed that ground floor spaces should be converted into homes at the crossroads of 28th October Street and Sefel Street. Starting from there, and examining the different typologies of shops, the proposal could be an applied example that spreads through the city.
 

It is proposed to create student accommodation based on the principles of cohabitation, and shared space and time. Planning a network of spaces in the city simultaneously constructs a dense network of human relationships. In terms of design, adjacent ground-floor properties are joined to create one single space. Bedrooms and bathrooms are situated at the back, while at the front are intermediate, semi-outdoor, communal meeting spaces that function as a bridge between the privacy of the bedroom and the public street. By placing students on the ground floor, we envisage that the street will be revitalised and the sense of neighbourhood strengthened.

 In order to examine the condition of the proposed student accommodation, we looked for a ground floor property that had been unoccupied for many years. A suitable property was found, and we were given permission to use it for three months. This particular ground floor property is an integral part of this Dissertation, as we converted part of it into one of the proposed spaces in the design under real-life conditions.It became a meeting place for us and our friends. The abandoned space was made active, always open, hosting many activities, and a multitude of people and things.