The building complex of the former Matsaggos Tobacco Industry is located in the centre of the city of Volos, surrounded by 28^th Octovriou, P.Mela, Ermou and Macedonomachon streets. It consists of five buildings altogether, built from 1920 to 1936, therefore each one belonging in a different era. As a result, every building is of a distinctive architectural style. The University of Thessaly is in possession of this building complex which has been designated as preservable.

The purpose of this Senior Thesis is to negotiate the fulfillment of the architectural intervention, intending to reutilize the rest of the unexploited Matsaggos complex, which is about 2000 m² in area, situated on the streets of P.Mela, Ermou and Macedonomachon.

This architectural study suggests a triple gradation as follows: a building internally and externally preservable, an eclectistic building-masterpiece of art in which no intervention will be permitted, and a building to which two policies will be implemented. On the one hand, part of the building is to be maintained, as its already existing canvas serves us to a great extent and, on the other hand, the rest of the building is going to be demolished. In order for the desired effect to be achieved, we have to follow three stages. To begin with, there will be no intervention in the preservable Building C. The same strategy remains valid for part of the Building B on P.Mela Street, applying the required partitions and supporting it internally with a layer of concrete. The façade of Matsaggos Gallery (Stoa Matsaggou) on Macedonomachon Street will also remain intact as conducted by previous planners and architects regarding the upper building of the Faculty of Financial Studies, so that the harmony of all façades in a row can be preserved. However, we are going to intervene drastically in the interior of the façades with the construction of a metallic building, intending not to obscure but to give prominence to the existing monument.

The building will be utilized by the Students’ Community in terms of supplementary auditoriums for the coastal University Campus, also providing additional facilities for the university students (an internet café, a restaurant, offices for students’ associations, etc.). Furthermore, thanks to its outstanding position in the heart of the city of Volos, it can serve as a venue for exhibitions and presentations of educational projects, offering local people the opportunity to benefit from such events at the same time.

In conclusion, the purpose of this study is to overcome the decay and obsolescence that has been inflicted on this building complex so far and bring about a new model of interconnection between a University Building and the city of Volos.

Supervisor: Adamakis Kostas

Reference Number: 561

This paper presents a research and design approach of a leisure park and temporary residence, thematically oriented on extreme sports, named «Extreme Playground». The paper initially discusses the way of life and habitation of the subgroups who are potential visitors e.g. - bmx, skate, inline, parkour, watersports - and the implementation of the specialized design of this park.,

At the second level further research sought in designing the parameters identified from the area of ​​Pefkakia. To find data an unmanned flight vehicle (drone) was used for accurate recording of vegetation and relief. By examining the data of the theoretical research and the data from the region, basic principles for the design of the park were developed, citing the manifesto of Claude Parent and Paul Virilio about the "ramp", the terrain and produced by this grid.

Then, a number of diagrammatic approaches on loading the program to the plot, and The form of buildings with the use of basic three dimensional display tools were developed. Additionally, we created flowcharts of movements of groups on performance of the coverage of the plot.

After we have created the parameters of the investigation we proceeded in to the design of parks initially and then of  to building sites. Our main goal was to bridge the individual programs and continuity of flow paths around the plot. The design of buildings was based on three typologies related to the terrain, the generated grid and program.

Finally, in the following chapters listed projects of buildings and residence points for each subgroup  were studied, as well as shots from different points of the plot to understand the configuration of the new ground into the existing landscape.

Supervisor: Gavrilou Evelyn

Reference Number: 564

This diploma project concerns the redesign of existing building structures of the Polytechnic School of the city of Volos.

The plot of the proposal is located opposite from the existing Faculty of Engineering at the intersection of, Athens Alamanas, Sekeris and Heyden Street, along the banks of Krafsidona River.

These current building structures that otherwise the campus of the University of Thessaly, are situated at the entrance of the city of Volos, in a former industrial zone. Northeast facing Mount Pelion and west to Mount Othris while south facing Pagasitikos bay. On the east side there is the district '' Old '', a developing zone symbol. The band was originally comprised of the buildings of the former factory Papariga which were renovated and the new building of the Engineering Department of Planning and Regional Development

The fact that the existing polytechnic facilities were not designed for university use, the proposed project is its redesign.

Central planning axis is the large number of interior courtyards, around which the university infrastructure is developed.

As the plot is located at the entrance of the city of Volos and a deprived area full of ruins and abandoned buildings, a building landmark was necessary. In terms of design, the above mentioned courtyards are immersed below the zero level, as a sound protection from a continuously charged Athens. The interlocking connection of three schools with longitudinal corridors redefines the identity of a new type of university. Finally the low height of the building shell is to respect the equivalent of the area.

Supervisor: Kanarelis Theoklis

Reference Number: 554

The diploma thesis aims to research the relation between the construction of space and the transmission of constructed images that are integrated in the media sphere.

The technological growth of the last decades has managed, on the one hand, to create tools and tool clusters that dissolve information and on the other hand, to speed up its spreading as well as, its connection with the human sensory system. Having said that, we find ourselves in between a fuzzy cloud, where news feed and reality, information and entertainment, truth and lie lose balance between their limits.

By these terms, we attempted to translate the intangible nature of information into a material version of itself by recreating/transforming a minivan and turning it into a platform that has the ability to construct reality. The minivan is now equipped with office furniture, dressing room, a customized toolbox, containing the tools needed in order for the users to create a composite piece of information, and a new name, Infectious Trans.Motor (i.trans.motor). The users adopt a tactic as follows: they visit the desired area as long as it makes a good set, use the i.trans.motor equipment in order to create an audiovisual documentation, process the product and afterwards they transmit the manufactured information to mass media.

While researching the relation between information and production of built-up space, we decided to engage i.trans.motor in three scenarios of transformations concerning the city of Volos.

These transformations are being referred to as antivirus and the piece of information that is needed to make them necessary, as virus. This play of words is used in order to emphasize on the role of news in mind setting, the desires it can create by pointing out or constructing gaps and the compulsive parochialism of its victims in the sake of salvation.

Can a vehicle construct reality?

Supervisor: Tzirtzilakis Yorgos

Reference Number: 541

The heroes of the horror will never change. They will always have enemies, always cheat and have middle-in-the-night-rendez-vous, always be at the wrong spot at the wrong time. They will always battle their guilt and neurosis, always oppress their desires and drives, always chasse after the same dreams, hopes and temptations. And they always die a horrible death. Because if one is convinced he is a sinner and is ashamed of his actions, every sin needs payment. As long as we are ashamed of our desires, our desires will haunt and punish us.

Here, a new stage opens up. A platform of the senses, a realm where little by little, our naked drives are revealed. A structure wich keeps out every social restriction, every limitation, every rule. A mixture wich hides the ethics of the impulese, the virtue of the abyss of the monstrous.

Theatrical scenes reveal themselves, stages adn acts that are free from the fear of life anf the guilt of desir - not because there is some other higher power or force, no, but because there is no point in fearing something wich cannot touch you.

We are entering the giant conqueror worm. We have become one with his mind, his brain, his body and hearts. Its tissue protects us and keeps us safe from the outside world.

Every need, every desire, every thought and every drive can become reality inside the worm, inside this monster, without any fear od destruction or self-destruction, wothout any guilt or need for purification.

Supervisor: Tzirtzilakis Yorgos

Reference Number: 539

A play area is a wild area. A voracious imagination, rich in excess is channeled into a physical and corporal blast. What is “the playground”? It is the place wherein the “corporal blast” mentioned above, occurs. In the absence of physicality this place can be everywhere, especially there where the body cannot.
Here is the attempt to approach that place in between; where body and joy in unison, can be weightless, ageless, unrestrained . Neither high up nor down to the ground, needless for legs to walk, or rules on how to play, the body will be free to improvise its own movement on an unstable environment.
Consider how does it feel playing in the urban environment of Kypseli; in surroundings, gray and cemented? The only medium to evolve the game is via imagination. In this game, the theme springs-forth from places where no one has ever entered, or ever came out. The eye arrested by a stray cat jumping around can make the flats look like dollhouses. The lines become distinct and this is - probably the only way to describe what you see; regardless that a straight line has never been drawn by our own hands.
Thus, out of the transparent tube were woven carpets and mattresses, corridors and bridges, swings and patches; so that the body can be found floating in pendulous surfaces, searching for its own limits and its forlorn wildness. The PLAY [on] GROUND is surfaces of transparent PVC knitted; surfaces which are weaved in a way that every point, becomes a touching-point, a handle to grip, a surface to drop on, to swing from, or just a place to rest. A structure inspired by and destined for an urban game. It can accommodate from kids to adults, regardless of weight. The aim of the construction is, according to the dimensions of the urban space provided, to be multiplied, shape-shifted and redesigned inasmuch as to cover the needs of the available space above the ground.

Supervisor: Psychoulis Alexandros

Reference Number: 547

The project of Xtended spaces is based on a theoretical frame that approaches the concept of space from a geographical perspective in order to extend into hybrid environments. In the notional context of multiplicity (Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari) the analysis was based on the applicability of fields that merge the digital, the real and the narrative milieu. The project of Xtended is based therefore on an encrypted augmented coordinate system (the grid) where virtual passages are founded in order to be decrypted. The process of decryption presupposes the use of the Xtended App (Google Play/Xtended) but most importantly the actual physical presence of the sensor-carrier in the area where the Xtended space is located. Once an augmented coordinate is crossed-traced the application notifies the user and the hyperlinked Xtended space of the museum is accessible and set for navigation. While a typical museum extension is a construction planned adjacent to an existing museum edifice, the project proposes and open-ended approach of both the structural-synthetic elements of the extension itself and the potential assembly with a fore-existing museum institution. The installation of a museum extension in such a way enables also new ways of displaying different genres exhibitions (screen-based media, digital arts, digitized ‘traditional’ forms of art) rendering thus the curate process into a fundamental stage design. The main objective of the Xtended spaces is to present an intermediate spatial condition where navigation mutates towards a form of narration. Xtended spaces, both in concept and in realization, is a project  that flows to and fro to a critical thinking regarding the problematic of site-specificity (in-situ/ex-situ), the city and the existing infrastructures (virtual/real) and the active engagement of subjects with space.

Supervisor: Antonas Aristide

Reference Number: 537

 The diploma thesis deals with the Acropolis of Athens as a space-symbol. After a short introductory reference to the history of the Acropolis, the following proposals attempt to  understand and redefine the way the «sacred rock» is being addressed and exploited.

The first four proposals are based on a common methodology and development system. An introduction to the general spirit of each one is made with two distinctive quotes and a typical picture. A selection of archival images comes next, along with a constructed scenario and a theoretical approach. Consequently, the proposal is represented with a land use map and architectural plans, photosurrealistic images and constructed pieces of propaganda.

On the «Acropolis» Squat, the hill is taken over by the Athenian multitude, after the events of a bankruptcy. The spatial result alters the rock on the level of land uses and under a general, ad hoc spirit. On the «Acropolis» Camping, a series of catastrophic natural phenomena wipe Athens out of the map and transform the Acropolis into an island that hosts a fully equiped encampment. On the «Acropolis» Metropolitan Park, after a state’s initiative, the Parthenon departs on a long, worldwide tour, leaving a hard-to-handle void behind. While waiting for the monument to come back, a Park is constructed on the surface of the hill, spread with mild planting, sport facilities and a monumental construction on the ground where the Parthenon used to stand. On the «Acropolis» Theme Park, a theme park is installed on the «sacred rock» and turns it into a public-debt-paying venture and a fun destination for visitors from all over the world.

The fifth, final proposal, under the title «Acropolis», does not conclude in some specific spatial result as it is rather concerned with the relation of the Acropolis with the city of Athens, attempting, at the same time, to transcend the symbolic charge of the monument. The finishing point of this diploma thesis urges to a new outlook of the monument, above and beyond its forcible sacredness, under a general spirit of constant dispute and redefinition.

Supervisors: Papadimitriou Maria, Tzirtzilakis Yorgos

Reference Number: 535