The subject of this thesis is the design of a covered and outdoor market in the city of Xanthi, which will also include a mosque and a cafe.
The reason for this study was the area in which the bazaar of Xanthi takes place every Saturday. On that day the area is flooded with sellers who are setting up their stalls with their wares and the consumers who flock to bargain for their purchases, creating a special atmosphere. The other days of the week the place presents a picture of desolation and abandonment.
The market design aims to overturn the prevailing setting the rest of the week, through balancing the influx of visitors, traders and consumers and maintain the atmosphere of the bazaar. The mosque and the cafe, enhance the desired effect, as in the surrounding area is not found a mosque, while cafes are reflecting, primarily, the modern form of the city.
Through incisions associated with the existing spatial conditions, is created a grid in which are amounted three parts stores on the ground floor of the market. In the middle part, two openings will facilitate the movement to the ground level in two axes. There are planned 29 branches. With the staircase and the elevator one is led to the second floor. There, is placed a space for the flea market, the mosque and the cafe. Three large gaps in the floor of the second floor, function as skylights to the shops on the ground floor. The materials selected for the walls and the floors are stone and concrete, marble for the indoors, cast floor for the outdoors and stone for the courtyard of the mosque.