In the last three decades in Greece and especially in the large urban centers of Athens and Thessaloniki presents the problem of homelessness. The issue arises on a new base after 2009 with the onset of economic crisis. Since then a new class of homeless people arise, known as newly homeless. These populations showed adequate standard of living and were led to homelessness as a result of unemployment and / or low incomes.
This final project is about the creation of a center for temporary accommodation and cover of the basic needs of homeless people in Athens. Specifically, the building is located in Piraeos Avenue in the limits of the municipality of Athens and municipality of Taurus, in proximity to residential areas and in an urban axis which condenses cultural and commercial activities and is the main axis connecting the center of Athens with the port of Piraeus.
The goal of this project is to create a building program that attracts different social groups and not only homeless, in order to avoid "ghettoization" and to encourage the reintegration of residents in professional and social life. For this reason, along with the uses that involve only the tenants (guesthouses, cultivation of crops) and the homeless who do not reside in the center (restrooms, restaurant), the building includes also features that attract a wider audience (clinics, government agencies, laboratories).
The composition is based on creating walls that act as load-bearing bodies, on which hung the volumes that house the operating program. Central parts of the composition are the two raised plazas that operate on three levels:
A. At the first level (ground level) are used as a public "open", shaded plaza
B. At the second level (second and fourth floor) are the sanitary and feeding spaces, respectively, seeking to act as social condensers
C. At the third level (third and fifth floor), accessible only by the occupants, is the cultivation of crops