Τhe present thesis focuses on the territory of Aggelochori as the threshold of the 

broader territory of the Gulf of Thermaikos. The designation of the local scale of Aggelochori unfolds within a broader problematic of the supra-local scale of 

Thermaikos Gulf, since it belongs in the same marine entity (matrix) where the 

same problematic of deterioration and alienation of users from the site is detected.

The designation of the inherent features of the local site enhances the broader supra-local context. The site is the coastline of Aggelochori from the border of the salt lake to the southern cape. Salt in its different states forms a collage of fragmented sites and images constituting a superposition of locations. In this circumstance we trace the absence of a “welcoming space”, a common place where the heterogeneity of users, materiality and moving subject will converge to another reality, a sui generis topology, a heterotopology where humans are in a state of absolute rupture concerning their conventional time. In this place, time is ephemeral and uncertain.

Our analogue experimentation with the materiality of the site gave feedback to our digital, dual machine: the rizoma development and the salt crystallization process upon the former. The machine operated as a springboard for the form to emerge. An ever changing pipe system which undergoes a constant process of birth, wear and death.

The designation of submarine posidonia is accomplished by developing a pipe network, from which rizoma structures are shot inside and outside of the sea ending up on and inside the land. Fish and the aquatic life in general are given place to grow, expand and evolve as rightful owners of the sea. The fish and the fields constitute an ecology of mutual reliance. Hence our design intention concludes with an artificial submarine maze of pipes that repels human and attracts fish.

Our intention is the inhabitance of the site from its users through a gesture of empathy enhancement from the part to the whole, triggering the optical, tactile, olfactory, aural and gustatory sensory centers. Our aim is a multidimensional experience of pleasure, relaxation, spiritual and somatic renewal and rejuvenation. The constant alternation of scenery in a year’s time and in time depth during periods of growth as well as periods of decaying, on a different degree each time, serves as a pole of attraction. The atmosphere varies, therefore triggers and intensifies the visitor’s interest offering him an ever-alternating experience.

The same crystalline salt structure grows on and inside earth, lining an artificial underground cave. The inhabitance of the site from visitors (swimmers and fishermen) is supported by activities elaborated in an alternative way. Terrestrial crystalline surfaces support alternative handling of piscatorial raw material, like marination, curing and salt roasting.

The artificial underground cave constitutes an architecture where the climate is indissoluble connection with the earth and the substratum. A place to hide and protect against the relentless, summer sun. Its shell is lined internally with soil’s material (clay, sand, salt). There, a specific type of air is developed: cool, damp, fresh, coming from the inner of the earth as well as from the salt pipe network that lines the inner of the cave.

The intense substance and character of nature itself triggered the design process. Warm or fiery in summer and brisk or harsh in winter. Effervescent or sorrow, vibrant or dull, bright or dreary, full of movement or inertia. The embodiment of the site manifests its pluralistic character through a manifold of forms and forces. The form emerges as a telluric wave from and above the sea. The substance, the soil, the salt, the water, the wind, the soul. All come alive and provoke our awe. The result looks very appealing and very much alive, being under way, on the way in or on the way out, either assembled or disassembled. The form, rather amorphous, constitutes the sublime: forms of unfinishedness, with the same frayed profile: things are unfinished either because they are still under construction or because they were finished but are now undergoing a process of erosion of wear and tear. In short, they are young things and old things. They exhibit spontaneity as well as character. Flows of organization pass through the form, which is nothing but life.

After all, life exceeds form…