KRT009
UNDER deCONSTRUCTION

Sonia Tsakni


KRT009 is situated opposite Ethnikis Antistasis Square (former Kotzia) and the City Hall, the location of the building is crucial to the intervention, that attempts to use the building as ‘’the opening move’’ for realizing a broader strategy of reclaiming underutilized public spaces. In a broader sense, the project is a socially driven interpretation of the porous city, emphasizing the interconnectedness of the parts that constitute the city. Through the observation of the various changes of the square, the city hall, and even the whole city, its ever-changing nature becomes apparent. So, we adopt the slogan ‘’cycles of construction and deconstruction’’, societal, political, and other changes are also taken into consideration. Finally, deciding when to employ ‘’big actions’’ or strategies and when small adaptive interventions that allow day-to-day reinterpretations, seem more appropriate.

There are three main points of intervention, starting from the building, spreading to the underground parking under the, now named, Women’s Square, and impacting the broader area by pedestrianizing Athinas Street. The building’s basement is extended partially underground towards the basement of the City Hall, forming a “trench” and creating a front towards the, in this situation, perceived authority. Thus ‘’the building is spreading towards the city and blurring its limits with the city’’.

The building is going to house the municipally sponsored, autonomously run, Institute for Feminist Arts and Research, (FAR) with a co-living space for resident artists and researchers.

The intervention in the parking under the square follows the idea of creating trenches. This practically translates to removing parts of the parking ceiling, while retaining the main structure such as pillars and beams, in order to create a two-level square, with gardens on both levels. A new steel structure is fitted around the existing concrete frame. Creating new habitable spaces for a municipal community center.