Redevelopment of the New Waterfront of Thessaloniki - 8a Biennal 2014

Bernard Cuomo, Prodromos Nikiforidis

Redevelopment of the New Waterfront of Thessaloniki.
Project Summary.

Objective of the proposal
In 2000, the Municipality of Thessaloniki launched an International Architectural Competition for the redevelopment of the New Waterfront of the city. Nikiforidis-Cuomo Architects won the first prize and in 2006 the construction begun.
The basic purpose was the complete approach of the topic, aiming at proposed interventions that present continuity and coherence and at the same time contribute to the regeneration of the ecosystem at the borderline between sea and city. The design, the choice of materials, the choice of plantation, the lighting, they all contribute not only to the construction of a high quality public space but mainly to the organization of a space that is “inscribed” smoothly to the existing urban landscape and its management and maintenance do not demand the waste of valuable resources.
The main objective of the intervention was to offer the citizens a new landscape that could provide them with safe, well-planned, interesting, modern, multifunctional public spaces of high aesthetics. It was also to provide new services, alternative choices and to provoke the creation of new habits. For all of these reasons, the New Waterfront has areas with very different characteristics, which all complete a multifaceted picture.

Project description
The construction of the first part (around 75800m2) was completed in 2008 and the construction of the second part (around 163000m2) started in 2011 and ended in 2013. The total length of the New Waterfront is 3km.
In the New Waterfront are distinguished two major elements, which set the principles for the basic choices of the project.
The walk, right above the limit between land and sea, the pavement of the Waterfront, the open and uninterrupted view, the feeling of infinity due to the intense presence of water, the line of the horizon inside the sea, that sometimes is profound and clear and other times is completely lost, merging sky and sea, varying impressively the ambience.
The green spaces (gardens), with interspersed uses of recreation and sports, differentiate this section from the breakwater, offering shadow, soft grounds, visual isolation and interchanges of spaces. The names of the gardens are successively: Garden of Alexander, Garden of the Afternoon Sun, Garden of the Sand, Garden of the Shadow, Garden of the Seasons, Garden of Odysseas Fokas, Garden of Mediterranean, Garden of the Sculptors, Garden of Sound, Garden of Roses, Garden of Memory, Garden of Water and Garden of Music.

Valuation of the finished work
Since the completion of the project, people have been familiarized with the intervention and quickly evolved the New Waterfront in their everyday life. People enjoy engaging in activities they always had, but they also have developed new ones. They use the New Waterfront for walking, reading, fishing, running, playing with their children, but also for cycling, exercising in groups in open-air, having picnics, gardening, entertaining, dancing, giving performances, having coffee, meeting friends etc. In 2012 was founded the association “Friends of the New Waterfront” whose events and activities concerning the New Waterfront enjoy special recognition and participation.
The last few years, large projects in both the public and the private sector became fewer in the country. The implementation of the New Waterfront is one of the few new urban spaces not only in Thessaloniki but in whole of Greece.
The most significant fact that proves the importance of the intervention is the love of the people. The redevelopment of the New Waterfront offered people a new urban open space near water with multiple functions. People embraced it, created new habits and started participating in the maintenance of the public space.

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