students: Anastasia Fragkoudi, Panagiota Piperidou
The natural springs of Eftalou are situated on the northern coast of Mytilini (Lesvos), an island of the eastern Aegean Sea, 3.5klm far from the municipality of Mithimna, whose capital is the village Molyvos. The biggest part of the area has a high touristic development with many hotels, conference centres and recreation parks. A local street network that connects the village of Molyvos to the community of Agioi Anargyroi provides access to the springs of Eftalou. The spring’s temperature fluctuates between 43,6-46,5ο C and has healing abilities.
The natural springs of Eftalou belong to the province of the municipality of Mithimna since the old spa building is considered to be a scheduled edifice and belongs to the Greek government. It’s a small building of the 19th century, of ottoman architecture, with a polygonal plan and a dome. It offers a common bath which is open to the public between June and November. Adjacent to the old building stands a two-story edifice where the rest of the hydrotherapy installations are situated.
Our intention was not to interfere with the already modulated area of the springs, but to reform the area to the east of it. The coastline of the area is steep with an inclination towards the sea measuring 70ο. The main characteristics of the landscape of the area are the underwood and the interposition of a low hill between two gulfs. The area is offshore, viewing the Turkish coasts.
One of our first thoughts was to propose the construction of a S.P.A. resort that would contribute to the development of the sanative tourism of the island. The term S.P.A. is an abbreviation of the Latin expression “Salud Per Aqua” which means “health through water”. Water is a very important and integral element of S.P.A.s’ which is used for healing and revitalization. Using the special attributes of healing water, S.P.A. visitors seek ebullience, internal balance and recollection. S.P.A.s are healing centers, a place that changes one’s life through nutrition, exercise and the attributes of the water, a place where one can feel and meet the harmony of nature.Our desire was to achieve a proportional visual harmony through our diploma thesis. We chose to design an organic synthesis based on fluid forms resembling nature, and embody our interventions with the landscape. One of our first thoughts was to somehow link the two gulfs through the sea, since its presence is a basic element of our proposal and we intended to make it an integral part of our synthesis. Although, the low hill is obviously a natural barrier between the two gulfs blocking their link, we preferred to consider it as a connecting bridge between them. We resulted in a twofold link, over the hill and through it. After concluding in the links of our unities, we tried to find a way to incorporate our architecture with the landscape. The envelope of our S.P.A. resort finds its origin in the slope itself, with its pleats and drapes in softly sinuous tension, and in the sea. Lifted up and opened, the curves of the slope have been reinterpreted in closed, open and semi-open spaces. As the landscape of the area constitutes the resort’s architecture, a semi-underground architecture arises. Compressed, twisted and redeveloped the curves can be translated to routes, floors, roofs, coverts, ramps, etc.
The architecture reinterprets the two-fold notion, apparently in contradiction, of the contextual meaning of natural and artificial, heavy and light, shadow and light. The envelope acquires an intermediate presence, becomes an interspace between the outside and the inside, the enclosed and the open, architecture and landscape. The nature of the “architecture of nature” helped us accomplish different spatial experiences. We chose to design spaces with different amount of natural light, “playing” with light and shadow, (even completely dark spaces-caves), spaces on different levels linked with ramps, spaces with flat, inclined, or even vaulted roofs, semi-open and open spaces that are in harmony with the landscape and mainly spaces which are characterized by the presence of water in it’s different forms (channels, pools, hammams, saunas, baths, showers).
The harmony between our architectural proposal and the landscape redefines the view towards the sea. We intended the sea to be an integral part of our synthesis, so we extended our interventions to its interior. As the roofs of our unities convert into ramps, they stretch into the sea creating routes that end in piers. The architecture of our synthesis is also pursued in our sea interventions, reinforcing the relationship between land and water, giving a sense of entirety. Areas of movement, areas of repose, coverts, ramps and pathways derive from continuous curved lines. The completion of the synthesis is accomplished with the design of a breakwater that forms an artificial harbor.
Below you can find the youtube link of the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmXFIqOEgt8
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