The main design principles used to recover the dynamic of the area of the former lignite mining areas in the municipality of Ptolemaida are as follows: Firstly, we are trying to activate the hybrid relationship between nature and culture, allowing the reconnection of the former lignite mining sites with the existing settlements. Secondly, we use collective memory as a signification mechanism, in order to give meaning to the landscape. Thirdly, our design proposal rests on principles of sustainability. Fourthly, we are aiming to programme the landscape as an open operational and functional field.
To this end, we propose four thematic sections, which constitute the fusion of the existing culturally shaped landscape with modern technological developments, in an effort to interconnect the landscape infrastructure with new, ecologically evolving platforms of emerging activities.
The aforementioned thematic sections are as follows:
- Electricity Park
- Routes by the stream and in nature
- Energy Research Laboratories
- Athletic Park
More specifically we are constituting planting as a structural composite tool which has structural validity equivalent to the proposed constructions. Natural materials and construction choices are used both as a means of signalling the principal routes and as a means of character readability of spatial entities. Lighting is also an important field of study. We suggest a balloon energy network, which converts solar radiation and kinetic wind energy into electricity.
