General
– Announcement of an Architectural Ideas Competition
We are particularly satisfied with the intention of the Municipal Authority to announce an Architectural Ideas Competition for the regeneration – landscaping of the entirety of the Railway Station's conceded area, which demonstrates that this highly important undertaking for the city is also recognised as a noteworthy technical project, and that, beyond legality, the best possible outcome is being pursued. We would like this to be reflected both in the content [givens – requirements] of the Competition's announcement, as well as in the management of its results within the subsequent implementation studies.
Following this logic, we believe it would be preferable for the urban planning of the area to follow the Architectural Ideas Competition, and for it to be the object of the competition rather than a given restriction, in order to better utilise its results.
– Urban Planning as a Single Building Block with Areas of Specific Uses
In the advance urban planning of the area, however, we consider the adoption of a single Building Block with sub-areas of specific uses for the largest part of the conceded area to be a positive step, as it is thus utilised as an urbanistically unified, free, open multi-purpose space for culture, greenery, and recreation. This is provided that the unified nature of the space is not compromised by the operation of the numerous and differing uses—for example, through fencing for any functional demarcation—and that it constitutes an object-requirement of the Architectural Ideas Competition.
– Building Coefficient
We also consider positive the adoption of a zero building coefficient across the largest part of the area destined for greenery and recreation, and the institutionalisation of a building coefficient only in the sub-areas of specific uses, combined with a corresponding coverage ratio, in a ‘logical’ proportion of sizes, wherever building already exists and/or a functional need for new building arises.
Land Uses
We are not opposed to the ‘multiple’ use of the space and the siting within it of both periodic and permanent uses, semi-outdoor or roofed with the minimum possible facilities, which will not compete in scale with the dominant use of recreation, and which will make it more vibrant, a pole of attraction, development, and revitalisation for the wider area.
– Open Municipal Farmers' Market
We maintain reservations, however, as to whether the choice of the periodic use of an open Municipal Farmers' Market will contribute towards this direction, indicatively due to:
- its size and its massive spatial footprint,
- its operation in relation to the uses of the rest of the area,
- the restriction of planting and the extensive hard-material paving,
- the difficulty of operating such a large space on the days when this use will not be active,
- the difficulty of maintaining the boundaries of this use without permanent fencing, the existence of which would compromise the unified nature of the area on the days the market does not operate,
- the introduction of the car into the area,
- the scale of the new permanent enclosed building facilities and infrastructure, and their utilisation on the days when this use will not be active.
We hope the above points will be set as requirements to be investigated for resolution [and not as givens] in the Architectural Ideas Competition, and that its outcome will pleasantly surprise us.
We point out that the Technical Chamber of Greece – Western Macedonia Section (TEE/TDM), validly and formidably, through a previous intervention, expressed its complete opposition to the siting of the farmers' market within the Railway Station (‘Observations on the Draft "Operational Strategic Plan for Sustainable Urban Development of Kozani (ESSVAA)" – August 2016’).
– Creche and Nursery School – Building Block 406D
We are opposed to the siting of a creche and nursery school at the western edge of the area, due to:
- the incompatibility of the use with the intended overall character of the area to be regenerated, and the consequent complete severance of Building Block 406D from the rest of the study area,
- as well as the incompatibility of the Building Block—configured as a traffic roundabout—with this use,
- the burden that this use will impose on vehicular traffic regulation in the area,
- as well as the burden that the proposed traffic regulation will impose upon this use.
Regarding the configuration of Building Block 406D and the regulation of traffic at the western edge of the area, we propose, if it has not already been done, that particular attention be paid to and consideration be given to the management of rainwater [streams].
– Passenger Railway Station Area – GAIAOSE Railway Operations
Given that the officially and publicly expressed position of the Technical Chamber of Greece – Western Macedonia Section (TEE/TDM), since April 2015[1] even, regarding the railway station, is summarised as follows:
- The siting of the Railway Station should take place in a suitable area outside the centre of the city of Kozani, in the Koila area. A position that the Technical Chamber of Greece – Western Macedonia Section expressed validly, documentedly, and repeatedly through its interventions in both 2006 and 2008.
- The facilities and lands of the current—non-operational since 2010—Railway Station must be made available to the city of Kozani in the form of public spaces, with a provision in the General Urban Plan (GPS) of Kozani.
And provided that it has not been possible for the Municipal Authority to secure the concession by GAIAOSE of the entire railway station area, even gradually, and additionally, the OSE uses in the said area [operational passenger station, leased building], are included as distinct uses in the urban planning proposed by the municipal authority, the following are deemed expedient, with the assumption that these uses are ‘temporary’ until a time when there is no obvious reason for their existence, and so that boundaries ‘harder’ than the railway line are not created [visually, aesthetically, or in terms of access] in the centre of the area to be regenerated:
- the description of the permitted use as strictly for transport infrastructure must be made more specific, including what this may concretely entail, and it must be restricted to the minimum necessary percentage sizes,
- the Building conditions defined for the specific area must be restricted [Building Coefficient (S.D.) – 0.5, Coverage Ratio (P.K.) – 40%, Height (Y) – 1.00m], which nearly quadruple the existing built area [1,912.18 sq.m. existing, 7,163.14 sq.m. permitted] and coverage [1,246.06 sq.m. existing, 5,730.51 sq.m. permitted], since, according to GAIAOSE's statement, there is no plan for necessary operational expansions of the existing railway building infrastructures that would justify a built area and coverage of such magnitude,
- some form of provision or condition must exist for the preservation of special characteristics of the structures, the morphology and/or the scale within the Passenger Railway Station area, since there is an intention to preserve, utilise and possibly highlight the buildings in the conceded area, so that the character of the entire space is maintained unified and recognisable,
- the functional as well as the aesthetic relationship and connection of the conceded study area with the existing areas of GAIAOSE must constitute an object and requirement of the Architectural Ideas Competition, in accordance with their terms and operation, as well as guided by the unified nature of the space and the harmonious coexistence of all elements.
It is further noted that the positions of the Technical Chamber of Greece – Western Macedonia Section (TEE/TDM), as expressed in its previous interventions, remain valid.
Kozani, February 2018
For the Steering Committee of the Technical Chamber of Greece – Western Macedonia Section (TEE/TDM)
The President
Dimitris Mavromatidis
Note: This text constitutes a unanimous decision of the 1st session (2018) of the Steering Committee of the Technical Chamber of Greece – Western Macedonia Section, following a relevant recommendation by the Standing Committee on Spatial, Urban, and City Planning of the section
[1] Observations-Proposals by the Technical Chamber of Greece – Western Macedonia Section (TEE/TDM) on Stage B2 of the study for the General Urban Plan (GPS) of the Municipality of Kozani & positions regarding the railway and its correlation with the General Urban Plan of the Municipality of Kozani [April 2015]