ECOWEEK 2015 ΙΝ THESSALONIKI, GREECE / NOVEMBER 1-7, 2015

With the theme of ‘Sustainability in Urban Space’ the ECOWEEK international conference and sustainable design workshops are taking place for the third time in Thessaloniki. ECOWEEK is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year, with workshops in Greece, Turkey, Kosovo and Albania, with an ecological festival in Australia and a young designers’ competition in China. 

 

During the week of ECOWEEK, the participating students and young professionals will be encouraged to work in the public space, including schools, green open spaces, and the urban landscape. They will address issues of materials reuse and upcycling, and materials based on nanotechnology, to become active ingredients in a creative and innovative design process.

 

ECOWEEK is an opportunity for students and young professionals – primarily architects, designers, engineers, landscape architects and other disciplines – to spend one week attending inspiring lectures and interactive design workshops held in real sites within the city fabric, led by local & international professionals, network with international peers and learn about sustainable design. 

 

ECOWEEK is hosting in Thessaloniki professionals and students from Greece, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Denmark, Kosovo, and Liechtenstein. 

 

ECOWEEK workshops include:

W1: Norwegian architect Einard Jarmund will focus on design-build of spatial structure made out of wood; 

W2: Greek architects Prodromos Nikiforidis and Bernard Cuomo will focus on sustainable re-design for a school in Thessaloniki; 

W3: Dutch architects Michiel Smits and Gie Steenput will work with reclaimed materials for an urban gardening spot in the city; 

W4: Greek architect Natalia Pantelidou based in Denmark will address the void of Expo grounds and how to integrate this vast area into the city life; 

W5: German architect Thomas Kauertz and German engineer Anja Markwart will use newspapers as a building material to construct urban furniture in the urban context;

W6: Liechtenstein architect Johannes Peter Steidl will address iconic design in a neglected urban space on 3rd September street in the city;  

W7: Greek architects Urban Soul Project and Kosovo architect Argjira Krasniqi will address the social issue of homelessness as a design challenge for social justice;  

W8: Greek architect Antonis Semertsidis workshop will design a ski resort development in Vasilitsa, near Ioannina, northern Greece; 

W9: Dutch architect and activist Martijn Schildkamp will introduce the art of upcycling using reclaimed and recycled materials; 

W10: Greek architects UbuPlan will focus on the area around the central train station in Thessaloniki; and 

W11: Greek architects 40.22 will design re-design one characteristic fragment of Thessaloniki’s urban wildscape.

W12: Greek scientists from Demokritos Institute with architect from Greece – more details to be posted shortly.

 

The ECOWEEK workshop experimental projects range in scale and scope and explore a variety of places in the city. Some workshops involved design-build and some working with either reclaimed or innovative materials.

 

The opening conference takes place on Monday November 2. Speakers include architect Einar Jarmund from Norway, architects Michiel Smits and Gie Steenput from Holland, architect Theodora Kiriafini from Greece, architect Thomas Kauertz from Germany, architect Johannes Peter Steidl from Liechtenstein, architect Martijn Scholdkamp from Holland, and architect Elias Messinas founding chairman of ECOWEEK.

 

The ECOWEEK opening event is open and free to the public.

 

ECOWEEK events include an architectural tour and sketching session in the city with landscape architect Lena Athanasiadou and architect Elias Messinas; films and an exhibition by the Post-Graduate Program in Landscape Architecture at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH). 

 

The ECOWEEK closing event takes place on Saturday November 7. It includes the workshop project proposals presentation and discussion, and a series of presentations by AUTH Graduate program students in Landscape Architecture at AUTH.

 

The ECOWEEK closing event is open and free to the public.

 

More details can be found here. 

Contact: [email protected]