Competition. 5th Prize
The E.G.Ladopoulos paper mill (EGL) holds a strategic position within the urban fabric of Patras. Having once been the largest paper-producing factory in the country, the complex is currently under-used, with most buildings being derelict and empty.
The coexistence of humans and machines was the driving force of EGL - this can be restored with the right uses. The central vision of the regeneration is to mend the broken factory links, enabling its transition into the 21st century. The vision is bi-fold:
- Understanding the factory’s original cycle and mend the broken ‘line of production’.
- Re-use by reversing the focal point: from the machine towards the human scale.
EGL is formed into five new neighbourhoods. Their targets increased interactions, increase in the provision of public space and rendering the factory into a recognizable beacon of local and supra-local value.
The five neighbourhoods - memory, art, theatre, administration and residence - are fuelling the operation of EGL again.
White is chosen as the colour of the interior interventions, reminiscent of sheets of paper.
In contrast to the interior, the implementation of the new exterior elements is based on the colours that the machines themselves had. The use of recycled paper panels as an interior cladding material is a further sustainable nod to the site’s past.
The site is transformed from a closed shell into an extroverted beacon, with increased permeability. By making visible what has remained invisible, the heart of the neighbourhood is once again beating.
