What I can see

This former textile factory, which has a total area of ​19.500 sqm on a plot of 13 acres, occupies an entire city block and was built at the centre of a densely populated refugee area, as it mainly employed the female population (550 workers in 1936 and 1,300 after the war). The building is somewhat influenced by the aesthetic austerity of Bauhaus and the functional architecture of Alvar Aalto. Uniform volumes and geometry prevail. The toothed roofs allow the creation of continuous openings, which in turn form better conditions of lighting and ventilation. This design was part of the upgrading of working conditions in industrial units.

What I can't see

It was one of the largest industrial complexes in interwar Greece and the Balkans and the largest in the city. After its closure, no investor was found, thus remaining closed for 30 years. In the 1980s a proposal was made for its restoration and conversion into a museum of contemporary art. In the following decade the proposal was brought up again, and another decade later, it was indeed bought by the Ministry of Culture, putting  the previous plans aside and not furthering the development. Around the same period, it was occupied by anti-authoritarian groups as “a practical response to the absurdity of the metropolis, where people are stacked in apartments, public spaces are deserted, the vacant areas are parking lots, and the abandoned factories turn into prominent museums – multiplexes of glamorous lifestyle assemblages.” Police have intervened several times having as their principal motive the expulsion of anarchists and not the use of the space by the state.

Info

• Address: Omirou & Perdika St.

Bibliography