Ladopoulos Factory Regeneration

  • Year: 2021
  • Location: Patras, Greece
  • Size: 48.000 m2

This competition proposal for the abandoned Ladopoulos Factory at Patras, aims in the creation of a place that will reintroduce the local community with its industrial past but will also act as a catalyst for the transformation of its economic model. After carefully examining the space, four plus one characteristic points of reference are chosen, with the intention of creating a proposal true to the vocabulary of industrial modernism but simultaneously applying the principles of critical regionalism in order to preserve the memory of the place. These points are the multi-layered circulation, the minimal articulation of forms, the “industrial street” and the chimneys. In the centre of all this lies the water element as the symbolic and functional protagonist of the scheme.

The design takes seriously into account the principles of sustainability in all three levels of society, economy and environment. From an energy point of view, water plays a key role, with the existing infrastructure being integrated into a Sustainable Urban Drainage System that enables the achievement of passive thermal comfort during all seasons and the drastic reduction of water consumption of the whole area.

Simultaneously, by taking into account all the planning parameters a mix of a variety of uses is proposed with the aim of balancing the role of the place as a civic centre with advantages for the wider urban area in both neighbourhood and city scale. By mixing institutional, commercial and cultural uses, a dynamic place is created that is functional throughout all day has a considerable leverage that will establish it as an economically sustainable regeneration pole for the area.

Last but not least, through strategic conservation and refurbishment  of integral parts of the old factory the intention of the proposal is to create a contemporary yet familiar with the local community place, thus achieving the social sustainability of the design which is critical for its success.