IE Architecture+ Prize

At present, Europe turns its attention to the exploitation of the sea as a resource for development in coastal cities. It targets marine growth through alternative methods of marine development. Such methods are sought and analyzed based on European marine development programs, such as Blue Growth. This program focuses on five growth pillars, i.e. marine tourism, aquaculture, mineral resources, biotechnology and marine renewable energy. Renewable energy, powered by the sea, is not a newly-used technique. It has been exploited throughout the years, using a number of methods, the most common of which being wave energy. Many systems have been developed for the exploitation of wave energy, most of which are based on the control of the wave flow, the change of intensity or the rotation around an axis. Despite the positive results in generating wave energy, these systems have failed to be associated with human scale, or to be combined, in a more holistic manner, with productive landscapes. Moreover, they do not exhaust their possibilities for environmental awareness and sustainability.

The present project presents a design-based research that attempts to address the issue of wave energy generation in a comprehensive manner, responding to the weaknesses of relative applications up to date, as stated above. As a city with marine corrosion issues due to the lack of suitable coastal engineering infrastructures, Kato Paphos has been selected as a case study. The design-based research study proposal examines how coastal engineering infrastructures, and wave energy generation applications, can turn into functional parts of the city. Of particular interest is the study of a technological breakwater that maybe integrated into marine infrastructures. The proposed breakwater allows the improvement of marine corrosion resistance in coastal environments, while it allows wave energy generation. The design of the breakwater mechanism is simple as it functions as a boat paddle and it is thus able to produce energy even from low-intensity waves. Moreover, the design proposal is lucidly associated with other functional spaces, ensuring the development of marine activities and thus promoting human interaction with the sea.

The Diploma Thesis is a proposal for a multilayered address of a multifaceted issue with complex urban planning and architectural terms. It is examined how this technical issue can become a living part of the city of Paphos and also how to create a number of extensions to the sea (marine hubs), which can handle specific needs of the city.