The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki was founded in 1926 and is currently the largest Greek University with a population of more than 70,000 students and staff.  The main target of the new Master Plan was to fulfil a series of urgent requirements and, at the same time, to enrich the urban character of the campus. The two basic ‘gestures’ of this plan were: (a) to design a sequence of underground or on-a-slope buildings along the main pedestrian axis, without creating new built mass, and (b) to design new urban ‘façades’ on the north side, by transforming the existing buildings, which were either orientated towards the interior of the campus, or simply designed without taking into account the shape of their open space.

Publications

• The Aristotle University Now, edition by A.U.Th., 1/1993

• P. Savvaides, A. Bantelas, University’s City, University Studio Press, 2000, p. 130-132

• A. Giakoumakatos, Architecture and Criticism, Nepheli 2001, p. 315

• Architecture in Greece, 36 (issue specialized on A.Kotsiopoulos’ work on university buildings) / 2002

• A. Giakoumakatos,  “City and knowledge: university buildings and urban tissue” in: Architecture in Greece, 36, 2002, pp 58 - 64