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Savvas Kakalis, Alexandros Tzoutsas
Schinias is a coastal area of Attica, 42km from the centre of Athens. Listed under the Natura 2000 network, the National park of Schinias - Marathon is a landscape of unimaginable natural beauty and importance covering a total surface of 14 hectares. On the one side, the marine area of Marathon Bay, the wetlands, the Cynosoura peninsula, the Drakonera Hill, the pine-cone forest and the area of the Makaria spring and on the other, the Olympic rowing centre (infrastructure), the housing associations’ developments, scattered private residencies (housing), miscellaneous tourism and recreational constructions but also fields and farms (agricultural use) constitute a rather interesting contradiction.
For almost a century, the development of Schinias through urbanisation and infrastructural constructions, intensive agricultural exploitation, non-friendly environmental methods in combination with the lack of an integrated programme for the protection of its vulnerable ecosystem have led to the significant degradation of Schinias’ ecological aspects.
Building upon a rigorous mapping analysis and setting the focus on the wetlands, the strategy centers upon the restoration of the aquafer, which binds Schinias’ landscape together. Water is understood as a tool and a means for providing solutions, unlocking the ecological potentials of Schinias.
palus intensio: wetlands in tension
Schinias, Marathon, Attica, GR
Savvas Kakalis, Alexandros Tzoutsas
palus intensio : wetlands in tension
The proposed strategy addresses Schinias as a constantly changing landscape due to its hydrological texture. Following the in-depth investigation and mapping of the relationships and dynamics between the different areas and zones of the National Park in relation to time, it became apparent that the existence of such a large body of water is the main reason for the gradual yet continuous change within the landscape.
Palus intensio : wetlands in tension envisions new mechanisms for regulating the quantity and quality of water proportionally in space and time in order to increase the intensity with which the landscape is altering. Furthermore, these devices are placed strategically in the grounds of the National Park in order to solve the existing problems of the aquifer while protecting the ecosystem altogether.
The National Park of Schinias remains a living but reconstructed organism that co-exists and encourages human presence through multiple new programmes.
08/16 schinias book