Landscapes of Eruptions and Depositions: Soil Recognition Patterns at the Fyli Landfill | Architecture Thesis on Regenerative Architecture

Site Context

The landfill acts as a catalyst for exploring and comparing the domains of waste, the city, society, pollution and ecology, limits and flows, minimalism and exuberance, enabling us to explore a variety of interconnections between these elements.

An analysis of the broader region reveals that high-impact activities disproportionately affect the western portion of Attica, especially the Thriassio Plain. The study area serves as a boundary between established, dense urban identities and more fluid, industrialized local physiognomies. Large volumes of waste are deposited between Mount Aigaleo and Mount Parnitha, which form a vertical geological continuum. At the same time, the landfill is further isolated by the passage of major highways and railway lines. 

In this anarchic, industrial setting, the landfill is more than 1,000 hectares in size, 500 meters deep, and continually expanding as it has been receiving 7,000 tonnes of garbage every day since 1960, which includes all of Attica’s municipal waste. This area is characterised by a stretching of boundaries, which can lead to disintegration but also open up new possibilities. 

The goal is an alternative integration with the things we discard—an experiment in reimagining social possibilities—and this signifies a transition from collapse to emergence, from excavation to accumulation, and from the minimal to the abundant.

Design Process

Based on the above, this work explores various approaches for dealing with waste. It proposes the establishment of an above-ground network designed to prevent leachate leakage. This network serves as a mechanism that dismantles and reinterprets existing conditions and their interrelationships. It is composed of the essential elements required for waste processing.

Points of retreat of existing boundaries serve as a guide for the placement of the structures. Three distinct alignments have emerged as a result of the geological boundaries between Parnitha and Poikilo, the lines dividing the “old” and “new” waste management areas, and the constraints placed on the accumulation structures to the west by the existing organisational structures. These alignments use three distinct grids to create a network that serves as the proposal’s reference system. 

In accordance with this recently created gridded network, the topography analysis—which includes maximum and minimum elevations, humidity concentration points, and regions of vegetation growth—offers a new perspective on the land. In this case, all of the conditions found in the grid are improved in terms of soil structure, and all of the conditions associated with the formation of structures are reversed. Consequently, green systems have been revitalised, enhanced soils through compost, volume overlays in low-topography regions, and volume removals at points of maximum elevation.

Final Outcome

The two proposed structures seek to respond to the scale of the surrounding earth and its internal variations through patterns of recognition of the existing terrain. They embody a logic of complete void by attempting to extend the boundary, and the structures that emerge are the absolute totality that is shaped and influenced by the things they come into contact with. Every subsystem of the analysis exists and develops as a latent microcosm within the solid volumes. 

More precisely, the two linear sequences—which follow the logic of an inverted quarry—are dedicated to geological changes and themselves. They incorporate three distinct types of soils: the existing soil, the one resulting from excavation, and the soil that forms the space’s upper layer.

The incisions in the terrain reveal an archaeology of waste, juxtaposing this proposal with the former waste-producing landscape. In this way, an exchange unfolds between disorganized waste disposal within geological strata and organized processing within the structures. There is an allusive dialogue between excavation and filling, between integrity and residue, and between projection and elimination. Another aspect of surplus production is revealed at the intersection: the disassembly and reassembly process. 

Conclusion: The two monument-like bars serve as dynamic interventions within the landscape, interacting with the geological features while asserting a strong presence. They function as artificial sections that redefine the spatial scale and challenge the boundaries between the natural and built environments. They impose a new reality that encourages us to reconsider the landscape on a larger scale.

[This Academic Project has been published with text and images submitted by the student]