​The project site is situated at Mega Livadi in Serifos, where intense mining activity developed from 1861 till 1963.

 

This diploma project proposed the creation of a mining museum, which would include both the mining zone and the administration building. In fact, we proposed firstly the conservation, rehabilitation and re-use of the administration building, designed to become the administrative core of the museum, and, secondly, the conservation of the installations and putting them in the limelight, as well as the creation of new constructions in the mining zone.

 

THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
The administration building, a neoclassic style building, lies at the NE end of the shore in the Mega Livadi bay where, due to its form and size, it dominates the other buildings of the settlement. It is an imposing long building with a rectangular plan and obvious influences from the villa architecture of the end of the 19th century.

The first phase was an analysis of the building according to the following parameters:

 

1.The relationship of the building with the environment.

2.The historical analysis of the building.
3.The architectural analysis of the building.
4.The evaluation of the architectural elements of the building.

The next phase was designing the proposed re-use.

 

​THE MINING ZONE

The greatest part of the mining transport and storing installations is situated at the SE side of the bay. The mining installations of the south side extend for a length of 600 m across a rocky shore, from the entrance of the housing settlement as far as the Almiros location. It occupies a zone of approximately 30000 m² divided in three levels. The construction of the mining installations started in 1869 and ended approximately in 1885. A few additions were constructed during the first two decades of the 20th century. The basic use proposed was an open-air mining museum, where the mining process as well as the history of the site would be demonstrated. In the mining zone, light constructions of wood and metal at various spots were proposed.