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The Pearls of Spinalonga

How does architecture help manifest and honour the history and culture of a traumatised community?

This Project investigates the ritualistic rebuilding of Spinaloga, an uninhabited island in Crete, Greece, which used to be a leper colony from 1903 to 1957. Through a network of refurbishments across the island using 3D-Printed structural ornaments made of oyster shells that operate as a guiding voyage, this project reconfigures the tourist infrastructure while remembering the history of its past inhabitants.

The connections between identity, culture, imperialism, voyages, artefacts and material studies are core constituents to this project hence, this investigation travels from Greece to the Veneto region of Italy, from which a catalogue of materials where brought back to London for research.

Cartography of Spinalonga

Mapping main buildings and general information

Site Map indicating all voyages to Spinalonga and oyster farms.

Context
Archival Documents from the Leper colony

1929: Receipt for t of construction materials for a residential building in the island

1930: Receipt given to the Leprokomeio (Local Hospital)

1933: Letter to the Director of Crete’s Public Infrastructure announcing the postponement of works until Leprosy cases decline

Restructuring of Management in the Leper colony, allowing officially the visit of family members of the contaminated to the island

Expedition in the Veneto
Material cataloguing and research

Alternative mapping, documenting the Veneto region of Italy, within the context of material matrices and altitude levels.

Mapping the Route

Registering all materials collected

Early stage research into CaCO3 (oyster shells)

The Artefact
1:1 Scale Exploration

The Artefact as a fragment of a building system. It proposes a modularity which the refurbishment process follows across all checkpoints, constituting the proposal.
It simulates but also proves the feasibility of this proposed material.
The Artefact developed, and pictured above is 3D-printed using robotic arm extrusion with a material mainly composed of oyster shells.

The Research and Development of the Oyster Brick

Ingredients Table

Process of extraction and fabrication

Production on-site

Early Tests

Early Tests

Early Tests

Early Tests

Early Tests

Code Developing

Code Developing

Architectural Application of Material

This project is not a criticism towards monuments and preservation happening at the moment. But what it does is question the choice of material architects make when designing monuments that honour the history of people that experienced a certain event. Preservation projects and monuments should go way beyond design and address in-depth how the materials used can have a way deeper connection to the project.

Relationship between the architecture and the people it remembers gets diluted when material selection is happening on rotation so, why do we present different events using the same materials?

-Special thanks to tutors: Christopher Pierce, Dr. Dalia Matsuura and Aram Mooradian

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Nikolas N. Neophytou

Info

Selected Works: ❶ Re-Contaminating Spinalonga ❷ Project Lighthouse ❸ My boiler loves me. ❸.1 Lido Circuit. ❹ What are you addicted to? ❺ Fluids. Forms. Fabrics. Forces ❻ George Trochopoulos AW25 ❼ + Models&Sketches