Redefining the line: The boundary between city and sea

The investigation of the boundary along Thessaloniki’s old waterfront is a process of redefining a dynamic field concealed behind a line. This boundary is not an obstacle, but rather a tool that contributes to the creation of experiences. Taking time as a key factor, the complex interplay between the city and the sea is explored through a mechanism articulated on three levels: experience, memory, and speculation. Human interaction with space defines an experiential condition that can generate memories or give rise to imagined scenarios. The way information is stored in memory involves processes of selection and organization. Traces form patterns which, when combined, can produce complex structures, such as maps, or reconstruct images that can be recalled. The relationship between experience and memory is redefined through speculation: an ongoing process of recollection in which the mind retrieves diverse memory traces and weaves narratives that transform a space into a place imbued with meaning. Redefining the boundary- mapping the line- through the three surfaces of experience, memory, and speculation, can encompass scattered memories and traces, environmental elements, historical data, sources, lived experiences, images, information, and reflections, all of which contribute to a dense and meaningful present. In this way, the memory mechanism becomes a design mechanism, highlighting the old waterfront of Thessaloniki as a dynamic field of possibilities.