Silence Murmur Studio
Architectural Design 8 Studio at the Department of Architecture, University of Patras
Professor: Panos Dragonas
Teaching Assistant: Yiannis Karras
Reggina Thanopoulou & Alexandra Xenou, “Cloud Colony”
In the 1960s, architects envisioned the future of cities with radical optimism. Yona Friedman’s Ville Spatiale, Archigram’s Plug-In City, Constant Nieuwenhuys’ New Babylon, and Takis Ch. Zenetos’ Electronic Urbanism shared a common dream: a city lifted above the ground, hovering over historical structures and natural landscapes.
Zenetos imagined the home of the future as a dynamic environment of prefabricated modules: the tele-energy capsule, the hygiene pod, the food supply unit, the tele-education complex, exercise devices, and other infrastructures. In this environment, people would work, study, and communicate through networks without physical displacement — a vision strikingly close to today’s digital lifestyle.
Takis Ch. Zenetos, Electronic Urbanism (1971) ©Takis Ch. Zenetos Archive.
The 8th Semester Architectural Design Studio at the University of Patras revisited Zenetos’ vision in light of current technological and social realities. Inspired also by the forthcoming book Silent Murmur by Panos Dragonas and Lydia Kallipoliti, students developed new design approaches for the city and dwelling of the future. Their projects explored autonomous living units suspended above the Greek city, shaped by the premise of permanent digital connectivity enabling remote work, learning, and daily life within an automated framework.
Among the proposals:
“Cloud Colony” by Thanopoulou & Xenou, reimagines the rooftop not as residue but as a threshold for inhabitation — a spatial tightrope between void and mass, material and immaterial. Spherical units create distinct experiences of floating, diving, jumping, and balancing, prompting new relations between the body, the city, and the self.
Reggina Thanopoulou & Alexandra Xenou, “Cloud Colony”
Vakropoulos & Mandylas investigate mycelium as a building material. What is usually perceived as “mold,” a negative presence inside buildings, is redefined as a positive urban condition, enabling organic growth above the horizon of the polykatoikia.
lias Vakropoulos & Spyros Mandylas, “Isolation in Mycelium”
In parasit_y Mpariami & Salavri attach parasitic living units to stairwell rooftops. Equipped with systems of autonomy — water recycling, waste composting, solar energy — they establish a host–parasite relationship with the existing urban block.
Marietta Mpariami & Aliki Salevri, “Parasit_y”
Tampaki & Trakas create a new artificial surface suspended above rooftops. Like a camping field, it hosts bubbles and flexible inflatable floors, extending Zenetos’ earlier research. Robotic arms guided by artificial intelligence serve the daily needs of residents.
Marietta Mpariami & Aliki Salevri, “Parasit_y”
Finally, Dimakopoulou & Hammouta explore dwelling within a regime of constant biometric data collection. Each unit becomes a microcosm scanning, hosting, and mediating the relationship between the body and the city. The inhabitant lives at the threshold of control and awareness — in a tower of data that monitors the body while surveying the urban environment.
