“On the waterfront” is a famous 1954 film with Marlon Brando, whose story is set in the port of Hoboken, New Jersey. This masterpiece film wants to bring to mind the activities that once took place within the project site, its productive relationship with the sea and the city, now hidden by abandonment and decay, in which fragments of high quality industrial archaeology emerge witness of a prosperous historical period. These spaces, now degraded, are those that can be defined as potential public spaces for people and the city par excellence.

The aim of this work is to adhere to the complex functional program of the competition by proposing the unity of the urban project, with a system of public spaces that bring the inhabitants back to their sea in this part of the city.

The project is based on an elementary geometric layout where the new buildings interact with the disused production plants (industrial archeology) by means of squares and gardens, attested along the border with the port, where merchant activities still continue today.

The border is tought as a stone building on two levels like a bastion of the ancient seaside cities, which separates but at the same time unites parts of the landscape and above which it is possible to recover the visual relationship that the city of Thessaloniki has with the sea.

The upstream expressway is maintained, but runs through a system of greenery and trees. This creates a green axis that filters the new front and maintains a very close relationship with the city.

Looking at the front from the sea, the articulation of the volumes appears low and uniform with the exception of the two ends: to the east emerges the directional office building that dominates the entire architectural complex in height, to the west the round belvedere tower of the building emerges for art exhibitions.

Between the two ends there are the four-storey buildings, containing different functions, which flow into a large central square marked by a large body of water.

The stone bastion contains activities related to the uses of the adjacent buildings (offices, laboratories, services, warehouses, common rooms, etc.), a part of it was used to host the SPA Wellness Center and the gym with open-air courtyards where physical relaxation activities take place.

The parking lots have been designed both outside, along a road parallel to the fast flowing upstream, and underground with various driveways. The storage systems and mechanical and electrical systems were also located in the underground part.

On the flat roofs of the project buildings, south-facing photovoltaic panels are planned to make the entire complex self-sufficient from an energy point of view.

In short, the building complex consists of the following buildings:

1. Executive office building, the most representative of the new Central Business District (CBD) of Thessaloniki, consists of n. 20 floors above ground and n. 1 underground for a total height of m. 80. The interior is characterized by a large square / hall with a reception unlighted by natural light from above, overlooked by the offices of the various levels. The building contains offices, meeting rooms, waiting rooms, cafeteria, warehouses and generic spaces. In the basement there are n. 400 parking spaces and technical rooms for mechanical, electrical systems etc.

2. Conference hall building for 500 seats, four floors above ground, equipped with hall, offices, services, warehouses, exhibition rooms, etc.

3. Building for social and multi-ethnic integration, four floors above ground, with hall, multimedia rooms, classrooms, laboratories, common rooms and library. In this place it is possible to bring together and compare all the people from different areas or with characteristics of uniqueness with respect to the contexts considered. Objective: to enhance the element of diversity through the realization of ad hoc initiatives such as: cultural trips, civic education days, moments of discussion on the problems of the local community, days of knowledge of international cultures, language lessons (held by foreigners themselves, with a reciprocal exchange with language courses held by guys).

4. Multifunctional building, four floors above ground and one underground. On the ground floor there are commercial activities (bars, restaurants, retail trade), on the upper floors the private offices and in the basement about 200 parking spaces and technical rooms.

5. Gym with two floors above ground and underground technical rooms, located in the widest thickness of the border, with an open-air courtyard. Inside the ground floor there are services and changing rooms divided by gender, office and fitness room. Upstairs, the services and a large room for group exercises. The outdoor courtyard is used for general outdoor sports exercises.

6. SPA wellness centre with two floors above ground and underground technical rooms, located in the widest thickness of the border and next to the gym, equipped with an open-air courtyard. The interior of the ground floor contains services and changing rooms divided by gender, reception office, visiting room and the wet area with sauna, Turkish bath, Roman bath, keneipp, ice waterfall, massage rooms. The upper floor is used for massage rooms. In the outdoor courtyard there are two small whirlpools and a pool for water aerobics and lateral water blades.

7. Underground storage area in the open air with exclusive driveway and pedestrian entrance, with lifts and large good hoists.

8. Student house consisting of two buildings, four floors above ground, parallel to enclose a courtyard garden. The common areas are located on the ground floors: hall, study rooms, kitchen and dining room. On the upper floors the apartments of different types and sizes.

9. Building for art exhibitions on two levels above ground containing internal and external exhibition rooms, warehouses and services. Inside the building there is a round tower for exhibitions, about m. 30, whose roof is a promontory overlooking both the port and the city.