This graduation project investigates architecture as a response to digital fatigue, mental strain and the weakening of embodied experience intensified by remote work and constant connectivity. Situated in Mareland, Winsum, the project proposes a Digital Detox Hub as a spatial counter-model that supports slowness, sensory awareness, psychological recovery and renewed connection to place. The proposal emerges from the specific condition of Groningen, a province undergoing long-term social and spatial recovery after decades of gas extraction and induced seismic activity. Within this context, the Dutch Nij Begun agenda frames regeneration not only as repair, but as an opportunity to stimulate sustainable development rooted in local identity.

Winsum faces challenges of seasonal tourism, youth outmigration and limited year-round activity, while new patterns of remote work and digital nomadism offer possibilities for small rural settlements. However, these lifestyles also produce prolonged screen exposure, isolation and detachment from physical presence. The project responds by transforming Mareland’s fragmented edge between village and landscape into a sequenced detox environment.

Using a research-by-design methodology, including site analysis, precedent studies, experiential mapping and iterative design testing, the project develops an architectural framework based on thresholds, transitions and atmospheric zoning. Drawing from the hybrid Dutch landscape, where boundaries between land and water are continuously negotiated, the design reinterprets this condition through phenomenology and critical regionalism. Rather than treating detox as a destination, the hub guides users through gradual degrees of withdrawal, encounter, reflection and reconnection, creating spaces for sensory recalibration, consciousness and mental restoration.
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This history thesis investigates the historical, architectural, and socio-economic significance of port silos in Greece, with particular attention to their changing role in the country’s industrial and maritime development. While originally designed for the storage of grains and agricultural goods, silos have evolved into more complex infrastructural and spatial entities. Within urban and port contexts, they operate as intermediary objects that link agricultural production with industrial processes and maritime trade.

Positioned along waterfronts, port silos act as both spatial and symbolic thresholds between land and sea. They played a pivotal role in shaping the growth of Greek port cities, especially during the export-oriented economic expansion of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Their hybrid character, spanning the urban and rural, functional and architectural, reflects broader transformations in production and logistics.

At the core of this study is the conceptualization of silos as interfaces: physical and metaphorical points of convergence where trade, infrastructure, and urban life intersect. Drawing from architectural theory and urban history, the thesis explores how these structures organize spatial relationships within the port city and articulate connections between the rural economy and maritime networks.

The research also addresses the obsolescence and abandonment of many silos, as shifts in trade practices and port technologies have weakened their functional ties to the waterfront. In response, it examines possibilities for their adaptive reuse, assessing how these formerly industrial sites might be reintegrated into contemporary urban life through cultural and public programming.

Research questions:
How does the transformation of port silos reflect broader economic and socio-cultural shifts in Greece? What role do silos play in shaping the identity of port cities as spatial and functional interfaces? How can their maritime past inform strategies for future reuse and reintegration?
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