View Reformation of Dionysiou Aeropagitou Street: The exploitation of the ‘undesirable gap’

PROGRAM
FACADE REFORMATION
LOCATION
ATHENS
YEAR
2008
STATUS
PROJECT

GALLERY

 

DESCRIPTION

The existence of three old buildings between the new Museum of Acropolis and the Acropolis hill is considered to be an ‘undesirable gap’ that interrupts the thread of their connection. The proposal is the fulfilment of this gap with the creation of a resembling part of the Parthenon and its incorporationinto the facades of the old buildings so that they do not interrupt the view to the Museum. This structure constitutes the link of continuity between the New Museum and the Acropolis.
The new structure that can be characterised as a wall, has a number of holes that are playing a game with the ones that exist on a second layer of a wall of reinforced concrete that is placed between the existing old wall and its extension. The two levels are knitted together with a ramp that leads the visitor from Dionysioy Areopagitoy Street to the new Museum at the level of the restaurant. The structure of this wall can be characterised either as transparent or opaque. The bulky wall can be transformed into a light transparent structure by exploiting its scale, its proportions, its oppositions, the flowing and the delimited space, the functionalism and the aesthetics. The whole structure is composed by two main elements tied together. The big hole between the new wall and the old structure is transformed into a ‘positive’ space with multi-purpose functions. Thus, whatever seemed, initially, as a useless gap between the two poles, is filled with the very powerful and decisive rules of basic organisation that convert it not only to an interesting sculptural synthesis but also- by using the ramp- to a space of life. All of the elements are combined together and they achieve keeping their connection to their initial origins that are the ancient wall and the new Museum.