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73*ΙΣΣUE | APR-JUN 2017 123 ΒΕΣΤ THINGS TO DO | NOW! PANAGIOTIS MINA (SYNTHESIS)
116 ΥIORGOS
TZIRTZILAKIS
ABOUT THE UNEXPECTED CITY
The professor of Architecture analyses
Athens and its ideas. | Ως καθηγητής
αρχιτεκτονικής ανατέμνει την Αθήνα
και τις ιδέες της.
What is Athens, really?
It is a European city, but also a city with
elements from the East. It is in the heart
of civilization but also has a decayed and
disorganized structure. So, it is a city of
changes. It features the classical, but it is
always a bit different. Because, in a sense, it
has the potential for resistance, disoriented
behaviours, a miscellaneous nature that
always exudes a difference to homogeneity.
The differentiation of Athens is first and
foremost topographic, with incongruity
and a close connections to the sea. Other
Mediterranean cities have light and sea, but
they do not have this “intensity”.
What survives and resists in
contemporary Athens?
From its past, the Acropolis, the Rock,
antiquity. Athens has a characteristic
shared only by Rome, but in a different
way. It includes the ancient and the
modern, while it has nothing in between.
Elements incompatible with each other
and compatible coexist without a median,
without any mediation. The roof, for
instance, has a modern solar water heater
and if we pay close attention, the so-called
fourth view of Athens, its roofs, all of them
communicate with the Acropolis, every
single one. It is the coexistence of a modern
solar water heater with the precious and
seasoned monument.
What excites you about wear and tear?
It is after the 15-16th century, and mainly
in the 17th century when Europe started
to appreciate the ancient monuments,
that wear and tear, decay and the suffering
of life were documented in prose. In the
19th century, Greece was rebuilt around
a ruin, specifically around the ruins of the
Acropolis. And in a strange way, it was
rebuilt as a wreck from the very beginning.
It has not decayed over time, it always had a
decimated, fragmented infrastructure with
pieces that make it a modern ruin.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 222
116 ΥIORGOS
TZIRTZILAKIS
ABOUT THE UNEXPECTED CITY
The professor of Architecture analyses
Athens and its ideas. | Ως καθηγητής
αρχιτεκτονικής ανατέμνει την Αθήνα
και τις ιδέες της.
What is Athens, really?
It is a European city, but also a city with
elements from the East. It is in the heart
of civilization but also has a decayed and
disorganized structure. So, it is a city of
changes. It features the classical, but it is
always a bit different. Because, in a sense, it
has the potential for resistance, disoriented
behaviours, a miscellaneous nature that
always exudes a difference to homogeneity.
The differentiation of Athens is first and
foremost topographic, with incongruity
and a close connections to the sea. Other
Mediterranean cities have light and sea, but
they do not have this “intensity”.
What survives and resists in
contemporary Athens?
From its past, the Acropolis, the Rock,
antiquity. Athens has a characteristic
shared only by Rome, but in a different
way. It includes the ancient and the
modern, while it has nothing in between.
Elements incompatible with each other
and compatible coexist without a median,
without any mediation. The roof, for
instance, has a modern solar water heater
and if we pay close attention, the so-called
fourth view of Athens, its roofs, all of them
communicate with the Acropolis, every
single one. It is the coexistence of a modern
solar water heater with the precious and
seasoned monument.
What excites you about wear and tear?
It is after the 15-16th century, and mainly
in the 17th century when Europe started
to appreciate the ancient monuments,
that wear and tear, decay and the suffering
of life were documented in prose. In the
19th century, Greece was rebuilt around
a ruin, specifically around the ruins of the
Acropolis. And in a strange way, it was
rebuilt as a wreck from the very beginning.
It has not decayed over time, it always had a
decimated, fragmented infrastructure with
pieces that make it a modern ruin.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 222
