By the Banks of The River Ilissos

The city as a changing landscape where latent elements interact to shape its form was the sparking of our project. Specifically, the hidden topography underneath the urban structure of Athens and the symbols carried through time from the relics of the past compose a new perception of urban planning where the past meets the present in unexpected ways.

The presence of Kallimarmaro placed into the intense topography of Ardittos Hill, articulated once the concept of sport under the prism of nature, mythology and culture. Under these facts, sports obtained apart from the physical also a mental dimension. However, the recent effort of extending the sports activities to the area next to the Columns of Olympious Zeus with the design of the courts of Ethnikos Athens ignored these parameters and as a result fails to commune with the history of this area. Goal of the proposal is the elevation of the symbolisms of mythology and nature simultaneously with the maintenance of the sports activities keeping in mind both urban character and the intense area topography. This topography dignifies a mysterious dimension between the Olympeion and Vas. Konstantinou Avenue, as it is lower than the street. There relies our designed intervention, whose main elements is the creation of two axes. The first is a route that beginning from Arditos Hill crosses the area to highlight its forgotten archaeological sites with the city and the famous monuments silently existing in the background. The second one is the creation of the loggia prompted by the design of the building that accommodates the Athletic Federation Offices, as well as training halls. Here the city bustle faints, therefore the walker can observe Acropolis, Arditos hill and Kallimarmaro in detached relation with the city through different frames. Then, he can proceed to the lower level where the strictly reorganized in a linear zone sport premises meet the traces and relics of the past that excite his phantasy about the unknown world in this different “garden” where nature, city and history interact. Therefore, the archaeological monuments serve no longer as lifeless parts of passed times perfectly protected from the shifting city. In fact, our interventions somewhere intense and rigorous, elsewhere smoother, reverse this conservative view, provide, instead, these relics with the necessary energy that still keeps them alive and finally question their integration in modern life so far.