Descended to Pharmakeia's Font and Museum

The intervention area is the scene of the platonic dialogue Phaedrus, from where the title comes from. We lay out descents to the excavated Ilissus, which is transformed from a fissure into a pathway of initiation, where we install a combined public baths and museum. The ambience of the space is based upon the multiple meanings of the word Pharmakeia.

The catalyst for the Graduation Project was our research project on Plato's Phaedrus entitled “Plato's Ilissian Field: staging and spatial construction in the Phaedrus”. The analysis of the text provided us with a profound insight into the spatial structure and meaning layers of the plain of the Ilissus River, but also with design approaches for the intervention in the place in question. The text in itself constitutes a form of architectural intervention. \nMore specifically, the project is the fruit of a broader contemplation on the relationship of the city with memory and its historical past, and by extension on the concept of museum. We are keen to define new relationships with the historical traces of the city, whether they be architectural, topographical (as with the Ilissus River), mythological or textual (as with Phaedrus) which will draw out the meanings inscribed in the place. We aim to transcend the visual relationship with the ancient fragmented remains, and introduce an experience which will be physical and multi-sensory so that the visitor will live for himself the meanings of the place.\nFurthermore this project is a response to our interest in public space and landscape in the city. We considered it of the utmost importance to give over to Athens a public space which potentially constitutes one of the most significant archaeological sites in Athens and which is at present in acute decay. In opting for this project we seek to transcend monosemic concepts such as urban fabric, building and landscape and to explore intermediate relationships between the city and nature, architecture and the landscape, space and philosophy, past and present. This approach enables us to develop hybrid landscape and architectural approaches evolved specifically for the stratigraphical landscape of Athens.