ARCHITECTURE

Reflecting on Athens’ ‘unfinished’ buildings
CULTURE

The concrete frames of buildings punctuating the urban landscape of Athens is the focus of a year of research by artist and director Maria Lalou and the Danish architect Skafte Aymo-Boot that culminated in the Greek/English book “Unfinished” (Jap Sam Books). 


Architects’ office attacked over Exarchia design
NEWS

A group calling itself “Anarchist” claimed the attack that left broken windows at the Tense Architecture office in the Polygono district of Athens on February 5 in a post on the Athens Indymedia website at midnight Wednesday, denouncing it for undertaking the design of Exarchia Square above the new metro station that is being constructed.

Restoration study for former royal palace garden unveiled
TATOI

The ministries of Environment and Culture presented restoration studies on Tuesday for the 3.4-hectare palace garden and cemetery, as well as the progress of the redevelopment of the entire former royal estate of Tatoi, north of Athens. 

Cultural centers just small oases in concrete jungle of Athens
IMAGES

With very few exceptions, Athens has by no means experienced the so-called “Bilbao phenomenon,” which occurred in the Spanish city; namely a domino effect of changes that would improve the urban environment around its museums and large cultural sites.


Proposal could lead to revival of listed buildings
CULTURE

A plan for the restoration and development of listed buildings, either commercially or as residences, through the partnership of private and state owners, is being forwarded for public debate by the Dianeosis research and policy institute. 

Athens’ new and underwhelming facades
OPINION

Every time a new building is unveiled in Athens, usually following a reconstruction, I wait anxiously to see the facade. The scale model, when it exists, may suggest the result but it does not show the quality of the materials, nor the integration of the new building into the surrounding environment.

Athens’ interwar imprint being swiftly erased
CULTURE

City history and architecture buffs are watching with mounting alarm as the last vestiges of an important piece of Athens’ identity are being snuffed out with the rapid demolition of old stand-alone buildings, and especially residences from the interwar period.




Footage shows fragments falling from Hagia Sophia dome
NEWS

A Turkish newspaper has published video footage showing fragments of building material falling from inside the dome of the former Orthodox Christian cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, raising concern about the integrity of the monument and the safety of visitors.

Overlooking the city between the hills
IMAGES

The new square that will be created in Kolonaki in central Athens will have two elements according to the architect Theoni Xanthi, whose office (XZA Architects) won the competition to redesign the popular meeting point.


Poor maintenance seen behind OAKA stadium’s structural woes
NEWS

The structural problems of the iconic arched roof that prompted the closure of the Athens Olympic Stadium do not stem from its design – by award-winning Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava – or construction but are due to maintenance issues, according to the technical study that highlighted the issues.