PLATO’S ACADEMY REDEVELOPMENT
PLATO’S ACADEMY REDEVELOPMENT
YEAR
2015
LOCATION
Plato's Academy Athens
TYPE
Architecture & Urban Design
AREA
20.000m2
The proposal consists of two parts and aims to redevelop the site of Platonos Academy.
Initially, the archaeological character of the area is highlighted through the creation of an archaeological museum, the Public Sign. The second part consists of the proposal for the design of the Platonos Academy park and the creation of buildings on it. The buildings designed are a library, four exhibition halls, an auditorium and a storage building for the park’s antiquities.
The title “Platonos Sign” is a play with words, which implies the two main pillars of the work, Platonos Academy and the Public Sign.
The location of Platonos Academy is chosen, because it has great historical and archaeological importance for the city of Athens.
It is located in the west of Athens, near the Kifissou Boulevard, on the south of “Hippias Colonos” hill.
The Platonos Academy park, got its name from the building of the faculty of the Academy founded there, by the known philosopher Plato.
At the site of the Academy geometric prehistoric remains and graves of various periods have been identified.
Because of the park’s wide archaeological and natural beauty, it is part of the consolidation of archaeological sites program in Athens, whose aim is to unite Platonos Academy with the historic center and the great archaeological walk, leading to the Acropolis.
The proposal aims to make part of this unification through revealing the Public Sign.
Very important part of the proposal is a thorough archaeological study performed, to deduce the exact spot of the Public Signal in the modern urban fabric of Athens.
The Public Sign was a public cemetery in the antiquity era, which connected the Platonos Academy park with “Dipylon” and had a width of 39m. and a length of about 1.5 km. (The “Dipylon” was one of the entrances to Athens in the antiquity era.)
Based on archaeological findings and in the logic of integration of the Platonos Academy park with other archaeological sites through the Public Sign, the indicative route is formulated and placed between the modern streets “Timaeus” and “Plato”.
The rest of the route continues in the park. In the southern part of the park there is not a drastic intervention, only disclosure of the various points of interest through the route.
In the northern part of the park the buildings are placed, which serve as a boundary between the vast industrial areas and the habitation area.
