Cultural intervention network in Ano Petralona

Students: Georgouli Danai, Glyka Filia, Frantzi Eirini
Supervisors: Sevastakis Dimitris, Tsiraki Sofia
National Technical University of Athens
February 2011

The starting point of the project was the place itself, the Ano Petralona district. Our interest in this district mainly lies in its lack of distinctive characteristics when compared with the neighboring districts and the variety of its qualities as well as its peculiar relation to the Filopappou Hill. At the area of Petrina and at ruins of refugee settlements scattered in the urban area and in the foothills, we identified certain neighborhood conditions in which an interesting -regardless if it was planned or not- relation between public and private space occurs. We attempted to reproduce and spread the same neighborhood conditions into the urban area with an aim to strengthen the public space and form a unified system.

We suggested a network of mild intervention practices leading to the coordination of the area's activities and providing for the recognition of the flow patterns of its everyday life so that these patterns can be spread in the rest of the urban region. We selected cultural activities as the unifying elements of this network.  In particular, we designated two key-sites where we installed theater workshops and shadow theater workshops, respectively. Kallisthenous street plays a pivotal role in our network. We added a number of auxiliary activities taking around Kallisthenous street, namely a library and a café including a small administration section and an open-air installation for recreational activities and theatrical performances, in order to coordinate and support the network. Moreover, we proposed two possible plans regarding the network's expansion towards the hill (formation of the vacant outdoor space around the block of Asyrmatos as well as working out a route to the Dora Stratou theater).

The basic tools we used in order to deal consistently with all intervention points are: a system of common principles and a three-dimensional grid system concerning access and form respectively. At every intervention point, we have distinguished between organizational functions and 'workshop' functions, having the former housed in new buildings (raw concrete) while the latter are housed in small units (metal structures or ruined refugee settlements brought back to use).