gm2263

The incentive to write this post came after having recently looked at my Athens Skyscrapers and highrises thread and I realized that it not only has one of the largest numbers of visits all over the Skyscrapercity forum, but it is also mentioned in various sites, architectural or other. Closing 16,000 views at the times of this writing is not a funny number and reveals something. I also have a reason to believe that more than half of the visitors to the time of this writing are Hellenes, signifying an interest to see things differently. I am glad to have given them the opportunity to see the "other side" of their urban reality.

In addition, I noticed that the number of relevant articles appearing in the Greek press, especially in the "Kathimerini" newspaper, as well as elsewhere, looking not only at the position of Athens (and Greece) in the global architectural map, but also in comparison to other cities, is increasing. While during the decade of the 90's, only a couple of articles (that's less than half a handful) have made it to the press, after the millennium, the concept of "Athens Skyscrapers" and whatever is implied in these two words, appears frequently in the Internet, but also, in what one might call "the real world". Not to mention a number of friends from here and elsewhere that made some heroic attempts to present Athens in a new way, with prime examples being the unbelievable "Athens Today by Demetrio Rizzo and the newest effort by Grigoris Sokratis called "Schedio Polis ".

However, while in the beginning I always liked my emporis.com editorship, which is the main reason that I spend numerous Sunday mornings taking pictures of buildings and Athenian skylines, I started comprehending that something was missing. OK, I got the relative recognition for being the premier skyscraper and highrise spotter in Greece. I had many people listening to what I had to say about the need of tall buildings in Athens, with a large part of them being accomplished architects. I had the chance to meet Mr. Manolis Anastasakis who designed the new 200m-tall "multiscraper" for the Elaionas area, and I hope I may have the time to tell you about this rainy autumn afternoon that we had a chat over some coffee (we basically agreed on everything and he is a fervent supporter of building tall in Athens). I know that there are people "out there" that read "us". I have to admit that personally, after 2000 I haven't met almost anyone (when I started to make public my 30+ year-old interest over tall buildings), that was totally negative to the idea of building tall, with the only consensus being that this kind of buildings had to be constructed away from the "historic center" of Athens.

It has crossed my mind that although there are many proponents of tall buildings in Athens in cyberspace (including this forum as well as many other forums and blogs), a whole world that has reached what we may call a "boiling point", in the "real world" the NIMBYs and the negativists still have the upper hand. What is really needed is a connection to the "real world" that, besides some scattered articles in newspapers and the specialised press, still doesn't exist. The TV channels do not seem to be interested with the exception of NET. Notably, this particular channel presented Mr Anastasakis' proposal for the Elaionas area, before showing (the well known and still dominant) view of a "traditional" architect that talked –once again- about the "scale of the Attican landscape" which is now a conurbation of 5 million people, with much different functional needs compared to what the city was even 15 years ago (and the same pertains to Thessaloniki which is about 1,2 million in its greater area and counting…).

The situation is aggravated by the lack of interest by the majority of the citizens who, obviously have more serious issues to deal with than 40-storey towers in Maroussi or Elaionas, and the fact that whilst the NIMBYs are organised and well connected with the local authority mechanisms (i.e. municipalities), the supporters of the new urban reality, who are people mostly of higher education, are still "marginal and not heard – note that no traditional contractor- (εργολάβος ) would undertake a 30-storey tall tower, it's far beyond his expertise and visionary powers. It is tragic to see how isolated visionary people are in this country and as a result, besides the historical center of the city which is renovated, Athens does not deserve the image it has in many of its suburbs and periphery (although the coastal zone and the northern suburbs are world-class, period).

However, I believe that this particular moment as we speak, is one of the most suitable for a "turning point" in what constitutes a "new urban conception" about Athens which will include the development of the city in terms of new landmarks, with the major axes of development being in the cultural (i.e. museums, scientific venues, i.e. planetariums, aquariums etc), economy/business (skyscrapers – shopping centres), residences (like organized satellite "villages" or even residential towers at a later stage) and leisure (theme parks, multiplexes) areas. Well, it seems that ALL but the tall structures and their emblematic impact in the image of Athens are considered and/ or are under construction or completed. Still, Greece is the ONLY European country that doesn't consider tall buildings. As a result, especially with regards to commercial uses, the office space now offered by the construction community, especially considering the relentless "persecution" from various interest groups, is inadequate, and ineligible for serious business players to consider for accommodation. Small buildings, packed with inadequate parking facilities and isolated from the rest of the city functions, or even worse, burdening them, are the order of the day. This does not happen because this land is used –as it didn't happen in Paris, London, Warsaw and Vienna. It happens because the developers and the NIMBYs play hide-and seek in the light of poor and outdated legislature which does not reflect contemporary trends, and the lack of awareness on the part of the wider society which has been brainwashed to believe that "tall & big=bad" and "small=good" regardless of use, perspective, scale of needs, etc.

We also have the paradox that whilst a big building is relentlessly persecuted by the NIMBYs, giving the impression that society doesn't approve it, when it is completed, it is flooded with visitors regardless of use. This has happened in the case of buildings ranging from museums (i.e. The Hellenic Kosmos foundation, the new Benakis museum in Peiraios street) to shopping malls. Which means, that for every militant NIMBY, there are 10 other citizens that want to see some novelty and development in their city, want to see something tall and big, something emblematic. How is it that the NIMBYs are the only ones heard though? It is because they are organized and have established interests as gatekeepers of the community's interests by misleading other members of the local communities and making them their "army", rebels without an urban cause in a city of 5 million that has reached its next point of evolution. Question is: Will Athens go on to the next stage? And how can we, me, you, and everybody that loves this city but would like to see it reaching new heights, express a different voice in this cacophony of negativism?

Some of you might ask? But is now the right time? Well, my answer is a wholehearted "YES!!! I believe that we are about to come across a "carnal" turning point as far as the construction of tall buildings and emblematic structures in Athens is concerned. The mystic urban powers, so to speak, for this city, were set in motion the time Chuan Antonio Samaranch spelled these magic words, nine years ago: AND THE WINNER IS… ATHENS!!!

Since then, the latest infrastructure works completed mainly for the Athens 2004 Olympics or are still in progress in Athens (the Athens metro is expanding to the west of the city), especially the large stadiums (thanks to S. Calatrava), "legitimized" the idea of building big, grand and tall in my city. Despite the usual motifs played by the negativists regarding the problems of the city and its people in contrast to the "pharaonic" structures being built, the roof of the Athens Olympic stadium became the new symbol of urban pride and mobilized processes that are difficult to stop. That magic moment of the opening of the Olympic games, the memory of this feeling, is not easy to forget and dissipate, let alone go away.

Of course, Athenians (like many other big city citizens) do have problems with their lives and their urban habitat. They understand though that Athens cannot wait until these problems are solved, before it goes on to the next stage. Youngsters, fanzine magazine journalists (I read an article in "Lifo" the other day that sounded as if I had written it), blogsters and architects, all agree to the fact that the city has to change. Where and how exactly is a matter of discussion and interpretation. Even serious architecture reviews like "Domes" (Δομές), devote a whole issue to "the new towers" pointing out the need for new emblematic structures, taller and bigger, in developing areas, while respecting the city's past and avoiding sites of historic interest. A whole world outside the eight o' clock news is literally at boiling point, being kept hostage by unseen yet felt forces of inertia and backwardness which insist on keeping everything to a standstill. Whilst other cities in the region, including Belgrade, Pristina, Sarajevo, Tirana (yes!!!), Istanbul, Izmir, you name it, are literally on fire when it comes to construction, in Greece we are kept hostage by a minority of backward activists that do not represent us (me, you, us), have not been elected by us, and worse, while the ones in favour of a renovation movement are kept in the dark or badmouthed as "liberals", "capitalists", "little Americans" (i.e. "Amerikanakia – as if China and Dubai are not building much taller towers than the US right now ), whatever, by people that do not like dialogue, discussion, argumentation.

I have given a strong thought on what do we need to do more for the affair of the tall Athens to flourish, as, this was, is and will be my primary concern, with regards to my presence in this forum. There is only one answer: To jump from the virtual reality to the real world. And this is that I would like to do now. I am 43 and I would like, as the saying goes "while I still have some lead in my pencil" to see tall towers being built in this city. I wouldn’t have taken this initiative to come down so strong if I hadn't seen the amount of interest displayed by other "co-hostages" trapped in cyberspace and the gravity of the recent reactions coming in the form of proposals and independent articles in blogs and forums. However, there has to be something more tangible than simply presence in the web. We need to alert all the ones still positive but "dormant". We need to disseminate our ideas in the "real" world, to show them that there are alternatives.

For this reason, I started making moves, made a couple of contacts, even contacted a friend who is a video producer, to make a documentary about the new urban realities that Athens may have to face. Well, other things being equal, the monetary issue came into place and I stopped… However, a small video may come into place, a much cheaper production to be made with home equipment, with the "larger" project still on hold for the moment as I am in dire straits, the budget is relatively high, and most of all, if I am to do a piece of work from which others may benefit too (and I am talking about the big constructions who most probably welcome the abolishment of height restrictions on building constructions in Athens), why not make this appeal formal? Why not invite everybody in creating some form of a lobby with the aim to promote the necessity of building tall in Athens?

I would like your opinion of the regular members here as well as welcome everybody from the "real world" that can contribute to this idea of lobbying. How could this be done? How could we have our voices heard? I would also like to invite magazine and periodical editors or journalists. I know that this message may reach you in a much more comfortable situation than the frenzy of your workplace where I may probably not be able to reach you. If you believe that our city deserves more than 27m-tall office blocks and four-storey condominiums, if you believe that urban transformation is a way out, or a significant means by which the way we live, move, breathe, commute and interact may improve, if the term "urban pride" (αστική υπερηφάνεια ) means something to you, then go to my profile and e-mail me. We can still do it. We have the power to do it. We are the citizens, the urbanomancers, the ones that can infuse megapolisomancy into this inertia, the urbanauts of the new world, the spirited ones who can fly across space and time, the transformers of worlds, the episcopes of change. We can do it. Just close your eyes and imagine, just feel the reverberation of a city that is pulsating with the force to transform, yet it is kept hostage from its own inhabitants.


1968-1980 We started it, ugly and incomplete but we started it…





We had plans for more (1970's, never materialized). Some of them were indications that we might be going to the next stage. These are never mentioned anywhere in order not to distract the abundant aura of negativism. See, contrast and compare.


-Phaleron Delta, 1972



Source: Architecture in Greece - Aρχιτεκτονικά Θέματα 8/1974

-Two entries for an architecture competition for the Power Corporation (ΔΕΗ) building. Year: 1972


First Prize: By Alerxandros Tombazis


Source: Architecture in Greece - Aρχιτεκτονικά Θέματα 6/1972

Another entry:


Source: Architecture in Greece - Aρχιτεκτονικά Θέματα 6/1972

Get ready, never seen before in the web:


-Ioannis Vikelas (the architect of the Athens tower):

Proposed residential tower for Neo Psychiko (never built)


(C) Ioannis Vikelas and "Domes" Architecture Review, issue #45/3/2006


Now hold your breath:

Bird's eye view drawing of a proposed 27-storey residential tower in Glyphada.


(C) Ioannis Vikelas and "Domes" Architecture Review, issue #45/3/2006

In the second picture you can see the... hanging swimming pools for the high-class tenants of the same building as envisioned by the architects. Note that this was for the mid 1970's whilst for Europe, it is only in Paris that they even tried to build high-class residential towers in the 13th arrondissement (front de la Seine). Yet Mr Vikelas made his statement back then, and although not loudly heard, there are some to have taken notice of it. (Of course never built, σιγά μην, τον έφαγε η μαρμάγκα της νεο-Ελληνικής πραγματικότητας ).



(C) Ioannis Vikelas and "Domes" Architecture Review, issue #45/3/2006

Funny thing, the clothing style in the last picture, you thing that James Brown (a.k.a. the "Sex Machine") is having a party or something...


Ειπατε τίποτα;

2004: Not exactly buildings but the height and size are there, albeit the Calatrava designs have been characterised as "Pharaonic" and -of course- incompatible with this abstract yet ever present notion of the "scales of the Attica landscape", now accomodating aclose to 5 million people but with a height limit of 27 metres








2006: We started dreaming again…

Manolis Anastasakis: The 200m-tall "Multiscraper" proposed for the area of Elaionas, to the west of Athens



-The 16-storey tower proposed as part of the development for the area of Drapetsona in Piraeus:



-The three 35-storey - 165 m-tall skyscrapers proposed for the area of "Lachanokipoi" in Thessaloniki as part of a final year student dissertation




As you can see, the flame is burning again. It's in our hands not to let the dream fade away this time. It's in our hand to have then realised.

__________________
We are the citizens, the urbanomancers, the ones that can infuse megapolisomancy into this inertia, the urbanauts of the new world, the spirited ones who can fly across space and time, the transformers of worlds, the episcopes of change. We can do it.
ALL OUT FOR A TALL ATHENS

skylinearth

Great thread gm

But, what can you say when you see these never build skyscrapers?


Anyway, people learn by their mistakes, In ten years from now we'll have at least one or two skyscrapers in Athens and Thessaloniki. Believe it

Reignman

Nice article, bravo

I hope your dreams will come true.

__________________
If there is a wish, there is a way!

dR_wHo

Very well written post Greg!
One thing's for sure...someday Athens will get highrises!
It's impossible to keep spreading!
(Olo auto to paxos kapoia stigmi tha to parei se mpoi...pou tha paei )
And when that time comes, Athens won't be stuck with old skyscrapers (that we won't know what to do with) but will have brand new ,shiny ones!

Rev

Now a side on view of that would be highly interesting.