Re-penser Athènes

Athens PubliCity: an urban neuron for a new city center

The proposal organises a public space processing system which develops and expands like an “urban neuron”, an entire living framework aiming to re-activate and revitalize the urban body. The system acts as a familiar, habitable and dynamic framework able to “contain” events and situations of both collective and individual actions.  In proportion to the structure of a neuron, the proposed system is both complete and continuous. It takes over the basic linear axis of Panepistimiou Street and crosses over the vertical pedestrianised streets, reshaping the squares, creating intimate points of rest, urban services and key intersections.

Expansion: The proposal aims to intervene beyond the defined urban space. It rather proposes a uniform organisational framework of the public space that can expand and “grow” like a living organism.

Alteration: The system aims to provide qualitative and functional alteration of the public space creating a variety of environments and alternative perspectives that appeal to user’s various states and needs: open-close, introversion - extroversion, solitude - conviviality.

Familiarity: The system reclaims the familiarity of the public space through its ability degree to provide the user with the sense of warmth and intimacy found in a private space.

The Amalias - Panepistimiou - Patision axis is the fundamental backbone including all the basic movements; pedestrians, bicycles, tram and busses. Two important green spaces, the National Garden and Pedio Areos, are found at each end of this axis. This allows it to become a green corridor of connection and development of a unified urban ecosystem. Standing and service points are organised like “urban multi-tools”, gathering a variety of functions: get coffee or quick food, bicycle parking, explore maps or get informed from digital projections and access the web, use the public phone or recharge their own.

The three open spaces (Korai, Antonis Tritsis and Omonia) are included in the unified logic of the system and are formed like thematic “nuclei”. Omonia square and Korai pedestrian way are major focal points - “dendrites” where the “urban neuron” system can split and develop like a living organism “taking over” more areas of the urban public space.

Korai Pedestrian Street and Trilogy / Knowledge: Being part of a section dominated by the Trilogy buildings, this thematic nucleus is configured as a space dedicated to “knowledge”. In the proposed arrangement prevails the communal library organised in such way as to operate in public space.

Antonis Tritsis Square / Sensations: The proposal suggests the theme of “sensations” for the square; an area where outdoor events and activities related to the human senses are accommodated: open-air cinema screenings, public art events, live performances, music events and even an outdoor gym.