Crasis

The rectangular plot, lying on a slope at the southern foot of the Acropolis hill, was chosen to host a collection of spaces that could become an aggregative hub for both the visitors and the local community. The relationship of the composition with the neighboring residential area on the one hand, and the monumental pieces of the Classical Era just above on the other, is a key-point of the constitutive motifs. Imagining of being able to freely pick the distinctive qualities of each of the actors of the surrounding scene, and gluing them together around a rigid, functional plan, the central idea is generated. A crasis (from Ancient Greek κρᾶσις, mixture) of architectural paradigms that is naturally rooted in the genius loci. The peristyle of the Parthenon can enclose an agorà or the courtyard of an Ottoman dwelling, while the monolithic rigidity of the Athena Nike Temple can sit on an odeon and at the same time be topped by the hilly landscape where the Ancient Athenians first practiced democracy.