Athens_x4
Urban design Competition
- 1st prize (one of the five equal) at the competition Athens x4, Athens, Greece, 2011
- Grand Prix at the 4th Landscape Architecture Exhibition of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia, 2011
Project title: e_co_llectiva   Site area: 7000m2   Location: Athens, Greece   Design date: November-December 2010
Client: EAXA (Unification of the Archaeological Sites of Athens and Reconstructions S.A.) the Greek Ministry of Environment  
Architects: Katerina Petsiou, Thanasis Polyzoidis

The brief called for the selection of a group of four typical Athenian blocks with degraded urban environment and the creation of a large new urban space in the intersection of the streets. In the project "e_co_llectiva" the public space of the streets and the vacant lots in the internal parts of the four city blocks is unified in order to create an urban garden-park which promotes the concept of collective activity. This intervention is given the title "e_co_llectiva" after ecology (eco), collectivity (collectiva) and new technologies (e). The hardscape finishings of the streets and the pavements are removed and replaced by a wooden platform, introducing the concept of a promenade among gardens of edible plants. Those urban patches are owned by the inhabitants of the 4 city blocks who are responsible for the crops. New uses for the neighborhood in the abandoned building stock and ephemeral activities organized in the existing urban void are proposed, so as to reactivate the neighborhood.