INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS

LATEST RESULTS

2003

Within the framework of the Cultural Olympiad 2001-2004 and the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Hellenic Culture Organization SA organised, with the support of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, an international competition for the architectural conception of ephemeral structures in Athens. This open and anonymous international competition, in one phase, was divided into two categories :

• A project competition open to professional architects
• An ideas competition open to students of architecture.

In conformity with the Unesco-UIA regulations, this competition received the approval of the International Union of Architects (UIA).

The competition invited participants to rethink and to conceptualise, in architectural form, their relationship to the city of Athens, through projects for ephemeral structures having specific themes and purposes, and intended to generate and house cultural events, such as open-air theatres, event platforms, semi-open exhibition spaces, etc. These structures had to be "mobile" and created "in the name of Athens", without being linked to a specific site or domain. Like "urban parasites", adapted to the infrastructure of their host sites, the structures had to offer inhabitants and visitors the possibility to become the actors in cultural events. Among the themes proposed to professional architects was a structure dedicated specifically to the 2004 Olympiad.

Some of the winning projects designed by professional architects will be realised and installed in Athens, and will then travel to other Olympic cities (Volos, Patra, Irakleio, and Thessaloniki).

JURY

The international jury met in Athens on January 27 - 31, 2003, to examine the 470 projects submitted: 343 by professional architects and 127 by students. The jury was placed under the presidency of Elias Zenghelis, architect (Greece), representing the promoter, and made up of : Zaha Hadid, architect (Iraq/United Kingdom), Hani Rashid, architect (Iraq/USA), Yatsuka Hasime, architect (Japan), Sylvia Lavin, architect (USA), Flemming Aalund, architect (Denmark), representing the UIA, Andreas Vourekas-Petalas, architect, representing "Athens 2004 OC", J. Peponis, architect, representing the Athens School of Architecture, Nikolaos Tsinikas, architect, representing the Association of Greek Architects (SADAS), Ifigeneia Lolopoulou-Skamnaki, architect, representing the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), Wolf Tochtermann (Germany), representing Unesco. Sitting on the jury as alternate members were : Nelli Marda, architect (Greece), Gyiorgos Tzirtzilakis, architect (Greece), and Ivana Wingham, architect (Serbia/United Kingdom).

The jury attributed thirty-four prizes and mentions, for a total prize amount equalling 240.000 Euros. The competition results were officially announced during a press conference in Athens on January 31, 2003, by the Hellenic Minister of Culture, prof. Evangelos Venizelos. All of the projects submitted are on display in Athens, at the Byzantine and Christian Museum, until February 28, 2003. They will also be exhibited in London at the Royal Institute of British Architects from April 22 until May 24, 2003.

Open-air theatres
Prize :
Michele Moreno, in collaboration with Giovanni Santamaria (Italy)
Mentions :
Sabina Tattara, in collaboration with Martino Tattara (Netherlands)
Helena Fernandez, in collaboration with David Serero, Diego Rosales (USA)
Carles Muro, in collaboration with Charmaine Lay, Alfredo Penafiel, Juan Carlos Castro (Spain)
Alejo Paillard, in collaboration with Igesa Buttner (France)

Creative activities spaces
Mentions :
Nicole Berganski (Germany)
Antoine Pargelos, in collaboration with Dorian Guerin, Maxime Buzzi (France)