Spolia

Kostas Danis

Spolia Transformation of the Hellenic Foundation of Culture Garden

• Architects

For years, the garden of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture remained neglected: a series of disconnected outdoor spaces and ad-hoc extensions surrounding the emblematic 1930’s Prodromos Bodosakis Residence. The goal of our design was to connect all existing buildings to each other and to simultaneously create an outdoor space for the Foundation to hold public events. Four new gardens with plants from the Mediterranean countryside enrich the existing flora: a garden of grasses, a wooded area, an orchard and a meadow.

photo_credit Vassilis Makris — Vassilis Makris

A continuous hardscape of warm-colored concrete pavers connects the existing buildings and the gardens, creating numerous sitting areas to pause and take in the sounds, sights and fragrances of the lushly planted grounds. The creases along the path, created by the change in angle of the pavers, correspond to the fragmentary nature of the various elements newly bound together: monuments, trees and ruins. The original peristyle, opposite the main building of the complex, was partially demolished during a previous phase of construction, and a number of its columns have been salvaged from the site and reused. As material artifacts rather than symbols, they are placed horizontally: whole or divided, single or in clusters. Sometimes they are rhythmically repeated along a path; at other times they provide seating beneath the shade of a tree. Cut transversally, the columns manifest a core of reinforced concrete.

The anachronistic combination of their Ionian style and concrete constitution reminds us of the nationalist narratives that architecture served during the interwar period. By cutting and repositioning the columns, we attempt to appropriate these architectural fragments in a way that is relevant again today. Respectively, verbal excerpts from the work of 20th century Greek poets are carved into marble pavers and scattered across the paving pattern, to be glimpsed as one traverses the grounds. These playful interventions take on the Foundation’s current mission to translate the works of Greek literature into foreign languages and its contribution in shaping contemporary Greek culture.