The 41 projects of GREAT 2013 exhibition "THEIR FIRST BUILDINGS"

20.5 - 9.6 2013
AT MEGARON ATHENS

THEIR FIRST
BUILDINGS

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Roumpani Flora , Takou Eleni

New Athens City Museum

2008

Undergraduate

University of Patras, Patras, Greece

Professor(s): Dragonas Panos

Athens is a historical city; One of the few cities in the world which has been continuously inhabited for over 3000 years. However, this historical continuance does not appear in the form of the contemporary city, mostly due to a vast and uncontrollable growth within the last 40 years. Fragmented pieces of the past are found scattered within a sea of the Greek “polykatoikias” and few of the inhabitants seem to understand the meaning and importance of the city’s past, who perceive Athens as an overpopulated and most of the times problematic metropolis under construction. The new Athens city museum aims to redefine the relationship between the city and its past by informing and educating the public. 3000 years are being narrated using a simple continuous "timeline" route, using both digital and physical exhibits. The location of the building is particularly important. It is a triangular small piece of land located near the centre of the city, close to the Concord square. One side leads straight to Acropolis and the area of Plakas (Aiolou str.), while the other leads to the Parliament (Stadiou avenue). Symbolically, the intersection of those two directions could refer to the relationship between the Ancient and the Contemporary Athens. This particularly important node is ideal for the positioning of a building dedicated to the city of Athens.
The desirable result is a tiny museum with a long route, for a small nation with a gigantic civilization.

CV

Eleni A. Takou is an Architect Engineer, graduate from University of Patras (2008). ). She also graduated from Fine Arts (BFA), Parsons The New School for Design, in New York (2012-13). Approved by the United States of America as an “Extraordinary Talented Person in Arts”, U.S.A (2013-16). Joint-Curator for the Greek pavilion of the exhibition”Milan Image Art Fair”, Milan (2010) and the Museum of Technology for the exhibition “G-Play”, Thessaloniki (2006). Member of the architectural team of the group Dolphin Capital Investors (Aristo Dev.) for the New Private Cities in Cyprus design in association with RAMSA, New York (2008-10). Member of the creative and editorial stuff of urban arts magazine “Ozon Magazine” (2007-8). Author at research platforms: Mic’n’ Pen (2008), Athens9 (2007), Skyline Talk (2012). Author of the book “Circulation Patterns in Museum Spaces” with Flora Roumpani (2007). Exhibitor at the 26th Festival “European Capital of Culture”, Patras (2006). Her work has been distinguished in many National architecture and arts related competitions (two first prizes: 2007/1998, one third prize: 1997). Founder of the architectural and arts practice Eleni Athan Takou in 2011. She resides in New York and works at projects related to the urban context design, and a gamut of arts consultations in the movie industry.

Flora Roumpani is an MRes graduate and a Phd candidate at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis in Bartlett UCL and has a diploma on Architecture Engineering from the Department of Architecture in the University of Patras. During her studies she worked as a researcher in the Laboratory of Urban and Regional Planning in research projects relating to urban analysis and visualisation. For 4 years, she worked as an architect and part of the urban planning team in Doxiadis Associates, in several projects in Greece and abroad.
Her research interests include issues concerning the future of the city, new towns and urban analysis tools for 3d cities. Research Blog: en-topia.blogspot.co.uk