In the event of the Airport and Calatrava's Architecture

Date: March 2001

(This article was sent to Kathimerini and Eleftherotypia newspapers but was never published. Yet, we believe it to be of interest, especially after the latest events that took place, the skepticism that followed the direct assignations of projects, and the way these occurred, which we are all aware of now.)

by Ath. Zoulias, Architect - Town Planner

During the past few months we have been living within the reality of the completion of the new airport of Athens; an important project for modern Greece that will surely be a milestone in its history as it will elevate the city within the realm of the European and International Air Transportation. We have, I believe, all been persuaded of its technological superiority and of the embodiment of the most important technological advancements within the field of airport construction. Further more, we accept that it represents one of the biggest development projects within our country.

However, following the political propaganda we have been bombarded with over the past two months, meaning the controversy on whether our Minister was capable in the carrying out this project or how the Shadow Minister would have been more efficient, I feel inclined to resist and proceed calmly in meriting or criticizing all parties involved.

If one were to see things through the eyes of an engineer or a technician, one should first congratulate the basic Undertaker (or Contractor) of this project, then all the construction companies (or sub-contactors) involved, Hellenic and foreign, the numerous architects that successfuly studied all the component parts of the building and the engineers and artisans that worked towards its materialization facing and resolving myriads of technical problems of which neither Mr. Laliotis, nor members of ND not even Mr. Manos are even aware of.

What I fail to comprehend is why such a technological accomplishment is deprived from its original creators and merited exclusively to the individual or individuals that took the political decisions. Why we should instill to our children the belief that greater value is applied to the ones who determine how the Greek budget is managed and not to the creator of a project.

I agree on congratulating the political will for the realization of the project but let us set this in the context of praise for the proper allocation and management of public money and not give it the heroic dimensions that the political propaganda, either in its positive or its negative form, is attempting to give.

However, let's examine things through the perspective of Architecture and Aesthetic that in earlier times were prevalent in evaluating any project, especially in our country.

By coincidence, there is an exhibition currently running in the National Gallery featuring an important contemporary architect, the Spanish Santiago Calatrava. Observing with admiration his inspired creations, especially in the field of airports and metro stations that beautified numerous cities, big or small, and comparing them to the elaborate, aesthetically simple but impersonal and plain form of both our great projects - airport and metro (excluding a few stations) - I am left to wonder how we will give inspiration and creation the priority they deserve. We ought to stop assessing the success of a project by whether the roads that lead to it are ready in time or whether the baggage collection mechanisms are working or whether the granite and tiles are clean or even whether the cashiers booths with inox and metallic paint are "trendy". The most important thing, according to my opinion, is that in the country from which architecture originated, two of the most important projects of our century have been carried out without seriously considering the architectural inspiration, a parameter that beautifies our life and exhilarates our hearts and minds.

Soon, very soon, the granites will deteriorate, the panels will erode, the tiles will come off, the celebration of the opening ceremonies will cease and all that will remain is the feeling that one more chance to ameliorate aesthetically this city has been lost. When in such multi-billion projects Architecture is neglected and narrowed down to partial design interventions of certain shops or some isolated buildings or facades, from where will we receive encouragement for inspired aesthetic interventions that will start to beautify our city and endow it with trademark buildings?

When a public building of that magnitude fails to elevate us or direct us towards a timeless beauty, an inspired beauty, a unique beauty, then who will?

When will we ever comprehend Calatrava's words that "we have to refrain from the realization of things that aim towards covering certain needs and elevate to the level in which the basic incentive will be the satisfaction deriving from the qualitative amelioration- through architecture- of our surroundings"?