Concert Hall

Concert Hall Athens

Restoration of I.Despotopoulos Concert Hall in collaboration with Atelier 66

The Athens Conservatory is a fragment of a vision. A crystal vision, wider than its own self. Fragment of an imaginary crystal: the 'Athens Cultural Center'. A composition that Ioannis Despotopoulos had been working on for 16 years - out of which, only this was crystallized.

In 1919, at the age of 16, he wrote an extensive, accurate text titled "Organic-Inorganic World". Its main theme is crystals, a thesis about their “vitality" and their almost organic properties. A fragment: "If one did not accept the vitality of the parts a body is comprised of, he would be assuming that it consists of a number that was made by the addition of multiple zeros... We have a live manifestation, a number of a whole, so there may be zeros, but each part of the whole will have the same attributes varied by a corresponding intensity. If the whole, for instance consists of n parts and presents K tension, then 1/n of the whole, that is a single part, will have a vitality tension equal to K/n." Despotopoulos is fascinated by the seemingly inorganic, seemingly still crystals, that ultimately have a 'certain shape’ that 'grows' and 'multiplies by birth' - similarly to something organic.

The Concert Hall of the upper floor was not completed according to its plans, even though it’s an organic part of the Athens Conservatory that has been operating for 40 years. The main amphitheater on the ground floor, the surrounding area, or their equipment, also remained largely incomplete. Unfortunately, the building itself, part of an incomplete whole, rests unfinished.

We entered this part of the inexistent part of the whole with Suzana and Dimitris Antonakakis, having the greatest possible awareness of the largest crystal. The room had been worn out through time, and most of the alterations were dull, random - with its inherent luster subdued. Execution plans for the internal elevations were identified and revealed a brilliant synthesis of acoustic panels that remained on paper. Adjustments were necessary - with the effort not to betray the spirit of the whole.

Out of the “whole” of Athens’ Cultural Center, the Athens Conservatory was lucky to be crystallised, to come to life. A small fragment of the larger crystal, whose vital intensity gives an idea of the intensity of the whole. A crystal, as well the restored Concert Hall on the Floor, is an even smaller part of this.

A crystal, however small, remains radiant.

study

2016

status

Commission

Team

Tilemachos Andrianopoulos Konstantinos Kosmas Nestoras Skantzouris

Photography

Tilemachos Andrianopoulos