PM Samaras addresses 'Re-think Athens' event

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Wednesday underlined the symbolic nature of the plan to revamp downtown Athens in his address at an event to present the results of the architectural design competition “Re-Think Athens” organised by the Onassis Foundation.

The competition “shows that there are live forces in our society that can envision a different Greece and a different Athens through the darkness of the crisis,” he said.

“The revamping of Panepistimiou Street, the intervention at the bay of Faliro and the real estate development at Ellinikon, where a large metropolitan park will be created, constitute the triangle of this rebirth,” he said, stressing that “the coastal front stretching from Faliro to Sounio” will also be developed soon.

The Dutch architectural firm OKRA won the competition with a proposal described by Onassis Foundation president Antonis Papademetriou as “simple but not simplistic, absolutely applicable, functional and true to the spirit of Athens, taking under consideration the city's prospects and potential while focusing on its citizens and their needs.”

The architectural, bio-climatic and technical studies of the competition were funded by the Onassis Foundation.

The presentation of the winner was also attended by PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos, Democratic Left (DIMAR) president Fotis Kouvelis, Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis, SYRIZA spokesman MP Dimitris Papadimoulis, Communist Party (KKE) Political Bureau member Nikos Sofianos and Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis, among others.