St Dimitris Loumbardiaris church on Philopappou Hill in Athens, Dimitris Pikionis 1951-7
The Greek architect Dimitris Pikionis was one of those most concerned with a very particular direction that architecture would take in the years after World War II- that of re-engaging with a specificity of place and a specificity of materials. The British architects Alison and Peter Smithson might have been expressing similar issues at the same time, however much their work appears quite different. They were to refer to him later as one of the 'silent architects', whose quiet and self-effacing work belied great originality and significance.
The restoration of the St Dimitris Loumbardiaris church on Philopappou Hill in Athens is part of a far larger project in which Pikionis reshaped the park landscape of the adjacent Acropolis as well as Philopappou. As a way-station in passing through this extensive and intensely historically loaded site it provides a paradoxical contrast to the great and idealised forms of Classical perfection on the opposite hill. A gentle and welcoming place, a modest alternative to the Parthenon as an architectural model: the carefully designed paving made throughout the site subtly structures the visitor's experience, as well as resembling the forms of abstract art.
The restoration of the St Dimitris Loumbardiaris church on Philopappou Hill in Athens is part of a far larger project in which Pikionis reshaped the park landscape of the adjacent Acropolis as well as Philopappou. As a way-station in passing through this extensive and intensely historically loaded site it provides a paradoxical contrast to the great and idealised forms of Classical perfection on the opposite hill. A gentle and welcoming place, a modest alternative to the Parthenon as an architectural model: the carefully designed paving made throughout the site subtly structures the visitor's experience, as well as resembling the forms of abstract art.
St Dimitris Loumbardiaris church, pavilion paving
His design for the church also creates adjacent terraces and a pavilion, using the simplest of means with timber contrasting with stone. As well as feeling somehow Japanese, these spaces provide a vivid making of meaningful place in a way reminiscent of other modern architects, while using timber frame and thatch. Overall, these make for places that are human and timeless, created just sixty years ago when an international Modernism was in full flood elsewhere.
St Dimitris Loumbardiaris church, terrace
View from pavilion of St Dimitris Loumbardiaris church to entrance porch