Architecture and Valéry Giscard Agree
Architecture and Valéry Giscard Agree:
“Greece is basically an Oriental country”
2019
Justified reasons for architectural research, and ultimately intervention, are similar to the colonial mentalities laced within the field of “Orientalism”. New work, such as U-TT’s Reactivate Athens, proposes solutions that are congruent with new EU spatial organization policy. ‘Localized design’ and 'acupuncture' allow state agencies to empower local actors, however, as is the case of Greece, it allows them to place blame. The architectural language used in these studies reiterates the fact that Greece is ‘almost European’, but has not productively used ‘Modern Architecture’. This failure (if it is one), is shown as being embedded within the concrete of the urban fabric. How is the EU harnessing these architectural viewpoints to enact changes beyond austerity measures? Reasons to turn towards European championed city models, static or dynamic, have been justified by a systemic ‘Orientalization’ of the urban environment undermining Athens as a city all its own.
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