Case Study 1: Lycabettus Pan.Orama

Lycabettus Hill is one of the few green areas of Athens and because of that, is highly appraised as a recreational area, not only by its local inhabitants, but by all Athenians. On top of that, IlIas Zeneto's Theater, situated at the peak of the hill, is one of the architects' few remaining works and despite the degraded state that is currently in, has an unassailable architectural value. Both the cultural and natural landscapes of the hill constitute distinctive landmarks. Therefore, according to current legislation, they are termed worthwhile; meaning, that any intervention on these two would have to be product of an architectural competition.  

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The competition Lycabettus Pan.Orama was an open, preliminary, single-stage and single-subject study. It particularly aimed at the landscape redesign of the theatre surrounding area and the design of the supporting -and much needed- theatre infrastructure. Rights to participation were granted to individuals and legal persons with a professional license to practice the profession.

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Preparing the competition folder was a long and strenuous process and was a collaborative effort. Its contents were mostly based on the findings of two research programs funded by the Municipality of Athens; the first was entitled "Strategic Design and Interventions for the Regeneration and Activation of the Lycabettus Hill," and was implemented by NTUA. The latter was run by the Agricultural University of Athens and was entitled "Landscape analysis of Lycabettus Hill and development of a strategy for highlighting its identity and sustainable management."

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Furthermore, the organising authority (ETAD) assigned the folder preparation to a private architectural office with vast experience on competitions. Members of the working group went through the research material and catalogued the information in terms of its significance and relevance to the competition scope. New maps and topographic diagrams were made as well as a 3d topological model of the area's relief. Data regarding the building terms and the legal framework were also included and thoroughly described.

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The competition was announced online, in July 2019 on the Athens Municipality and the Greek Architects' Association (SADAS) websites. Participants were given about a month (26 days) to address their inquiries to the organising authority and submission was set for mid November.

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Submission requirements called for four A0 panels, a technical report describing the proposal, an A3 issue with the panels' layout printed in smaller scale, the digital documents of the design work along with images and diagrams in .jpeg format.

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Jury consisted of seven members whose names were published a month prior to the submission deadline (October, 14). Three consultants were additionally assigned to support the jury selection in technical matters. The overall composition of the jury comprised of two distinguished professionals; one architect representing the organising authority (ETAD) and four architects that were balloted from the existing official list of architects who fulfill the requirements for such a position.  Jury deliberations took place in the organising authorities' headquarters in the presence of a registrar. Proceedings were later published on the competition website. The organising authority has announced the results in mid April, however, the publication of the winning proposals is still pending.