K. Vrana, P. Gkiokas, E. Pastra and F. Sigalas win 2nd Place for the Redesign of the Base of the Statue of T. Kolokotronis in Tripoli, Greece

The Municipality of Tripoli organized a Pan-Hellenic Open Student Architectural Idea Contest with the theme: “Redesign of the Base of the Statue of T. Kolokotronis in Tripoli, Greece.” The proposal of Kyriaki Vrana, Panagiotis Gkiokas, Eleana Pastra and Foivos Sigalas received the 2nd place in the competition and  won the third price.

Case
text provided by the architects – This certain design was submitted for the Greek national architecture competition for the redesign of the podium and base of Colocotroni’s statue in Areos square in the city of Tripoli. Competition’s main goal was the further demonstration of the importance of the historic figure and its statue as well as the nomination of Colocotroni’s reliquary, with  existing design considered to be faulty and insufficient.

Synthesis Analysis
Our proposal begins with the idea of downgrading the reliquary of Colocotroni’s and the creation of an isolated space surrounding it. A space dedicated to the historic figure and the nomination of its shrine, treating the current statue as a memorial grave in honor of Theodoros Colocotronis and turning it into an open burial mound.

In order to form these certain conditions we introduced an intense disturbance of the surface surrounding the monument, by splitting the existing podium into 4 triangular parts. These parts are then boosted off the ground and planted. In that way we managed to create a crack surrounded by planted surfaces which eventually forms a downgraded space containing the reliquary. This certain space located lower than the square’s level, with strict boundaries and accessible only through two narrow entrances, is totally isolated from the surrounding environment and turned towards the centre and base of the monument. There are placed the bones of Colocotroni’s forming in total an honoring retreat of the historic figure.

The base of the statue, although it is generally consisted of reinforced concrete, inside the downgraded space it is covered by oxidized metal sheets, demonstrating the existence of the reliquary of Colocotronis, making it visible from the entrances. The exact locations of the relic lies in the back side of the base and is nominated by a fissure which runs its surface.

At the same time this new intense relief turns the podium of the statue visible from distance and in combination with the introduced vegetation creates associations with the area’s known ancient burial mounds.

The base of the statue itself, re-designed as a distinct form of reinforced concrete is let along with the statue to rise pure from the cracked podium. As a result the monument is no longer placed on top of the existing square but instead it appears like it submerges from the ground. Thus a new situation is established where the monument as a landmark nominates with the most distinctive way the connection between the historic figure and the city of Tripoli.