What I can see

This playground was designed by Dimitris Pikionis and is among his most important works. Pikionis himself called it a “children’s garden”. It includes a small lake, a fountain, a bridge, a boat craft, paddles, stretched nets, the “Deer” (Christos  Kapralos), the “Piper” (Kostas Koulouvatos) and the bust of Nikolaos Zoumboulidis. There are two activity scales, one for older and one for younger children. The influences of the Japanese architectural tradition (e.g. the entrance) are clear and are combined with the Greek architectural tradition (Sarakatsani hut). The lines of Pikionis are also very clear and the landscape design is very special, because it has ensured that the plants are endemic and fit harmoniously in the space.

What I can't see

The playground has been designated a listed monument. Pikionis was opposed to architecture that does not include symbols and is not related to nature, because it thus resembles decoration rather than architecture. Pikionis supported the universality of architecture through the indivisible world tradition, which consists of the happiness, spontaneous joy, and instinctive wisdom of the archetypal child. From this, Pikionis developed his own style, which was different from the modernism of the time that it was cut off from social visions. Another interesting point about this project is that for the most part, it is a product of improvisation and it was not implemented on the basis of plans.

Info

• Address: El. Venizelou & Ethnikis Trapezis St.

Bibliography