Potamianos House

The Potamianos House in Philothei, Athens, is a continuation of Pikionis'interes in combining traditional materials with a contemporary structure. The site is organized as a temenos entered through a propylon and landscaped with indigenous plants, characteristic paving arrangements, stone benches and assemblies of archaic fragments. The section is organized along traditional lines with living spaces and studio above bedrooms and kitchen below. La Casa Potamianos en Philothei, Atenas, es una continuación del interés de Pikionis por combinar materiales tradicionales con una estructura contemporánea. La parcela está organizada como una temenos al que se accede a través de un propilón y que está ajardinado con plantas autóctonas, pavimentos característicos, bancos de piedra y conjuntos de fragmentos arcaicos. La sección se organiza siguiendo las líneas tradicionales, con espacios de vida y estudio por encima de los dormitorios y la cocina por debajo. I will never forget my initial encounter with Pikionis when in 1959 I first visited the Acropolis and found myself walking almost by chance in the astonishing adjacent parks cape of the Philopappou Hill. There I sensed, with great surprise, the almost literal movement of the landfall as my frame was drawn by gravity and by the tactile grip of the paving, up and down the undulating labyrinth of the terrain; a site that was to be experienced as much by the body as by the eyes. More surprising still were the stone-paved way stations and benches and, above all, the pine-wood-framed temenos and pavilion adjacent to the reconstructed Loumbardiaris church. These last seemed as though they had been drawn from Japan, over long eons of time, through Asia and the cultural sieve of Byzantium. I did not know then that the park was not quite finished and that the seventy-two-year-old architect was still active in supervising the work. Nor did close Greek friends of mine bring this work to my attention.