The new Kolonaki Square will be open and inclusive, a civic field that is connected to and continuous with the vibrant neighborhood that surrounds it. Instead of a bounded park with specific entrance points, the new plateia invites visitors to enter from all sides.
The material definition of the plateia extends across the streets in order to include the sidewalk cafés and shops that surround it, enlarging the reach of the public space, encouraging cars to share the road with pedestrians, and pulling the energy and activity of the city into and through the park.
The program for the park borrows from what surrounds it, proposing new cafes and outdoor seating that will be used from early morning until late at night.
The previous design for the park by Atelier 66 was a unique and interesting space, but it did suffer from a kind of fragmentation, partially because of the many steps, terraces, and walls that were created to navigate the almost 4m grade change across the site. We propose instead a simple tilt that creates a large continuous flat space across the majority of the park. Staircases are limited to two locations; at the north and south of the site, while the park is traversable at grade in a continuous flat route in the east-west direction.
The park is deliberately minimal in the number of elements used to give it definition; a grid of trees, various hardscape materials, benches, and a mix of different playful program elements. In this way the proposed Kolonaki Square is simple, clear, easy to navigate, easy to maintain, and open to many different uses and audiences.
