GREEK ARCHITECTURE NOW

2004 was the year when once more modern Greece took up the challenge to host the famous Olympic Games. Whith great veneration for the ideas and ancient traditions of the games, a spectacular modern Olympic event was composed. The preparations contained comprehensive building activities representing many fine new examples of Greek architecture. With the author's Scandinavian viewpoint the aim of this book has been an investigation into contemporary Greek architecture and at the same time providing an understanding for its essential characteristics based on the historic, cultural heritage of Hellas. Despite its glorious past and Athens' position as the oldest capital in Europe, in architectural terms the country is a mainly modern nation. Greece adapted modernism from the 1930s and refound with enthusiasm the modern style during the 1950s-60s, but even so the national aspects and the presence of the classical/neo-classical icons repeatedly evoked an ideological battle between the "traditionalists" and the "modernists". The best architects - then as now - master to combine the current international trends with a signature since 1990 has generated many such examples, of which a selected number is presented in this book. Contemporary Greek architecture deserves a greater international attention.