Athens as a Project

Athens as a Project is an interdisciplinary publication at the intersection between architecture and photography with a wider reference to contemporary art and urban history. With a particular focus on current metropolitan phenomena and the transformation of cities, it presents the findings of decade-long research project conducted by Platon Issaias on Athens and the specifics of Greece’s urban environments that contribute to broader a discussion of the complex politics of urban development in the Mediterranean and the Global South. Partnering with photographer Yiorgis Yerolymbos, Issaias offers original and unique perspectives on the city of Athens, its architecture, recent history, and contemporary life. Texts, architectural drawings and photographs form an Atlas of Athens encompassing exemplary projects, atmospheres and everyday practices―that go beyond the effects of the economic crisis of the 2010s and the ongoing pandemic.

PLATON ISSAIAS (*1984, Athens) is Head of Projective Cities, an MPhil programme in Architecture and Urban Design at the Architectural Association. He is a founding member of Fatura Collaborative, a research and design collective established in 2009.

YIORGIS YEROLYMBOS (*1973, Paris) studied photography and architecture in Greece and the UK. His photography has been published internationally. Most notably, he captured the ten-year development of Renzo Piano’s Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre, in the stunning photographic essay Orthographs.