The exhibition consists in 2 parts: archive and new projects. In the archival part we can go through a timeline of the major architecture achievements, that served greek tourism for over 100 years.
Three are the main categories of those historic buildings: the Athens Hilton, the Xenias and the Argosaronic touristic settlements.
The Athens Hilton was built between 1958-1963, based on the plans of architects Emmanuel Vourekas (1905-1993), Prokopios Vassiliadis (1912-1977) and Spyros Staikos. It was “the first point of visual flare” in the postwar Athens, the first example of a “prestigious architecture”, symbolic of the general economic, cultural and social developments of the time and especially the entry of the country in the global tourism market luxury. Although it belongs to the typology of major cosmopolitan hotel, mainly the outer form shows some originality, thanks to the composition sought between modern and classic, while the use of Pentelic marble reliefs and monumental compositions of painter John Moralis, with their archaic their themes, attempt to give a “Greek” touch to the mainly radical design. The key success of an architectural point consists in setting up “a prominent building claims in a difficult land”, where the hollow shaft and other solutions chosen, manage to some extent to reduce the stiffness of the volume. Between 2001-2003 there was a “minimalist” intervention of architects Al. Tompazis and X. Bougadellis, to restore the building and add a new 6-storie winf towards the east side of the site.
