Mount Lycabettus, a protagonist in the founding myth of Athens and an active quarry from antiquity until the 20th century, is one of the landmarks of the city’s urban and environmental history. In 1965, the Mount entered anew the city’s collective memory when Takis Zenetos designed the Theater of Lycabettus (1964-65) that added to its polysemous references outdoor concerts, shows and festivals. However, we are also interested in a different set of stories enacted by multiple generations and cultures of Athens; that is, we are interested in the improvised and unplanned appropriations of the hill for stunting and wheelies, cruising and finding anonymous love, drinking beer with friends, eating street food, making graffiti, strolling with kids, gazing at the bewildering city in the hot summer nights, walking with dogs; and more recently for health buffs jogging and doing yoga overlooking the water heaters, antennas, and roofs of Athenian apartment buildings.
Our intervention attempts to converse equally with all of the above individual and collective stories. It strives to highlight the complexity, ambiguity, and vibrant social history of the hill, which accommodates us all, maybe not at the same time or every day, but with respect and tolerance, not unlike the theater’s sonic landscape. Our project creates a flexible, fully reversible and low–budget
infrastructure which sits on a correspondingly dynamic and sustainable landscape intervention that preserves, highlights and updates the characteristics and history of the Mount and Theater of Lycabettus.