In all near-term future scenarios, the city of Athens is facing existential environmental threats from heat and pollution. The “eco-mental system” called Athena is changing. Urban Evaporative Cooling and the Ecological Semiotics of Heat and Pollution in Athens explores the potential for zero energy, water-based downdraft evaporative cooling installations as experimental urban air conditioning.
Participants
JON GOODBUN, ARAN CHADWICK, FLORA MCLEAN, ROSA SCHIANO-PHAN, AND JUAN VALLEJO
ATHENS, GREECE; LONDON, UK
Jon Goodbun, London, UK, 1970. Lives and works in Athens, Greece, and London, UK.
Aran Chadwick, Stockport, England, 1968. Lives and works in London, UK.
Flora McLean, London, UK, 1971. Lives and works in London, UK.
Rosa Schiano-Phan, Naples, Italy, 1971. Lives and works in London, UK.
Juan A Vallejo, Granada, Spain, 1986. Lives and works in Granada, Spain, and London, UK.
Authorial Collaborators
The Eco-Mental Systems of Ἀθηνᾶ: Linn Phyllis Seeger (Filmmaker); Urban Evaporative Cooling in Athens: Gemma Riggs (Filmmaker)
Technical Collaborators
Cordula Weisser and Filip Visnjic, WAG London
Team
Dimitra Vlami, Rheomode (Project Assistant); Ewa Hazla, Atelier One (Structural Engineer); Alexandra Vlazaki (Environmental Architecture Researcher); Konstantinos Souvatzolgou (Sensor and media artist); Anna Ioannidi (Graphic Designer)
Thanks
Zachos Varfis and the staff of Latraac Skate Bar and Urban Garden, Athens; James Bridle; Eleni Myrivili, Global Heat Officer, UN Habitat; Elissavet Bargianni, Heat Officer, Municipality of Athens
Supporters
Royal College of Art School of Architecture and Research Development Fund award; AHRC Enacting Gregory Bateson’s Ecological Aesthetics in Architecture and Design (grant number AH/X002535/1); University of Westminster research support award; Atelier One Engineers; Rheomode
