Helliniko – a coastal area about 10km south of downtown Athens
has, throughout the decades, served as an international airport, a sports complex
for the Athens 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games, a temporary shelter for
refugees, and apparently a soon-to-be redeveloped area called Hellinikon Project, an €8
billion investment, which will include, among other things: a park, a mall,
exhibition space, sports facilities, a marina, a residential tower, a hotel, a
casino…
***
For me, the old airport symbolized cheerful
reunions and painful goodbyes. I can remember arriving in the late 80s with my
parents to a chaotic customs hall, my father slipping some cash to the cigarette-puffing
inspector, so he wouldn’t ‘find’ the VCR hidden in our suitcases (a
highly-anticipated gift for my uncle)… As a student in the 90s I flew in and
out of Helliniko. I have a lingering memory of a pathetically sad parting, a
guy I was with at the time, dropping me off. As I passed through security and
turned for one last wave, he was already gone and I never saw him again. And later, when I decided to move here, my journey
began when I landed at Helliniko, with no one there waiting to greet me. I can
recall dragging my two suitcases to the curb, clambering into a rickety cab,
and off I went, (feeling triumphant), into a cloud of grey exhaust fumes. Hello
Athens, I’m back.
***
In 2004, I stood on what once was
the old runway, which was part of the Helliniko Olympic Complex, which hosted
seven Olympic sports. Back then I worked at ATHENS 2004 and during the games, I
was assigned to the baseball venue, within the Helliniko Complex. We were all
so excited. We were a part of new shiny Athens, with our gleaming new metro
& tram, our new sports facilities all over the city, our new modern face.
We had pulled it off, against all odds. I can remember partying on the baseball
diamond with the Cuban team, celebrating their gold medal win, celebrating our
victory too, the new Athens, the new Greece… Hello world, we’ve arrived.
Well, fast-forward a few years later and most of our shiny
new toys were abandoned, rusted and decaying under the hot Greek sun… The
flip-side of another ‘new’ Athens. Goodbye
all, we’re a disgrace again.
***
During the height of
the crisis, thousands of refugees used the old Helliniko airport as a
ramshackle temporary shelter. One of the old Olympic sports facilities at
Helliniko was used as a warehouse. Whenever I had a free day, I would often
take the not-so-gleaming tram to Helliniko and volunteer at the warehouse
(organized and run by civic groups and volunteers), where I’d help unload and
sort truckloads of humanitarian aid. Toiletries here, children’s socks over
there, ladies’ winter coats in this pile, bags of lentils in this one. Refugees
lined up outside the old airport, policemen checking their IDs. You could tell
which ones were already living there – their expressions were as bleak and
hopeless as the run-down buildings around us. The newly-arrived had faces that
were still optimistic, they smiled at me, eager to get in. They seemed happy to
have finally arrived somewhere – little did they know of the miserable
conditions that awaited them inside.
Helliniko became a symbol of yet another
failure of the state. Olympic facilities left to rot, refugees living in
squalor, volunteers trying to fill the gap. Yes, world. Welcome to our new sprawling
wasteland.
***
Ah, back to the casino. Here we are. This week, Mohegan
Gaming and Entertainment (MGE), formally submitted their offer to the Hellenic
Gaming Commission’s call for tender “for the concession of a wide-range
activities Casino Operating License in the Hellinikon – Ag. Kosmas Metropolitan
Pole”.
Let me back up for a minute though. I read the information
on Hellinikon Project’s website. Descriptions such as “new skyline” caught my
eye; as well as references to proposed high-rise building(s), which will,
according to Hellinikon Project, create the “Guggenheim effect”, a resurgence
in other words – architecture that will make Hellinikon a “landmark
destination” and will create “contemporary socio-cultural standards”… And such
high-rises “shall lead to a future that is better than the present”.
And so, the first bid by MGE was recently revealed. MGE’s
bid is called Inspire Athens and includes the casino, a luxury hotel,
entertainment venues, a convention center, retail space, and dining outlets. The
complex covers 15,000 square meters out of the entire Helliniko Project’s 6,200,000
square meter area. The bidding process prohibits certain details from becoming
public, such as the height of the Inspire Athens building.
The design was created by Steelman Partners, a firm based in
Las Vegas, their website says they specialize in “entertainment
architecture”. Steelman Partners say
their design was inspired by the Caryatids on the Erechtheion of the Acropolis –
six female figures, used as columns to support the structure, created over
2,000 years ago.
I looked at the Inspire Athens images. Their high-rise
building. Their entertainment architecture. Their interpretation of HP’s “landmark
destination” and “contemporary socio-cultural standards”.
I looked at the images of the proposed building and resort,
inspired by the ancient Caryatids. I tried to see the insight, the connection…
What does this design say about “socio-cultural standards”?
Is this what will lead us “to a future that is better than the present”?
Hard Rock International, another company offering a bid, is
set to present their concept soon. By December, the winner of the bid is expected to be announced.
For me, Helliniko continues to be a dichotomy. A place,
where, throughout the years, I’ve experienced such strong emotions. As Athens continues to change, evolve, rise
and fall, rebuild and move forward – what do we want yet another ‘new face’ to be?
What will it say about us?
For now, Helliniko seems to be whispering to me - Psst, we’re having an identity crisis.
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