AS IF 2014 -

The project as if is a comment and criticism to an established condition as much as an intentionally provocative speculation. A representation of reality through a vision for the future.

as: The Cycladic island of Mykonos is one of the epicentres of Greek tourism and a prime example of tourism development in Greece. On the western coast of the island, Ai Yannis, a formerly bucolic landscape displays typical signs of exploitation and environmental degradation. The panorama of Delos -one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece-, the proximity to the town centre and the sandy beach, were primary reasons for the dramatic yet thoughtless development, transforming, within forty years, an unbuilt area of outstanding natural beauty into an illegal aggregation of irrational private investments.

Ai Yannis constitutes today an informal massive hotel accommodation with a total coverage of 33.500m2 offering 2.220 beds, twice as many as the legally foreseen for the given areas. The informal accommodation is organised in 113 units of second homes, with an average use of 4 weeks per annum, characterised by the established circumvention of planning provisions and the misinterpreted ‘commitment to the strictly mimetic formalisation' of the Cycladic tradition. Furthermore, in 12 ever upgrading 4 and 5 stars hotel complexes and 4 rental villas’ compounds, which follow the prevailing trends of Greek tourism offering an array of services, which can be enjoyed during a tourist season of less than five months and with an average occupancy rate of below 70%. The buildings with their extensive cascading outdoor spaces occupy a vast area of a total of 196.000m2 and spread through the network of easements everywhere, continuously demanding the extension of the area’s inefficient infrastructural network.

if: The abuse of the shore, the environmental degradation, the depreciation of the tourist product evince how four decades of ruthless consumption of the natural environment, conflicting policies and compromises to private interests, transformed this landscape into an irrational, out of scale and after all unprofitable investment.

The quantified data of this horizontal development is projected upon a hypothetical scenario of an offshore vertical assembly on a footprint of 27x27m and with a total of 84 levels above sea, equaling the total area as currently existing. Extrapolating occupational patterns, areas, programmes, a speculative stacking method is devised. At a ratio of 55% solid - 45% void various external areas are introduced in order to enhance the Mediterranean experience, which determined the scale and scope of the project.

The new unconventional tourism and infrastructural typology constitutes a destination in itself, all year round and ensures reduction of the ecological footprint, energy autonomy while preserving and unveiling the landscape with its idealized views. An archaeology of the future derived from the fragments of the present in the aura and light of the mythological past.