Artistic "bricolage"

The New Hotel in Athens : artistic “bricolage”!!!

The “bricolage” in our age - Reusing and reinterpreting local material and culture – could that perhaps serve as an antidote to the present condition of widespread crisis?

I had been impatiently waiting for my first visit of the New Hotel in Athens. And, as I expected, my visit was the most pleasant and fulfilling surprise! The new and modern blending with the memories of the former hotel, fragments of Athens of the early 50’s, our culture and our traditions ingeniously combined by the talented Campana brothers and their Greek architectural workshop!

A communication bridge between Brazil and Greece, this is the basic idea on which the hotel was redesigned by the workshop under the tutelage of Fernando and Humberto Campana. The workshop’s members, Greek architects, Greek postgraduate students of architecture, Greek industrial designers…

What most impressed me was the notion of “bricolage”, very much alive everywhere in the hotel. The unexpected combinations, the creative use, the reevaluation of all sorts of materials from the old hotel, assembled and brought to life again.

Favela Column and Wall: an explosion of memories created by parts of doors and furniture of the old hotel.

Have a look – and don’t forget the fantastic coffee and croissants in the coffee shop!!!