STEFANIA TRIANTAFYLLOU, AA Dipl.
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TROY X: a meta city
TROY X: a meta city
TROY: Mythology, Homer and Archaeology Introduction
“It was already around eight in the morning, when the ship was near the isle Tenedos and sailed around the lower shores of Troy. Nature has not blessed this place at all, although for us it is very important because it surrounds us with enthusiasm for the first poet of antiquity. Our souls are also filled with feelings of respect when coming across this land where – if we could say so - global history began and where reality blends with fantasy and history with legends. Here, there are no tall, rocky and wild mountains, nor an exchange of landscapes, which would make the shores interesting and enrich their overall picture. In this colourless plain, which is formed by the light blue peaks of Ida, two conic hills arise in a distance from each other that is known as “the tomb of Achilles” and “the tomb of Aiadas”. Nevertheless, we were gazing at these simple small hills with much more attention than at an impressive waterfall in Italy or Switcher land. This landscape does not have anything special that encourages the merging of painting with poetry. It is only the silhouette of the blind old man that the fantasy brings here in front of our eyes, which could inspire painting and prove that even here painting is inseparable from poetry.” “Travelling Notes from the Ionian Islands, Greece, Asia Minor and Turkey in 1835” Vladimir Davidoff
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MYTH vs REALITY Troy, is a name associated with a location which carries a great amount of significance, in terms of the birth and development of the western European culture and civilization. Troia is a place that has caused great scepticism and debate and still continues to trick and confuse historians and archaeologists alike and blur the boundaries between reality and imagination. This mystery was initiated by mythology and by the most ancient literary work preserved in the world so far. Two of the works of the famous “blind epic poet”, Homeros (Homer) – “Iliad” and “Odyssey”. Iliad explains the series of events taking place towards the end of the Trojans War, whereas the Odyssey is about the return of Odysseus from the Trojan War to his Palace on the island of Ithaka. Mythological tradition has it that the king ‘Tros’ named his people Trojans and his land ‘Troas’. This land was known for its fashion, iron production, Port Trade activity with the east and west and huge defence walls. The city of Troy was built by Ilos (son of Troas and grandchild of Dardanos). In order to pay tribute to his father, he named the city Troy. The city is also known as Ilion, a name taken from its creator. During Priam’s rise to kingdom, the Mycenaean Greeks invaded and concurred the city during the Trojan War which lasted 10 years (circa 1193-1183 BC). The reason for invasion was to get back “Helen of Troy” who was the wife of the king of Sparta (Menelaos) and transport her into Priam’s Palace. According to Homer’s Iliad, the Achaeans had set up their army and ships near the Scamander river. There, on the plane of Scamander,
TROY X: a meta city
sat the city of Troy where the was took place. Greeks and Romans believed that Homer’s Troy was indeed real and coincided with the described location in Asia Minor. Even Alexander the Great visited the place and made sacrifices Homeric heroes. Ancient Greek historians such as Herodotus and Eratosthenes placed the Trojan war between 14th and 12th century BC. Today, Troy refers to the remains of a city located in west Turkey and southwest of the Dardanelles. Extensive studies and excavations still take place in an effort of revealing this city’s history and mystery. Amongst the most important figures who initiated eagerly this research are: Heinrich Schliemann who started the excavations in 1870-1873 and 1878-1879, followed by Wilhelm Dorpfelt (1893-1894), Carl Blegen (1932-1938) and finally in 1988 a team from University of Tubingen and University of Cincinnati under the supervision of Dr. Manfred Korfmann.
one city fails a new one is reborn. In specific: Troy I – IV: 3000 BC, Early Bronze Age Troy V: 20th-18th century BC Troy VI: 17th-15th Troy VIIa:c. 1300-1190 BC Troy VIIb: c. 1190-950 BC Troy VIII:c. 700 BC Troy IX:1st century BC
started to decline in the Byzantine era until it fell on the Turks and then disappeared. Since 600 AD there has been no evidence of life apart from it being a touristic spot for viewing the city’s remains. Now we are placed in 2012, into a historical landscape of nine layered ruined cities, with a historical gap
“Our master Schlieman would necver have belived, or even dared to hope, that the walls of sacred Ilios of which Homer sang, and the dwellings of Priam, had been pre served to so great an extent as was actually the case... The appearance of the citadel must have been known to the singers of Iliad, though pergaps only the sing ers of the older Iliad actually saw the citadel of Troy.” Troja und Ilion, 1902 These studies revealed nine consecutive layers of civilizations dating from the Bronze Age to the Roman period. Each city got destroyed due to different reasons. When
Giandomenico Tiepolo The End of the Trojan War; Orestes and Odysseus, 1700
Troy which is believed to be the location of the Trojan war and the location of which Homer sang about in his rhapsodies developed until the founding of Constantinople and
of 1412 years which has never been explored in the past and asked to give birth to a new city of 100,000 inhabitants. In such a case, how does a new city, a new civilisation come to
University of Tubingen and Cincinatti Excavations Map of Troy Layers
TROY X: a meta city
face its own distant past? Are there really any connections or relationships of material or immaterial elements between the remains of a city that existed thousand years ago with those of today? In other words, the question that we could try to answer in order to complete such a project (real or conceptual) is: What happened since 600AD? First and foremost, my response to such an assignment is that it is impossible to fill such a big gap of history, culture, tradition and so on as it is impossible to restore it, let alone adapt it to the current era. Quoting John Ruskin: “It is impossible, as impossible as to raise the dead, to restore anything that has ever been great or beautiful in architecture.”, 1849
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Therefore, instead of trying to raise the ‘dead city’ and bring it to life as it is into the 21st century, I am using the buried history and myths of Troy as pure knowledge, inspiration and foundation on which to base my new ideas. This proposed 10th layer is a metacity (an after city-if I use the direct translation), that is placed on the historic composite landscape of Troy as an observation tool or as a means of comparison to a very early form of city-state and the life within them. Seen against an ancient settlement, it will raise questions reveal differences and similarities and act as a way to remember, learn and recognise what stood behind all these new city developments.
“Mythos und Wissenschaft” The overall view of Troy, the way Homer descried it.
“what matters is the importance of the past to our intellectual and spiritual existence.” Ernst Curtius, speech in memory of Heinrich Schliemann, Berlin, 1 March 1891 Archaeologists started digging with the hope that they will come across the location of the Trojan war and the mythical location of which Homer sang about in his Rhapsodies. They wanted to reveal the fortified citadel mentioned in the Homeric Epos. However, reality is different from fantasy and myths. Only reality was built in stone and only reality can be revealed by archaeology. Clearly, excavations show that the citadel was not an enclosed space as myth suggests. The nature of the city itself was not what archaeologists initially
were looking to find. This city is not an isolated enclosure on the hill. The lack of built is speaking to the landscape, making it the city’s extension. The openness and porosity reveals a way of living that was closely related to the landscape. Not shutting it from it.
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BOOK II: HELLENISTIC TRACINGS Exaggerated Dimensions
The Hellenistic period began in 323BC, with the death of Alexander who left behind a great amount of conquests that were followed by a time of progress and prosperity in many sectors. Art, literature, sculpture, music, theatre and architecture were some of the activities that flourished at that time. It was a time of analysis and understanding of reality rather than of emotions. Later, the cultural interaction between the Etruscans and the Greeks of southern Italy and Sicily in terms of Roman traditions, which already started in the first millennium B.C., contributed to the development of the intellectual and religious multidisciplinary trend that we call GrecoRoman culture. During the Hellenistic and Roman period when democracy had already been established, new public spaces were developed. The most common spaces for social events and gatherings in Troy were three. The odeion, the bouleutirion and the theatre which were used at that period for musical and theatrical events (odeion), political affairs (bouleutirion) and drama (theatre). Each of them had different interior arrangements and architectural characteristics which varied between Roman and Greek but influenced and completed each other. Specifically the theatre was an open air space with an orchestra, auditorium, skene, episcenio (2nd storey of skene which later became permanent piece of architecture), proscenia, parascenia. The bouleutirion was a roofed rectangular space used as a meeting point for the elected councils. Some bouleutiria were found to accommodate up to 5000 people. The one at Miletus, 170BC fits 1200 people. The odeion, although resembling the theatre (with the exception of some very rare square odeions), they were used for music performances and competitions and were either partly or holly roofed. Today all these different functions are constantly being narrowed down to one mixed use space. One theatre or one concert hall is accommodating countless uses and programmes ranging from performances to concerts, exhibitions and lectures. The words theatre, concert hall, music
TROY X: a meta city
hall and so on do not differ so much in meaning anymore. Using their existing ruins in Troy as foundation and the amphitheatrically stepped arrangement of the auditoriums, I am proposing a new social platform that joins the three social centres of the past through a stepped landscape and readjusts to serve the needs of a new city 1745 years later. The spatial characteristics of the past are used, scaled up to an oversized space with a capacity of 100,000 people and divided into three orchestras (performance stages), each occupying a different part of the ruin and thus have different shape and size. Consequently, three auditoriums that are created come and weave themselves together, in search of support and form this new stepped arrangement. One sits on top and the other penetrates through. * the new platform is 69,142m2 (0.69m2/ person sitting) Theatre A( 37,927m2) +Theatre B(22,277 m2 ) +Theatre C(8938 m2)
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TROY X: a meta city
BOOK III: CHOREOGRAPHING DENSITY a game between volume and verticality
“... What resulted was a city that became a self-contained, self-governed unit comprised of housing and factory blocks that practically grew on each other until you could stand outside in broad daylight and see only the thinnest shaft of sunlight seeping down to bless one hallowed spot on a narrow, filthy street. Amidst the scents of frying fish balls and garbage you could look up at see nothing but criss-crossing clotheslines and electrical wires spider-webbing up to a sky made only of rooftops, where the stars had been replaced by flickering neon signs. Prostitutes and drug dealers lingered around the corner from close-shouldered temples; police officers watched night-soil men trundle by from inside yellow-lit noodle houses. What was a bakery by day became a living room by night, and friends greeted each other in line to draw potable water from the few working mains. Kowloon Walled City was a thriving example of a sustainable anarchist society that, despite what it lacked in the base infrastructure of the city (easy access to running water, waste disposal), managed to prosper well enough to support over 30,000 people. While it had a reputation for seediness, danger, and filth and was a breeding ground for illegal gang activity among groups such as the Triads, it also created a unique sense of community found nowhere else in the world.” Adrien-Luc Sanders
When envisioning a city from scratch or even (like Troy) a city based on the remains of its very distant past it is important to understand and question, first and foremost the causes of a city’s failure. Looking at a civilization and a city that failed rather than the one that succeeded, will encourage the thoughts and doubts of issues such as constraints, limits, laws, dimensions, population, organisation, governance. How much of these are needed?
Apart from Troy, in the process of this exercise on densification, my attention also shifted to one of the most extreme dense community, Kowloon Walled City, that finally failed and got destroyed in 1993. Although this place was unique, it failed to serve some of the basic human needs. With KWC being the limit of densification, I tested different approaches on how the remains of Troy Layer VIII could be inhabited. The aim
was to densify the remained city of that period only in a vertical manner and keeping the plan unchanged. However, the volume must remain the same in all the buildings. The result of this approach was a series of choreographed extrusions. The main variables for these extrusions were the different density ratios of other cities in the world. Meaning that cities such as Manhattan, London, Shanghai, Zurich and
TROY X: a meta city
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finally Kowloon Walled City, were applied vertically into Troy’s Citadel and created different building heights ranging from 1m to a few kilometres. The final choreography (proposal) was a result of an applied ratio which caused the spaces with the largest footprint to have the maximum height(200m) and those with the smallest footprint to have the minimum height(9m).
BOOK IV: CONTOUR DEVELOPMENT living on the topo-edge
Traditionally, cities grow radially to a central nucleus. These were cities that got created out of “natural enlargement ”. In specific, these cities grew around or near a hill or cliff where the Citadel, the Acropolis stood and where the god who protected the city was worshiped. A typ-
ical example of such a city is Athens. Initially the Acropolis was the king’s base and the citizens’ shelter in time of war or invasion. It was the focal point of the entire city. As the city gradually expanded in concentric circles around the citadel, it was natural that a second nucleus was formed in the lower city. this was the Agora. Acropolis and Agora was the dual centre of the city. However, the importance shifted later to the Agora since the power shifted as well from the church and monarch to democracy. Finally, the public life was separated from the private. This strategy was successful only in ancient cities when the population was still small and the development occurred much slower. In our time, there is a risk of the city, especially the dwellings to spread uncontrollably and eventually lead to social and economic crisis, not to mention the difficulty to be politically contained.
Traditionally, a city-sate develops slowly around a point of interest. A crossroad, an Acropolis, a Palace and so on. The streets lead to this point and the people build along their path. It is the custom of human species to increase the complexity within a city that leads to this radial arrangement. Later, someone in power, found this approach illogical and builds a rectangular shape in the centre. This rectangular structure, derives from the decision to decrease the complexity level in the city and the series of events within it.
period of “organised colonisation” of the Mid-west communities in the USA, such as Michigan.
purposes of military control. (Also to save commuting time with horse drawn carriages.)
From the observation of the three main types of city, it derives that all of them have differences in the way they are politically and socially controlled. The radial system only benefits the citizens that live in the centre, whereas the orthogonal consists of a democratic system by giving same opportunities to all the inhabitants. This is why it developed during the period of Greek democracy anyway.
The difference with today is that cities developed in relation to human and animal movements, whereas now cities grow according to machines and technology.
The combination of these to types of city life, results in three main types of civilizations. A solely radial city, which represents the majority. A structured orthogonal centre with radial surroundings. Examples of this type of arrangement are the prime polis, the Hippodamian ones, such as Miletus, Roman cities and colonial states. Or, solely orthogonal cities that developed during the
Some orthogonal cities developed beyond usual size. The largest of the time were, Alexandria andlater Beijing and Paris. The old infrastructure of Paris had to be interrupted for the new large boulevards during Haussmann’s interventions. The same occurred in cities of the US ,such as Chicago and Washington. The huge boulevards were adopted 2 centuries ago and were created for the
In my proposal, the topography and geology of the landscape orchestrates the way the new city will grow. Meaning that the ending of the farmland, i.e. the fertile soil, comes to naturally define the beginning of the city (the foot of Hisarlik hill), which coincides with the topographical line on which the old citadel walls stood. So, this city grows from the citadel, first peripherally along the topography and then inwards, rather than radially. Consequently, as the city grows inwards, the farm grows outwards. Furthermore, instead of gates and walls, the city is contained by its own and only transportation system, which is a train line for transporting both products and people. Finally, the hill is approached through the plain, the fields and vineyards without being obstructed by any roads or large highways that cut through the landscape unnaturally. The grid is used as a design tool for the whole city. However, each element of the city should be explored at a different scale and that is why the concept of the micro and macro scale grid is introduced. In this way the grid becomes dynamic and transforms accordingly. These ideas of the Microcosm and the Macrocosm were explored many years ago and are definitions on which the dynamic grid depends. Ranging from the microcosm of a cell to an organism to Vitruvian and Renaissance macrocosm.
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TROY X: a meta city
their own city and consequently have complete control and autonomy of their piece of land. This new system requires the use of more traditional methods which also promote biodiversity, minimal chemical activity and resourcefulness. It is a “slow” production which will eventually lead to new socio political and economic system that will benefit both the farmer, the inhabitant and the environment. Since, with the exception of Roman Latifundia, in the past each household was responsible for their own production, the farmland is designed according to a grid of 700m2 components which correspond to one household. This grid is then subdivided and used as a design tool for the rest of the city. The arable land for the city’s target population of 100,000 people is distributed on site according to the type of soil that benefits the grain but always grows according to the existing topography.
BOOK V: AUTONOMOUS PRODUCTION for or against roman latifundia?
Great Alexander, during his rise to power, rejected the new plans and ideas Denocrates (architect / known as planner of Alexandria) , due to the lack of attention to the farmland, production and resources. “...so neither can a city grow without farmlands and the flow of its produce within its walls. Without abundant food, no city can maintain a large population nor, without resources, safeguard its people.”
Trade Roman food miles. Food supply routes of Ancient Rome. ‘Hungry City: How food shapes our lives, 2009
Book 2, Vitruvius, p.33 Today the word agriculture has been replaced with the new term “intensive farming”. Farming rarely exists within the city but rather it is based on large pieces of land, which can also be compared to the Roman Latifundia, in the countryside. latifundium [lat-uh-fuhn-dee-uhm] noun, plural Lat-i-fun-di-a > Latin, equivalent to lāt (us) wide, broad + fund (us) a piece of land, farm, estate = any large Roman agricultural estate that used a large number of peasant labourers
cattle but animal farming was not so developed. Main animals were sheep and goats for milk and meat. Finally, food production was part of the everyday life. It was “Polycultural” as opposed to today. Every household was responsible for their own production.
Clearly, excavations show that the citadel was not an enclosed space as myth suggests. The nature of the city itself was not what archaeologists initially were looking to find. This city is not an isolated enclosure on the hill. The lack of built is speaking to the landscape, making it the city’s extension. The openness and porosity reveals a way of living that was closely related to the landscape. Not shutting it from it.
Therefore I am proposing a possibility of a semi self sufficient farm by driving away from the concept of “monocultures” and through a new distribution system, promote self farming, encourage households to get involved in the process of feeding
These consist the so called “Monocultures”, meaning that the agriculture is based on Capital intensive technologies and large industries that are created for one product only. Mass production and fast track food processes are not only ruled by capitalism but also harm the rural economies and has furthermore been proven to harm the environment. We have shifted from the ancient city (wheat based) to the industrial city (meat based). Unlike the 21st century, when diets have become more international and are animal based, in the ancient times, seen from the Odyssey, the Mediterranean diets were almost solely based on cereal. The land was suitable for growing olive trees and grapes in rocky soils. Mycenaeans were capable of rearing
Arable land distribution according to the type of soil that benefits the grain.
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BOOK VI: THE CONTOUR CITY and the peripheral center
Hippodammos who is considered to be the inventor of orthogonal city planning, greatly influenced the way the cities were laid out and benefited from the correct position and orientation of the grid. He was the designer of cities such as Miletus, Priene, Olynthos and the harbour of Piraeus. Aristotle objected him by saying that cities should remain original and chaotic so that they confuse the enemies during war. Nevertheless, Hippodammos got inspiration from the geometrically designed settlements and fist applied his grid to his home town Miletus in 450 BC. The city was designed (as later documented by Vitruvius) so that the winds and sea breeze could flow freely into the city and act as natural ventilation and climate moderator. Miletus city blocks measure 30x52m. Later Vitruvius
also used the orthogonal grid as a way to measure and explain how the city “sits” on the landscape. Finally new cities, such as Manhattan and Chicago, used the orthogonal grid in different ways and integrated it into topography. The same principles were used in Troy as well, with blocks measuring maximum 50x100m and streets width ranging from 2,50m to 6m.
A series of infrastructural experiments, which tested the relationship of the Hippodammian grid with topography, its connections and junctions, resulted in a proposition of a contour city infrastructure where the ‘centre’ is defined by a finer grid (as a continuation of the farm grid ) and is located on the periphery and the ‘ex hinterland’ is defined by a larger grid and is enclosed by the ‘peripheral centre’. All in all, the new
infrastructure in a result of history and topography.
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BOOK VII: RE-CYCLING ANCIENT PROGRAM Ancient cities went through many stages of reconstruction and interior rearrangement due to political, economic and social reasons. Athens is a typical example of a city that went though many fires, political unrests, wars and earthquakes. This meant that its main programs, social classes and population constantly got rearranged though history. Typologies disappeared and reappeared in different forms and different locations through the historical periods both inside the citadel walls and outside. Unlike Troy, the program in Athens was not only distributed inside the Acropolis (or citadel walls) but also to the Acropolis’ hill side, the Agora,
TROY X: a meta city
idea of the ratios between programs and the amount of people living in the city. The 5th century is considered to be the golden age of democracy, the golden age of Pericles and a time when the plans for the acropolis were finalised and the city had started to recover from the Peloponnesian war. At that time Athens covered an area of 2,650km2 with a population density of 26.5m2/person. Of course the population was divided in the social (or population) groups of citizens, immigrants and slaves. The citizens occupied the minority of the population reaching 40,000 (not taking into account women and children) or 100,000-130,000 in total. The number of slaves was inflating due to trade and industrial development and according to Thucydides they were about 20,000.
the Roman Agora, the Keramikos (ceramic) and the rest of the lower city. Moreover, some information has been preserved about the size and population density of Athens in the 5th century BC that can give us an
BOOK VIII: LAYERED MATERIALITY can material reveal history [?]
Although the city may appear as a static entity at first, its materiality and the dimension of time, make it a dynamic organism. From archaic to byzantine, the focus on the materials changed and therefore the types of buildings, the sizes and the programs and functions as well. Time/history is a dynamic element in our daily lives. A city, although it might appear static, it is not at all. Adding the variable of time and its consequences, its influences,
means that the city is constantly changing, moving every second. The city not only goes through political, social, economic, special changes, but also changes in its appearance. The materiality of the city is the main factor of this change. Each building for example, will last longer or shorter. Will have greater level of erosion and it will deteriorate in a different way from the next building. The time of construction in combination with the construction method will orchestrate the city’s appearance. In Troy X: meta-city, materials are used to represent the dynamic element of time. Each programmatic zone is represented with a different material of a different period in time. The differentiation was also tested
TROY X: a meta city
vertically. Moreover, the micro scale grid is still used as a way to define the window sizes and material tiling. The dynamic grid transforms in relation to its location on the building. At night the materiality disappears and the city in only defined by the windows or in other words its program or function.
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room was placed at the front of the house to have easy access from the road. Opposite the “andron” were rooms that served as stables or workshops. The “oikos” was used for daytime activities and dining and was normally used by the women of the
house. Everyday life activities were conducted in rooms at the back of the house along with the kitchen and storage. Working was not yet separated from living. Up to the Hellenistic period the almost square shaped house remained the same.
BOOK IX: THE ARCHAIC HIGH RISE mémoire of an archaic and classical lifestyle
During recent excavations in west Greece, archaeologists came across the foundations of dwellings dating back to the a’ half of the 6th century BC. Elements of the house reveal information on the everyday life of the people of the time as well as the social status in which they lived. As observed, the archaic dwelling was of rectangular shapes and measured just 63m2(14x4.5m). It was divided into 3 rooms of adobe walls and its roof was covered by organic materials. All in all, the house would occupy much less space than the private arable land in the backyard. Finally, the public road passed by the courtyard whereas the house was facing on the opposite direction to maximise privacy. The shift from the archaic to the classical home was quite obvious. Although the land owned did not change, the dwellings grew bigger and the house plan became more complicated with more divisions and functions. Now the houses are 180m2(13x14m) with six or seven spaces arranged around the central courtyard. It is also possible that the house was double storied. At that period, the “andron1” was used as a welcoming space of usually male guests and for symposiums. This
The archaic house plan transformed into a contemporary apartment.
Private life within a city is also subject of change through time which is mostly influenced by the greater complexities and as a result greater densities that humans gradually impose on growing cities.
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Through observations of excavated houses in west and central Greece, not only do we get information of the everyday lives of the people in the past but we can also study their interior arrangements, proportions and the way they developed in time. Getting information from the evolution of the house from the Archaic to the Classical period and being influenced by Olynthus block of houses, I applied the same principles
TROY X: a meta city
of functions and proportions into my city’s blocks that measure about 50x50m. The non-linear plan is maintained with the given proportions, only that now the dwelling block is predicted to be much greatly densified vertically. This means that the old courtyard of the ancient house mainly works as light well and is extremely dark and possibly dangerous and unpleasant. The archaic and Hellenistic house,
after 1000s of years, has now been proportionately transformed into an apartment of a modern dwelling block which belongs to the 3rd zone.
BOOK V EVOLUTION Conclusion
Troia and all the texts associated with it, whether fictional, mythological, literary or memories and journals, especially those of Homer, are points of reference for the evolution of the language and civilisation of classical Greece, which gave rise to the development of western European poetry and literature. Many of the elements of the language, the democracy, politics, mathematics, philosophy, painting, sculpture, drama and architecture come from the
Greek civilizations of the 5th and 4th century BC. The Homeric works have influenced greatly the ancient literature and influenced the work of famous figures such as Socrates, Aristotle and Plato as well as modern poetry like the one of C.P Cavafy. The evolution of a city that disappeared 1412 years ago may be impossible to predict. It is important , however, to distinguish between its myth and reality and be aware and question the relationship of the past with its present and the impact it has on shaping a new culture, a new civilization and a new city. Stefania Triantafyllou
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TROY X: a meta city