2,100 Plastic Bottles Make A Great Intervention

Earlier this week we presented you a this light installation in a neglected street in Athens. Today we will mentally take you to a journey to one of my favorite cities — the city of Chania, on the Greek island of Crete.

Athenian architecture firm Kollektivemind*, interpreted Crete’s local traditional weaving patterns into a public intervention, during the P_Public festival. The Argallios project is a public, interactive installation placed on the fence of a primary school, in a less privileged area of Chania. “Argallios” derives from the greek word αργαλειός (loom) and the adverb αλλιώς, which means “in a different way”.

Argallios

Argallios

Taking advantage of the diamond-shaped, cut-out pattern of the fence, which resembles an embroidery canvas, the creative team, along with the parents, teachers and students of the school created a traditional weaving motive. The concept of the colourful thread that is used to decorate the woven textiles was translated into 2,100 recyclable plastic bottles that were cleaned, painted in six traditional basic colours and tucked into the diamond-shaped holes of the fence.

ArgalliosArgallios

Argallios

The result not only is impressive and brings colour to the school’s yard, but also creates a sense of a landmark of ecological and cultural meaning for the area.  “Highlighting the presence of children in the urban context, it also provides a means of reclaiming public space for the people of the neighbourhood”, explains Kollektivemind*, promoting a philosophy that we also have in central scope here on Pop-Up City.

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