British architect choice for controversial revamp of Athens ‘museum of museums’

It is slated to be the “western world’s museum of museums”, a showcase of Greece’s greatest repository of ancient art.

Once completed, the revamped National Archaeological Museum in Athens will, say officials, not only have been expanded but “reborn” at a time of record tourism to the country.

“Today I have been profoundly persuaded that a personal dream of mine has become reality,” the Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told an audience at the museum for the unveiling of the new design on Wednesday.

The emblematic work, overseen by the British architect Sir David Chipperfield, is expected to last five years. Presenting the plans, the Briton emphasised that the goal was not to compete with the museum’s main neoclassical building, which houses one of the finest collections of antiquities globally, but to complement the historic landmark by drawing on the original design. “Our architectural approach has been to create a plinth growing out of the existing building … [that] at the same time develops into a powerful piece of architecture,” he said.

“The challenge, of course, is to get those two things in balance.”

The proposed renovation was unanimously selected from a shortlist of 10 by an international evaluation committee last month. Chipperfield, renowned for his restoration of the Neues Museum in Berlin, has calculated the construction will generate about 20,000 sq m of additional space, including two floors of subterranean galleries, a lush roof garden and street-level entrance.

But like most public works it is controversial.

Not since the Acropolis Museum was built back in 2009 at the foot of the fifth century BC ^{site has a project of such scope stirred such debate or emotion. Before the proposed design had been chosen, the Association of Greek Architects had threatened to take the issue of the competition’s rules to the Council of State, the country’s supreme administrative court, after it became clear that only award-winning foreign firms with experience in museum work would be permitted to participate.}

“It is unacceptable that Greek architects were not allowed to take part,” said Tassis Papaioannou, emeritus professor of architecture at the National University of Athens. “We are seriously thinking of taking it to court because the way they have proceeded so far is illegal.”

Greek renovation experts have also objected to the scale of the new entrance, saying photorealistic images released by the winning team are overly optimistic. “The new construction will virtually eclipse the original 19th building from public view at street level,” said Costas Zambas, who headed restoration works at the Acropolis for 25 years. “After yesterday’s presentation it is clear that what is one of the great neoclassical monuments in Athens will be hidden if this overly optimistic approach is allowed.”

Chipperfield, described as a master of works dealing “in dignity, in gravitas, in memory and in art”, told the Guardian his team had wrestled with similar concerns. “You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs,” he said after the presentation. “From certain angles, it is true, it will have an impact but the question is whether it amounts to significant harm or whether [the change in view] is just different. It’s a perfectly valid question. Our concerns are not dissimilar.”

Mitsotakis, whose centre right government faces re-election this year, has made the renovation a cultural priority, saying it will not only put the institution on the map but help revive an entire district in downtown Athens.

“We display less than 10% of what we have in our warehouses,” he said of its vast collection. “It has always troubled me that just over 500,000 visitors come to the museum every year when it hosts such an incredible wealth of world cultural heritage.”