On Wednesday, we toured the Acropolis and the Parthenon Museum. As our guide led us through the ruins, he explained the different methods the ancient Greeks used to create such long-lasting structures. Two aspects that particularly interested me were their use of recycled materials and their nearly invisible design choices for stability. Looking at many of the walls in the Acropolis, it is clear that much of the construction used reused stone from older structures. I found many parallels between this ancient construction and the building site we toured on Tuesday at the Ellinikon, where the project manager showed us the recycled airport concrete they were using for benches.

As for the invisible design decisions, the guide pointed out how the pillars of the Parthenon taper inward toward the top and how the base has a slight arch rather than being completely straight, giving the structure more flexibility. I believe learning from these ancient engineers and architects is important because, evidently, similar ideas can still be applied to present and future construction and design.

+ acropolis cat