The Onassis Foundation is organizing and funding a European Architectural Competition for the creation of a new city centre, a project centered around Panepistimiou Street. The competition is organized under the auspices and in collaboration with the Ministries of Environment, Energy and Climate Change and of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks, the Attiko Metro S.A., the Region of Attica and the Municipality of Athens.

The Competition started on Monday, May 21st, 2012. Those who wish to participate in the Competition may visit the Competition's website at www.rethinkathenscompetition.org in order to submit their registration forms and download the technical folder of the Competition.

The Competition is open to participants coming from countries that are members of the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA), as well as countries that have signed agreements within the framework of activities of the World Trade Organization.

The Competition will be realized in two stages. During the first stage (Ideas Competition) a number of entries will be selected whose designers will qualify for the second stage (Concept Drawings Competition). The winners of the Competition will share cash prizes of a total amount of Euros One Hundred and Sixty Thousand (€160,000.-).
 
The deadline for the submission of the first stage proposals is Friday, September 7th, 2012.  

The Rethink Athens Project involves a pluralistic intervention at the center of Athens, extending from Amalias Avenue up to the end of Patission Street, having Panepistimiou Avenue as a main axis and culminating to a new Omonia square.

Its main objective is to reverse the increasing downgrading of the center of Athens and breathe new life into it, through a multifaceted organizational scheme that will include entrepreneurial activity, services, permanent residence, recreation and culture, actions that will be encouraged to interact with each other. The extension of the intervention towards Amalias avenue, Omonia Square and Patission street, will form a ring that will connect the pedestrian street of Dionysiou Areopagitou and the new Acropolis Museum with the National Archaeological Museum, as well as the Omonia Square with the areas of Monastiraki and Thission, bringing together the liveliness of the contemporary city with the archaeological sites and tourism.

More information regarding the Rethink Athens project is available through the project's website www.rethinkathens.org that offers the opportunity to the public, the residents and professionals of the City of Athens to discuss and express their opinions on this matter online through the social media (Facebook and twitter).