Ninety-seven years from today Smyrna, “the cradle of Greek civiliziation”, crumbles before the blazing flames caused by Turkish fire. The vast majority of residential areas are lost and thousands of citizens perish due to this unimaginable monstrosity. Immeasurable damage is inflicted upon the city and its citizens are about to go through an unprecedented tragedy.

 One of the areas that accommodated a small portion of refugees was Podoniftis. In 1932, its name was changed into what we know today as Nea Filadelfeia in Attica, a name that was given to the area as a remembrance of the city of Filadelfeia in Asia Minor. The Grove of Nea Filadelfeia is one of the limited in numbers greenspaces in Attica, nevertheless, the present conditions render the Grove inaccessible and marginally dangerous.

This dissertation is discussing a project which aims at the revival of the Grove through a space conformation. The compositional approach that was followed had as a main goal, not only to offer easier access into the Grove or some rest areas in a beautiful and refreshing environment in the center of the city, but also to revive memories from the Asia Minor Catastrophe and, in a blissful environment, pay the owed tribute to the many souls lost on the September of 1922 at the Asian Minor coastline. More specifically, through the study of the timeline shortly before and after the Smyrna Catastrophe, the design implied was selected in order to represent, to the degree that this is doable, the historic events and the results of the lethal blaze.

 In a few words, the project “A Place of Commemoration and Revival” is a project inspired by the tragic events of the Asian Minor Catastrophe and an attempt to incorporate a space in the Nea Filadelfeia Grove that honors the precious natural environment which is located in the center of the city.