Redevelopment Plan for the Island of Psyttaleia
–Koh Architects
The island of Psyttaleia is exclusively dedicated to a critical function of modern civilization—the processing and disposal of human waste. In this capacity, it must be seen as a monument to sociality and collective living.
In the past, islands were used as literary devices for the metaphorical realization of human passions. Today, Psyttaleia is a mechanistic fantasia of grit chambers, digesters, and aeration pools. It is a physical manifestation of our shared labor of eating and its aftermath.
While there is an understandable revulsion at the thought of a tremendous shit-processing factory, we wonder if architecture might somehow be used to make it an irresistible celebration palace, to make visible the joy of living together that makes Psyttaleia necessary.
