Shades of Blue: Debating Greek Identity through Santiago Calatrava's Design for the Athens Olympic Stadium

In October 2001 Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava was commissioned to design the roof of the Athens Olympic Stadium that was meant to be the signature building of the 2004 Olympic Games. The "jewel in the crown," as the roof was characterized by the media, received mixed reviews. An examination of various interpretations of Calatrava's project (from its inception in 2001 to its completion in 2004) that appeared primarily in the popular media, rather than the formal literature on architecture, illuminates architecture's function as a means of debating national identity as well as its relationship with the broader public realm in contemporary Greece.