The Demolition at Porto Rafti: Retracing Doxiadis’ Remarkable Life and Contested Legacy

Abstract

Constantinos Doxiadis (1913–1975), the inventor of ekistics and founder of the eponymous journal, was one of the major architects and city planners of the twentieth century. In recent decades, however, his body of work has been largely ignored. In 2011, his monumental house at Porto Rafti was demolished, exposing the consequences of such obscurity. To date, no comprehensive narrative biography of Doxiadis exists in English, a void I seek to fill in my ongoing biography project of Doxiadis’ life and legacy, tentatively titled The World Planner. In this essay, I discuss the fate of the Porto Rafti house, sketch Doxiadis’ life story, explain the origins of my project, and solicit further collaboration from interested readers.