Athens Skyscrapers and Highrises: The Definitive thread - Reloaded!!!

[gm2263]

True, some time ago, Santiago Calatrava proposed the following scheme for the revival and upgrading of the Thessaloniki International fair:





Of particular importance in the above scheme is the 150m-tall tower which will team up with the existing ~90m tall tower of the Greek Telecom in the site of the international fair. We heard nothing concrete about the project since it was submitted to the Greek state for inspection. I personally do not approve this compact, "airport hangar" dense look of the expo site, I believe that any mediterranean city deserves as many open spaces as possinble. On the other hand, the idea of an emplematic tower in the sea not only fascinates me but I also consider this proposal yet another blow against the hypocricy ofd hthe authority and the fixations of a large (and unfortunately influential) part of the greek society, although there are many voices speaking to the contrary.

Finally, I wish to thank you George, for stickyfying my skyscraper threads. Due to the weird situations in the Hellenic Agora in Skyscrapercity the relevant thread is at the time of this writing at above 16,000 hits yet, it remains unstickyfied, although this number alone proves that people are adopting the idea of building tall in Athens.

I hope the future will be brighter and that architecture in Greece will reach - literally- new heights!!!

[Giorgos]

Your welcome gm and I am sure that eventually in the future Greece will reach new heights...the question is when.

[gm2263]

OK, until then, let's occasionally drift in the tall neighbourhoods of Athens...

Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with the only real residential tower block in Athens, in Messogeion street, some 800m from where I live...

Enjoy:

Ok, to begin, Messogeion Avenue is a six-lane boulevard beginning from the northern limit of central Athens (where the Athens Tower, still our tallest, is located), leading to the north-east outskirts of the city. With the exception of a few buildings such as the Athens Tower or the complex being comprised of the Errikos Dunant Red Cross hospital, the Politeia Business centre, and the Ministry of National Development, the rest is a rather indifferent mass of four-storey residentials interweaved with four-storey office buildings all the way up to the intersection with the Attica road where the setting becomes more, uh, rural so to speak, albeit construction of residential blocks is rather frantic in places.

For the real highrise spotter in Athens, this avenue presents some interesting spots to explore, amongst them a particular one where the only probably real tower block of Athens is located. Although I didn't have the energy to go through the local real estate registries to cross-check, the story roughly goes as follows: during the early years of the military junda (1967-1974), a particular spot now surrounded by Messogeion Avenue and Xanthou, Bouboulinas and Tzavella streets, was chosen for mass highrise development, with the construction of a complex for the school teachers. The complex with the name "Teachers' Residential Complex" (Οικιστικό Συγκρότημα Συνεταιριμού Εκπαιδευτικών) consisting of a long 7-storey building (a "groundscraper") and a 16-storey one, including 100 residential units in total, was completed in 1973. Perhaps a small commieblock since it was built incorporating the idea of mass housing for identifiable groups of residents.

-Early design of the complex - Archival picture


(C) Architecture in Greece - Αρχιτεκτονικά Θέματα #8/1974


But that was not the end.

At the time, it seems that many construction companies wanted to reach new heights, according to each other's financial powers. So, in 1974, another 18-storey residential tower (in my view one of the most elegant ones despite my toital ignorance as to how the apartments look inside) was already completed, right in the intersection of Messogeion and Tzavella streets, while almost concurrently another 12-storey was completed in the intesection of Tzavella and Bouboulinas streets.

The last act (to my pleasure, whilst still amidst the dreamy atmospere in my adolescent eyes these tall structures were talking the shape of edifices of mythically symbolic proportions) was with the completion of another 18-tower next to the previous one thus making probably a pair of the first twin towers in Europe. The year was 1978 when the first residents started inhabiting the second tower, one of the last highrises to have been built in Athens since the building permit was alreadi given, dating back to the Junta years and thus nobody could possibly stop its construction.

Today, as we will see in the pictures, the complex, which has been expanded with a more contemporary 4-storey office building (2001) where the major tenant is "Oracle", the well known computer software company, still packs a good punch as fas as the projection of an image of an organised residential complex is concerned. Overall I wouldn't characterise the whole complex as as a commieblock since each part of the complex was built with different mentality and while the teachers complex does still give the idea of mass housing (my mother says that the teachers compex reminds her of the residential complexes in Harlem, NY), the twins have a much more elegant image with their slender silouettes giving an aura of US upper middle class suburbia (or Istanbul if you asked me).

The whole complex has been repainted with the occasion of the Athens 2004 summer Olympics since Messogeion Avenue was also one of the most significant legs of the Marathon Run so eventually all participants run in front of the twins!!!

OK OK OK... I know, pictures!

-Overview of the complex from a balcony in the 1st floor across Messogeion Avenue. Composite picture - Collage




-View from across Messogeion Avenue From left to the right the twin towers and in the background the Teachers' tower.



-The Twins and the Oracle building




-The first twin, right on the intersection of Messogeion and Tzavella street. Elegant sight...






-The second twin. Equal height but built on sloping terrain and thus looks shorter than its privileged first built counterpart.






-The Teachers Tower. Athens commie, I'm telling you...



-Here before it was repainted for the Olympics. There is construction going on the empty ground but I don't know what it is really. Anyways, here you see the influences of the architects from the styles of the mass projects in Europe, be it "Banlieux" or "Council Flats". It's ugly but well meshed with the rest of the buildings there.




-...and the other residential which is a tall version of the late-60's, early 70's designs.



Truth is that this complex may not be that appealing to the eye now. However, as a whole it is an example of how certain suburban areas in Athens might have developed had things been different and the axe had not fallen so irrationally hard on the idea of building tall. I personally like the complex and as far as I know, its residents, especially the ones living in high floors like it too.

Needless to say of course that had many architects been given the opportunity to build tall residentials in Athens, we would probably see much less conventional designs now. However, this complex which is located some 800m close to my place, is a living testimony of an era that never came for my city. For the best or the worse, as well as whether it should come even with a phase delay of 30 years, it's up to you to decide. For me, this combination of height and density is acceptable and offers a good alternative to lowrise living in many packed areas of central as well as suburban Athens and Piraeus.

[skylinearth]

gm, I know very well these towers, whenever I go to Athens I live in Holargos area, I have a relative living there, that's why. There is also a Goody's on the other side of mesogeion avenue, it has a nice view to the towers.

[gm2263]

Buddy, I live in Papagos. As for the Goody's I have eaten there many times occasionally. Ask your Cholargiotes friends about the "Blue Peach" on 25 Martiou Street, this is the joint i frequent when I am in the mood for partying.