A family wishes to demolish the outdated 2 storey 80’s house, and live or invest in a polykatoikia in the south suburbs of Athens.
Designing a polykatoikia presented us with the opportunity to explore greek legislation in reference to the potential form of a building type, which is widespread in the Greek urban landscape. A polykatoikia is a series of stacked apartments. The way it could be grounded on the allocated plot, to become three separate apartments was our basic brief. The building has a designed 5th elevation, and a three storey identical plan strictly divided into 2 bedrooms and living space with one main balcony, all suspended on a ground level tree-like random column pilotis and two half buried studio flats with private gardens.
All the elements are composed in a way that retain their integrity and become legible as they are derived from the stereotype vocabulary of the polykatoikia: pilotis/stairwell-lift/single storey apartment/ underground level studio/ balcony/5th elevation.
Polykatoikia (Sub-urban) – Preliminary Design 2001-2 Client: a businessman and family. Location: Glyfada – Athens.