Apartment building

30 Karaoli-Dimitriou St, Filothei, 1971-73

Architect
Aris Konstantinidis (1913-1993)



The building at 30 Karaoli-Dimitriou St in the upscale suburb of Filothei was the only urban apartment building designed by radical architect Aris Konstantinidis ever to be built. Despite the fact that it is one of his least known works, it is a characteristic example of his "true modern architecture" that created "vessels for life" through an ordinary building structure, harmonising closed, semi-outdoor and outdoor areas, and with particular sensitivity to the natural physical parameters of design: climate, landscape, lighting, ventilation.
This building consists of two volumes of different height, one with two storeys and one with four, which are connected by the volume of the stairwell creating a ¶ on plan.
The ground floor includes the entrance leading to the stairway, parking places under the pilotis that supports the higher of the two buildings and storage space under the other. There are two typical floors with one apartment on each and two set-in floors that are occupied by one apartment on two levels (a duplex),
The spaces are organised rationally on plan with a clear distinction between functions. Characteristic emphasis has been given to the areas leading outdoors. The balconies, the semi-outdoor areas and the covered areas on the roof, built of simple metal frames covered by cane matting, are the most characteristic features of this apartment building.
The structural features are differentiated in terms of materials and colours. On the façades of the building they are determined by the grid of its structure of unplastered reinforced concrete with white plastered fill-in walls. On the exterior, a second grid is created of thin metal profiles of harmonious proportions, which include the railings on the balcony and flat roof as well as the supports around the area covered with cane matting on the two roofs.

TRANSPORTATION