Primary Schools

Liosion and Michail Voda Sts, Athens, 1932-33

Architect:
Kyriakoulis Panayotakos (1902-1982)

This elementary school complex located near Vathis Square is a benchmark work of Greek modernism. It was designed by the pioneering architect Kyriakoulis Panayotakos as part of the school building programme undertaken in the 1930s by the Technical Service of the Ministry of Education.
The two elementary schools are housed in the single building that allows each of them to operate independently; they each have six classrooms, teachers’ offices and a handicraft room. The classrooms face south and communicate through roofed corridors. Two or three classrooms can be joined together to create a large area for holding events. The school yard, the physical education room and the cafeteria of the complex are used by the pupils of both schools.
The stairway on one side of the building protrudes from the main volume in the form of a curved bay. The clarity of the form and the simplicity of the composition delighted Le Corbusier who visited the building in 1933 and scrawled the words "Compliments de Le Corbusier" on one wall.

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