Athens Tower

Vas. Sofias and Mesogeion Ave., Athens 1971-1973

Architects
Ioannis Vikelas (1931- )
Ioannis Kymbritis (1930- )



The Athens Tower was the first glass skyscraper in Athens, built with luxury imported materials and high-tech systems. This is a complex of two glass office buildings, which are interconnected at the first floor level. Shops are housed in their base. The high building is 25 storeys and the low one 12. There are three underground floors for parking, storage space and the boiler room.
The ground plan is organised around a central circulation core with auxiliary areas, through the use of movable partitions that make it possible to change the interior layout. The load-bearing elements are of reinforced concrete and the external wall is a glass curtain on an aluminium skeleton.
The composition is an artistic imitation of US and European models. The aesthetic of glass has been used here in the neo-historic spirit of international prestige architecture in the 1960s. In the treatment of the façades, the vertical axis dominates as the supporting elements are faced with white marble and the vertical profiles of the glass sashes are of brown anodised aluminium.

TRANSPORTATION