Athens is a unique and beautiful city even without the skyscrapers. And I think that if the city is continuously beautified and modernized that perhaps it will make up for the lack there of. And I too am opposed to building skyscapers anywhere near the historical landmarks such as the Acropolis, etc. With that said however, I can see highrises being built in the area of a Marousi let's say. I live not far from Marousi and I can kind of see it as a future high rise district.

Agree... If I was ever to become a mayor of Athens, I would demolish in central Athens. No discussion about that. Also, I would like to see Peiraios street with a line of neoclassical buildings.

But as for Maroussi or Elaionas... Oh well :D

Turkish Sultan: Our cities have been massively urbanised but thank God (the one and only) that we didn't build anything close to the Acropolis or the Sultan Ahned Camii

Our cities are liked for other things, not skyscrapers. Although I have seen Istanbul skyscrapers and liked them, what I like in a city is its capacity to change its old and new face without the one obstructing the other. A place needs both modernism and history. I am happy that our cities have both... :)

...and BTW this thread was about to make it to 8000 views at the time of this writing!!!

I said yeahhhhh

:banana::cucumber:

I wish to thank all those visiting here and making this thread the most popular single subject thread in the Greek architecture forum. Sorry, I haven't started my spring expedition tours in Athens yet. (too much work).

I post here two pics with clouded skies of the Atrina Centre complex taken one year ago from αψροσσ Kifissias Avenue and having a northern European touch on them due to the colours and the lighting... Something like a suburb of a German or a Dutch city...

The dream lives on, and wait for new materials this weekend (God willing and weather permitting)

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture/Athens-AtrinaCenterComplex5-800x-sm.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture/Athens-AtrinaCenterTower11-small-co.jpg

Just think...

We did this in 1980.

THE DREAM LIVES ON AND IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START AGAIN!!!

NEVER TOO LATE

Κρίμα βρε παιδιά δεν είναι;

Excelent.
My fave Athens Highrise! Looks like post 2000 tower!

And it is a design of the 1970's por favor!!!

I like this residential! very simple and elegant!

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture/Athens-EfterpiTower7.jpg

I like this office building too!!!
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture/Athens-AtrinaCenterComplex5-800x-sm.jpg

Yep I think its nice and elegant too!

I would also rebuild that Belle Epoch Palace of Faliro that was demolished sometime in early 20th century decades.

I would do a Haussmanisation of some streets of central Athens (maybe Aghiou Konstantinou, Halkokondili-Akadimias, Triti Septembriou, Pireos, and crossing streets of the aforementioned).

And of course...Vasilisis Sofias from the tower to the area where it's already classical.

Ah.and almost forgot, Alexandras!!!! let's make it Les Champs des Alexandras!

That would be great indeed.

A picture of Alexandras Avenue with the Tower of Athens in the forefront and the present Panathinaikos FC stadium in the middle of the picture.

I never identified the source of this picture which is the Air Club of the city of Serres, in Northern Greece.

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22633/35730/429123/0/Athens+Aerial+1+-+Ampelokipi+-+small800x.jpg

However, I believe that Peiraios street is more appropriate for "Haussemanisation", because it is full of empty factories and other structures that are rapidly changing hands, being restored and acquire new uses.

I envision Peiraios as a lowrise (4-storey) neoclassical neighbourhood. It can be done and it deserves it. Alexandras is still in full use and you simply cannot vacate all the buildings in its facade to demolish of otherwise restore them... yet. But Peiraios.... Yummie!!!

Its from a site called Airphotos or something I remember seeing it when it was first released.

Sorry I am working and I cannot provide other photos.

The "cake" junction of Attica Road (Athens ring road) and Kifissias Avenue in Maroussi, (3 levels) where you also have a suburban rail station. We see the Greek Telecom Head offices building too.

http://www.airphotos.gr/photo/254.jpg

For more pics from all over Greece (including Athens, but not that many), click here ---> http://www.airphotos.gr/

A great site isnt it!

Panorama from left ro tight of the OAKA AThens Olympic Stadium, and the two Press and Media Centres, total floor space, approx. 150,000 sq. metres.

This is a collage from four different photos I took just a year ago. Now that I leadned to use this software, of course wait for more :):):)

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture/OAKAandMedia-PressInstallationsPano.jpg

^^ Πολύ ωραία η φωτογραφία :)

Καλά, περιμένετε να δείτε τι θα γίνει όταν ξανανέβω σε κανένα Λυκαβηττό ή κανένα Υμηττό :):):). Εκεί να δείτε γλέντια

:banana: :cucumber:

Εγώ λόγο κάποιον τρεξιμάτων που είχα τις τελευτές εβδομάδες είδα αρκετά κτήρια τα οποία ήταν υπο-κατασκευή στην Αθήνα. Δυστυχώς φωτογραφική δεν μπορούσα να έχω μαζί μου. Πάντως θα κάνω μια περιγραφή των κτηρίων στο θέμα «Κατασκευαστικά νέα» :)

Καλά, περιμένετε να δείτε τι θα γίνει όταν ξανανέβω σε κανένα Λυκαβηττό ή κανένα Υμηττό :):):). Εκεί να δείτε γλέντια

:banana: :cucumber:
ah Gm!
Perimine esi na dis ti tha kanw me afta ta panoramas! :lol:

Here is a pano of Athens from Wikipedia:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/14/Panorama_of_Athens.jpg
You can see a few tall buildings pocking out of the sea of 4 story complexes!
I love it! :cheers:

Πολύ ωραίο Γιωργάρα, νάσαι καλά :cheers:

@ Κωνσταντινούπολις

Εχω υπόψη μου κάτι καλούδια, όπως τα νέα κτίρια στην οδό Χαλανδριου - Αμαρουσίου, καθώς και ένα 10 πατώματα παρακαλώ στην Πειραϊκή. Τώρα αν θέλεις, βάλε τα δικά σου που έχεις υπόψη στα κατασκευαστικά νέα και πες περίπου που βρίσκονται να πάω άμα φτιαξει ο καιρός να τα φωτογραφήσω.

_______________________________________

OK, back to schedule:

Interesting picture that I took two years ago from the Attikon Alsos depicting the Atrina centre and the HUGE Main Media Centre as well as the Press Centre of the Olympic Installations. Now, these two gigantic structures totalling some 150,000 square metres of usable floor space are the subject of a tender by the state to attract investors to submit offers for their future use:

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/334285

Why isnt this thread stickied? :dunno: My gosh...

Anyway, I like that pic. GM, I think maybe these buildings will be bad for the skyscrapers of athens in the future since they soak up alot of demand with there large space.

Για τους λάτρεις του αθλήματος.

http://www.babisvovos.gr/uploads/property_portfolio/gallery/Kifissias_32_1_BIG.jpg

www.babisvovos.gr

Πολύ ωραία φωτογραφία :okay:

Από κοντά φαίνεται όντως η ηλικία του ;).

Αξιος ο μισθός σου Κώστα. Οντως ωραίο καλούδι.

Επίσης, @ Kostya: Και πάλι καλά να λες. Κτίρια 20 χρονών νεώτερα απο αυτο και φαίνονται για τα πανηγύρια, τι να λεμε τώρα.

Here is a diagram of Athens Tower 1+2. Shes looks nice and tall.
http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/6559/72c7zh.jpg
:cheers:

Mount Olympus Office Building ( Καλά το όνομα είναι ... :banned: :D )

http://www.jandp-group.com/photos/large/63_1.jpg

http://www.jandp-group.com/photos/large/63_2.jpg

http://www.jandp-group.com/photos/large/63_3.jpg

http://www.jandp-group.com/uk/projects.asp?sector_id=5&project_id=14&company_id=3&short=1&back=1

Pou einai aftw to ktirio;

Έλα ντε :dunno:

Αν κρίνω από των χώρο γύρω γύρω ίσως να είναι στα βόρεια προάστια

It is in Marousi guys, near the Village. I think it is a kind of private school.
( I hope I am not out of mind here ...)

Thanks!
Welcome back to the forum!
Please sign your name here:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=294040

The building is located on Fragkoklisias street close to the Village Centre multiplex in Maroussi, thus the name of this complex is "Fragkoklissias 7". It is built by Ioannou-Paraskevaidis (now AVAX-J&P) and if I am correct the architect must be Iason Rizos (check). Amongst others, it houses the central offices of the IMAKO Media Group that include the NITRO Magazine and Radio station, among others.

A nice complex, albeit secluded in such a way that I will never be able to go in and take a picture. One of the last buildings above 5 floors built in the area.

It is in Marousi guys, near the Village. I think it is a kind of private school.
( I hope I am not out of mind here ...)
Νάσαι καλά.

OK people let's continue

These are unusual pictures of a building in the densely populated area of "Kato Patissia" which is an inner city neighbourhood.

Actually, I was lucky that yesterday, returning from the expedition to take pictures from this building in Nea Kifissia (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=347586) (George take a look mate, you will like them). However, returning home, instead of Taking the Attika Road, I entered to Metamorfossi from another exit on the nationar road and found myself in Nea Philadelphia (beautiful neighbourhood BTW, lots of green) and since I had some time, I continued until I ended in Acharnon street where I accidentally fell on a beautiful sight of this building (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=163867) in Kato Patissia, that, like most of what I call "The Lost Residentials" was built in the mid 1970's.

Truth is that the building has an outdated design, it is built above a crowded neighbourhood and although most of its tenants may have an excellent view, I doubt that it is the perfect example of urban development and it sure constitutes a rational point of reference about not having other skyscrapers in Athens (not in Central Athens anyway).

However, part of me liked the size and height of this giant. At 14 floors and twice as long as its height, this white elephant is an indication of the early efforts of the architects and civil engineers to induce a primitive notion of grandeur. Sure, the political changes that took place after the military Junda spopped these trends of uncontrollable giganticism, leaving this idle commie style building in the middle of an urban sea. However, the view is interesting merely because it is unusual and spectacular in its ugliness...

Pictures taken from various spots, depicting this area of Athens for the first time in the web, enjoy them and tell me what you think.


-The building's neighbourhood, so to speak

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture/Athens-ResidentialinKatoPatissia3Ne.jpg


-Close up

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture/Athens-ResidentialinKatoPatissia2-s.jpg


-Various perspectives

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture/Athens-ResidentialinKatoPatissia4-s.jpg

-http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture/Athens-ResidentialinKatoPatissia5-s.jpg

I found this picture on the esctoday website in there phototour of Athens:
http://www.esctoday.com/images/2006/img_0111_0.jpg

wow GM that looks very tall too me. I hope you enjoyed the trip that you made and I hope you didnt get lost! :lol:

Not exactly, you see, I had a generic notion as to where I was going. Athens is a vast city though, one realises this if you move in new areas that you aren't familiar with, outside your ususl itineraries. Now as to the skyscraper of Patissia as this was known some 25+ years back, I reckon it is built on a ground elevation (small hill, some 20 metres tall). As for me I like the spectacle, but I don't think that many of the neighbours do. Also, the building is so "lost' and not anywhere close to a major arterial road, if you go there by car you may truly get lost. It was Sunday and the traffic was light otherwise I know that this is one of the busiest points in Athens, close to the national road, etc..

yes there are three of those big buildings within a radius of, say one to 1.5km, in fact the one above is very close to this one here (http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=224220) and -this is the funny thing, it replicates the 5-7 storey blocks built in Athens between 1950 to 1970. I mean, this photo in the link reminds me of older pictures from Latin America... Montevideo in the 60's or something.

Interesting, again, all these are lost in the sea of inner city Athens concrete and it takes the attitude of an urban explorer to find them. Pity they are few though. The only ones potentially missing now may be the ones in Evangelistrias Square in peristeri that Skaros has told be about them, but I doubt that they may even be 12 storeys. Also, we will need to explore the commies close to Peiraios street but again, I don't expect any serious thrills...

OK, that's all for now, I will be updating this thread as I take new pictures... CU all soon :)

Well I hope you find some more hidden gems gm...Keep this thread interesting.
Or better yet I hope we get some brand new gems :okay:

Yes, I mean the existing ones you can find them here (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/?id=100623) in Emporis. I can find some new perspectives, sure, but sorry, I cannot build new ones... alone :lol:

On emporis about the first and second page of Low Rise can be included as Highrise can they not? In the Adelaide Emporis page we have several buildings included which are under 12 floors.

How come?

Anyway, I like to follow their scheme which says that a highrise is anything equal or above 12 floors, including the ground floor and the top service floor, what in Greek we call "to doma" (το δώμα ) and which, in order to count as a floor it will have to be either habitable or allow easy human access (distance between floor and ceiling at least 2m and accessible by means of a stairs or elevator-or do they call it "the lift" in the land down under? :lol:

Additionally, if the building has a height of equal or above 35 metres, this qualifies it as a highrise. So it's an either/ or condition

The problem is that to acquire a valid height measurement you need to either find the building's doorman, or to access the blueprints. The best thing is to go for the height of the elevator shaft which is available not only in blueprints but is also known most of the times by the service personnel of the building. I don't know the case about the tall Athens residentials though.

One thing is for sure, I will, at some point in time try to find the heights of at least some of the most prominent Athenian Buildings, like the OTE building in Maroussi, or others that we don't have as at now. I wish he had new construction though... That's my worry right now if you asked me.


...and to add something here, yes, there may be marginally a handful of buildings with 34, 35, or even 36 metres height. I cannot start chasing them as I don't consider them skyscrapers. Nor do I want to add "skyscrapers" and have a list of 10 to 11 storey buildings which may increase the number of the existing highrises half a dozen or so...

Better to see a new tall building with 20 or 30 floors, not 10, not 11 which will clearly stand above the others and make a statement. I have seen 11-storey buildings amidst 10 and 8-storey ones. I mean, they look OK, but nothing special.

Yes I agree.
I suppose in Adelaide we have sprawling lowrise suburbs so anything that has over 10 floors is considered big here

Τα κεντρικά γραφεία του Ευκλείδη.Πολύ ωραίο κτήριο:

http://www.efklidis.gr/photos/hq-large.jpg

http://www.efklidis.gr/photos/hq-large.jpg

Επιτέλους άρχισε κάτι να γίνεται. Παρεπιπτόντως, η οδός Χαλανδρίου-Αμαρουσίου έχει πολύ χώρο για ανάπτυξη και αρκετά καλά κτιρια όπως πχ το κτίριο της φαρμακευτικής εταιρείας Βαyer. Βέβαια, το κακό είναι ότι αφ' ενός δεν είναι λεωφόρος πρώτης προβολής και τα κτίρια "χάνονταϊ" εκεί περα, αφ' ετέτου είναι ακόμα διάσπαρτα, δεν αποτελούν ένα ενιαίο σύνολο. Η εικόνα αναμένεται να αλλάξει όμως γιατι από ότι βλέπω υπάρχει ενδιαφέρον...

Αλλά τι να λέμε, πολύ ωραίο κτίριο ούτως η άλλως...

Το γυρίζω στα Αγγλικά για τους international visitors:

OK guys, this one I forgot to post anywhere and I found it today, although it was taken in January 2005

This is the smaller building of the Athens Tower Complex (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/cx/?id=101292), also known as "Athens Tower Building 2 (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=148947)"

Had this been a separate building and taking into account that it was completed in 1971, it would have been a worthwhile addition to the cityscape. Well, now it is simply dwarfed by its taller brother, although many consider it as a better design compared to its taller counterpart...

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthenstowerBuildingB-4-small.jpg

Just imagine what if...


WHAT IF...

Το κτήριο της ασφαλιστικής εταιρίας Μινέττα.

http://www.diathlasis.gr/images/minetta.jpg

http://www.diathlasis.gr/images/minetta_simulation_night.jpg

http://www.diathlasis.gr/images/minetta1.jpg

http://www.diathlasis.gr/images/minetta2.jpg

http://www.diathlasis.gr/images/minetta3.jpg

http://www.diathlasis.gr/Projects.cfm?ID=75

Συγγνώμη παιδιά για το που παο "off topic" λίγο εδώ αλλα για "κιαξτε" μερικές φωτογραφείς από μια πολύ στην Μέση Ανατολή περίπου 1.2 εκατ κατοικους. Θέλω να δω άμα ξέρει κανεις πια πολύ είναι.

**Πριν 15 χρονια ήτανε 'warzone'.

Να βλέπεις τέτοια projects σε μια πολύ που έχει περάσει τι έχει περάσει αυτή η πολύ, και να είναι πολύ πιο μικρή από την Αθηνα, δεν μπορεί να μην αγριεύεις με τι κατάσταση στην Ελληνική πρωτεύουσα.

http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/3346/32uz.jpg
http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/8887/ffefef1zi.jpg
http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/3100/bt07qf.jpg
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/6203/eastpersbigb4da.jpg

Βέβαια είναι ακόμα στο στάδιο του σχεδιασμού αυτά τα κτίρια, αλλά και πάλι, το ότι τόλμησαν και τα σκεφτήκανε κάτι λέει.

Το πρόβλημα στην Ελλάδα είναι η νοοτροπία της ισοπέδωσης - δε μπορούμε να φανταστούμε μια πόλη όπου κάπου θα είναι όλα διώροφα (υψηλού επιπέδου κατοικίες ) και κάπου θα επιτρέπονται κτίρια των 40 ορόφων. Και κάπου (όπως στην Πεντέλη ) δεν θα πρέπει να χτίστεί τίποτα λόγω δάσους.

Δεν ξέρω, λέω κάτι λάθος;

Και προμηθέα, αν είναι η Βυρηττός, σε πληροφορώ ότι πάντα είχε ψηλά κτίρια και μάλιστα πολλές μεγάλες Ελληνικές εταιρείες είχαν χτίσει και αυτές και ψηλά και ωραία οικοδομήματα εκεί πέρα, πρίν τον εμφύλιο πόλεμο τους.

Επίσης, Κώστα, γνωστό το κτίριο των Ασφαλειών Μινέττα, θα πάω να το πάρω κι' εγώ καμμιά βραδυνή φωτό... Ολα τα λεφτά...

By the way, Diathlasis has some very interesting projects, like:

Cyprus Bank

http://www.diathlasis.gr/images/BACY_02.JPG

http://www.diathlasis.gr/images/BACY_03.JPG

Completed, it is on Alexandras Avenue, opposite the 13-storey Athens Police Headquarters.

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=196936

I guess Alpha bank, Ethniki and Eurobank could each one built something that resembles a small skyscraper if allowed.

I am saying so, because if the bank of Cyprus can reach 9 floors, then they can go at least 30. But this is an extrapolation ... for the festivals.


For the time being the two major banks of greece use the following buildings as headquarters, but I guess multiple others in different locations to serve other operations.

Alpha
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3532/2117/1600/alphabank_out.jpg

National Bank of Greece - Ethniki
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3532/2117/1600/ete.jpg

Announcing the 1st Anniversary of this thread with a bang!!! Go NOW to the this address Athens Skyscrapers Thread 1st Anniversary (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=8584534#post8584534) and enjoy Athens in 20 spectacular 1024x766 pixels photos for your PC desktop taken exclusively by me!!!.


Let us celebrate the return of the Athens of the new millennium.


____________________________

Also @ dear Metro Guardian:

In essence, Alpha bank and even more, Ethniki bank, are using whole bloCks of buildings to accomodate their offices in central Athens. If you check the office buildings of Alpha Bank for instance, you will notice that they are expanding all over the block where their initial 10-storey head offices building was completed in the early 1990s. The same pertains to the National bank which occupies several big buildings in the centre of Athens.

So, to assume that they should build a 30-storey tower each in let's say, the Elaionas area which is close to the centre and will be served by the new metro lines is only rational.

But will anybody listen?

http://www.aish.com/graphics/articles/ForGodsSake230x150.jpg you are absolutely right. And if I am right too, NBG owns most of the surrounding buildings in Kotzias square and several others in the area, it is something like Ethniki square.
So it is for our mighty, highly efficient and visionary parliament to change the old legislation.
I also think elaiwnas would be great for highrise developement combinded with a metropolitan park (aka central park) in the center of our massive and super-dense capital. This way, it would be profitable to demolish the very old and crappy buildings that occupy the area, and sell the land for skyscrapers :okay: while (still with profit) allocating space for super-parks and public - sport/halls, museums, operas and whatever, thus creating a superb huge place for real-estate developement, international architectural excellence, and leisure / educational / science / art pupropses.

Wow, what a dream!

So, is that just wishfull thinking, or is it too hard for them to think about it?
Or is it a problem of money? Or better, like we are very fond of in Greece, do some individuals profit from the current situation and cause stagnation to the procedures?
:wallbash:

P.S. It is Metro Gardian for the time being, the u is reserved by another skyscrapercity member :cry:

I don't see how skyscrapers will make Athens look ugly . Unfortunately many areas are ruined by those crapy 8 storeys apartments . At least they looks ugly to me that I am used to the Italian Architecture [ modern and old ]

As long it's not near acropolis High-rises will certainly look good as Athens don't have a big "historical" area, with building of 200 years and more , like most north-central European Cities do.
Too bad the only relatively old buildings are abandoned and left to collapse.

It has actually 200 years and more buildings, though they're mostly churches and houses and not palaces (The neoclassical palaces are from the 19th). And what many don't know is that most of the buildings in Paris for example that usually visitors think they have more than 200 or 300 years, actually they're from the Hausmann era in 19th century when Paris changed its structural look and most of the current Parisien palaces and boulevards have been built.

The same goes to London where after the fire of 1666 most of its older buildings where destroyed (with the exception of the Westminster area or the old tower).

In 16th and 17th century most of the European towns looked like clusters of village cottages surrounding the palace and government districts. Most of those houses have been demolished in 19th century only to have those spaces replaced by the current great buildings.

So the 200 years and more buildings districts of those cities have a similar land area of that of Athens.

Transferred from / Μεταφορά από: ----------> http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=8629926#post8629926

Διάβασα στην εφημερίδα Πρώτο Θέμα ένα πολύ ενδιαφέρον άρθρο του δημοσιογράφου Δημήτρη Μαρκοπούλου. Ο εν λόγω δημοσιογράφος παραθέτει τα επιχειρηματικά σχέδια των σεΐχηδων από τα Η.Α.Ε για την Ελλάδα και όπου έκανε γνωστά ο υφυπουργός οικονομικών Πέτρος Δούκας στο ένθετο «business stories» της εφημερίδας.

Ανάμεσα σε όλα τα άλλα αναφέρει ότι οι άραβες ενδιαφέρονται να χτίσουν ξενοδοχειακά συγκροτήματα-ουρανοξύστες τύπου Ντουμπάι στην Αθήνα.

«Σύμφωνα με πληροφορίες, κινητικότητα προς αυτή την κατεύθυνση υπάρχει εκ μέρους κρατικών οργανισμών, όπως η ΚΕΔ και τα Τουριστικά ακίνητα, όμως ο φόβος απόρριψης από το ΣτΕ αιτημάτων δημιουργίας ακόμα και ουρανοξυστών είναι ορατός.
Για τον παραπάνω λόγο, στις σκέψεις του επιτελείου του κ. Δούκα είναι η ενδεχόμενη η αξιοποίηση περιοχών που έχουν προς τον παρόν χαμηλό οικιστικό ενδιαφέρον και οι οποίες θεωρούνται υποβαθμισμένες. Ειδικότερα, σκέψεις υπάρχουν για την παραχώρηση γης του ΟΔΔΥ στη Μαγουλέζα στα Λιόσια, καθώς και στην Ελευσίνα και στη Δραπετσώνα»

Επίσης

«Πάντως, στις κατ’ ιδίαν συνομιλίες που είχε ο κ. Δούκας με τους άραβες αξιωματούχους έγινε σαφές ότι σε καμία περίπτωση οι τελευταίοι δεν ενδιαφέρονται για επενδύσεις κάτω των 350 εκατ. δολ.»


Εδώ μπορούμε να κάνουμε μερικές ενδιαφέρουσες παρατηρήσεις.

1. Για όποιον παρακολουθεί τον Ελληνικό τύπο, ιδίως τις σελίδες που ασχολούνται με τα ακίνητα και το λεγόμενο "real estate" γνωρίζει ότι η φράση "να χτιστούν ουρανοξύστες" δεν λέγεται τόσο εύκολα λόγω των γνωστών λόγων που έχουμε αναλύσει στις προηγούμενες σελίδες. Εδώ αντίθετα, λέγεται αυτο που θα λέγαμε στην καθομιλουμένη, τελειως "χύμα", σαν να μην φοβούνται οι συγγραφείς του κειμένου να το πούν βρε παιδί μου. Αυτό είναι πολύ σημαντικό γιατι ως τώρα, η προοπτική κατασκευής ευμεγεθών κτιρίων στην Αθήνα συνοδεύονταν μόνο από αρνητική δημοσιότητα.

2. Για πρώτη φορά αναφέρεται το Συμβούλιο της Επικρατείας να αποτελεί ανασταλτικό παράγοντα μαζί με τη γραφειοκρατία ο οποίος εν δυνάμει μπορεί και να μπλοκάρει αναίτια κάποιες επενδύσεις. Η θέση μου είναι γνωστή. Κυνηγάμε τον Βωβό μη χτίσει πάνω από πέντε ορόφους στην Κηφισίας σε νόμιμα οικόπεδα με άδειες και την ίδια στιγμη καταπατείται η πεντέλη, βίλλες χτίζονται πάνω στα καμένα και κανένας δεν μπορει να σταματήσει το κακό.

Δυστυχώς η παρεμβατική μέχρις υπερβολής στάση του ΣτΕ έχει κάνει πολλούς να αναρωτιούνται τελικά εάν το κράτος έχει το δικαίωμα να κάνει χωροταξική πολιτική ή αν αυτο επαφίεται σε άλλα όργανα. Λοιπόν;

Χώρια το γεγονός ότι και άλλοι κατασκευαστικοί όμιλοι όπως ο Πορτογαλικός Sonae Imobiliária έχει εκφράσει ακριβώς την ίδια ανησυχία για το ιδιότυπο γραφειοκρατικό καθεστώς που ισχύει στην Ελλάδα. Σημειωτέον ότι και γη Sonae, αλλά και η Dubai Holdings δεν είναι τίποτα εργολάβοι της πλάκας που κοιτάνε να "κλέψουν" τετραγωνικά στο "διαμπερές" και μιλάνε για "φιλέτα" σαν τους χασάπηδες στο Ρέντη. Είναι σοβαρές εταιρείες που θέλουν να μπούν μέσω της ευθείας οδού στην Ελληνική αγορά, και πιθανόν αυτοί να αποτελέσουν και τους φορείς αλλαγής στα χρόνια που έρχονται...

3. Οι παράμετροι του συγκεκριμένου πράγματος είναι πολλές, και για τους παροικούντες εν Ελλάδι πιθανόν και γνωστές.

Κατα πρωτον, έχω αναφερθεί στη Δραπετσώνα και τον Ελαιώνα σαν χώρους υποδοχής ψηλών κτιρίων στην Αθήνα εφόσον τηρουν και τηρηθούν κάποιες προϋποθέσεις. Βέβαια, με λυπεί το γεγονός ότι δικαιωματικά το Μαρούσι θα πρέπει να ανοίξει το χωρό, αλλά δεν αναφέρεται στο δημοσίευμα.

Θα έλεγα ότι η Dubai Holdings είναι αποφασισμένη να χτίσει κάτι ψηλό στην Αθήνα. Η επιλογή των Λιοσίων της Δραπετσωνας και της Ελευσίνας σημαίνει ότι "δεν κολώνουν" να πάνε σε μια υποβαθμισμένη περιοχή εφόσον γνωρίζουν ότι το μέγεθος του έργου είναι τέτοπιο που όπου και να πάνε θα γίνει κοσμογονία. Αντι δηλαδή να επιδιώκουν απλά να "τοποθετηθούν" όπως θα λέγαμε για έργα από μικρότερους κατασκευαστικούς ομίλους, αυτοί επιδιώκουν να μεταμορφώσουν μια περιοχή, και στην τρέλλα τους απάνω, δεν καταλαβαίνουν τίποτα, ούτε από Ελευσίνα, ούτε από Λιόσια, ούτε από τίποτα... δεν επηρεάζονται από την κατάσταση μιας αγοράς, την επαναδημιουργούν. Μόνο τεράστια μεγέθη έργων θα δικαιολογούσαν ένα τέτοιο "τσαμπουκά"

Η αποψη μου: Οι πιέσεις να αποκτήσει η Αθήνα συνεχόμενες "οάσεις" μοντερνισμού -τώρα και καθ' ύψος, έτσι ώστε να υπάρξει μια αισθητική αναβαθμιση η οποία με τη σειρά της θα προκαλέσει και την ανάγκη επέμβασης εντός του ευρύτερου κέντρου- φαίνονται ότι εντείνονται και "ο καιρός γαρ εγγύς". Ας ελπίσουμε αυτή τη φορά να γίνει κάτι σωστό. Θα συμφωνούσα με την άποψη ότι ευτυχώς που γλυτώσαμε τα ψηλά κτίρια της δεκαετίας του 70 εφόσον αυτή μας κληροδώτησε 10 καλά (Πύργος Αθηνών, Ατρίνα, Πύργος Interamerican- Συγγρού ) και 30 τσιμεντένια κλουβιά σαν τα υπόλοιπα, μόνο λίγο ψηλώτερα. Σήμερα όμως, είναι αναγκαίο να ανεβούμε μερικές κλίμακες. Τα κτίρια μας είναι υπερβολικά μικρά για να δημιουργήσουν οργανωμένες και συντεταγμένες ροές δραστηριοτήτων. Όπως επίσης είναι λίγο παράδοξο το ότι κυνηγάμε με τέτοια μανία το ύψος που έστω στη Συγγρού και την Κηφισίας δεν χτίσαμε καν ούτε τέτοια κτίρια σαν αυτά στην Ουάσινγκτον που ούτε ψηλά είναι, αλλά ιδίως το αριστούργημα προς τα δεξιά- δεν μοιαζουν με τα γνώριμα κυβάκια της Κηφισίας. Δεστε παρακάτω. Λοιπόν, τι λέτε;

Washington DC - Midrises - Oύτε πολύ ψηλά, ούτε πολύ χαμηλά...

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/Washington.jpg

Μάλλον "κάτι" παίζει. Το τι ακριβώς, δεν έχω ιδέα. Την αλήθεια είναι εάν γίνεται κάτι έτσι στην Αθηνα, έχουνε δείξει η Ελληνικές εταιρίες "real estate development" κτλ ότι δεν έχουνε το vision. Aμα είναι για ουρανοξύστες, μονο μια εταιρία από το εξωτερικό θα κάνει κίνηση. Η δικη μας κοιμούνται.

Εδώ μιλάμε για πολύ χρήμα (πάνω από $400 εκατ δολάριa). Για να δούμε για να δούμε.

Έχει κανεις URL για το άρθρο?

I can't seem to find any more sources regarding this story. Not even on Dubai Holdings' website... One article from one source does not give me much confidence...

In short, that's the idea. Had it been otherwise, I would have already opened a separate thread. I will keep a close eye on this case though. When an investor says that they have to spend no less than €350 millon per project, what they will build, will definitely be difficult to hide :D

Which begs the question....

Will the State make it difficult for a substantial foreign investment like this?

Unfortunately, the State in Greece is run by politics without any vision whatsoever....And this is not a partisan comment, it is rather a political comment. Architecture, traditionally, is directly linked with economy and culture.
We need statesmen with vision, who will engulf pioneering ideas, either of domestic or of foreign origin,in order to see something really exciting happening in Greece. Otherwise we will have to keep up with the ever present misery and shortsightness, so characteristic of modern Greece.Just look at the Olympics saga and its present turnout....
I'm afraid, those Dubai investors are up for some really nusty sobering, soon....

Ακόμα στις συζητήσεις είναι παιδιά, μην ψάχνετε για σχέδια και ανακοινώσεις.
Περισσότερα εν καιρό.

The Vision Still Lives!!!

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22633/35730/429118/0/Athens+-+From+Pendeli+-+6+-May+05-small800x.jpg

10,000+ Hits!!!

Before we proceed, it is useful to kindly remind everybody that shortly after its first anniversary, this thread has reached the phenomenal number of 10,000 hits which makes it the most successful single topic in the Hellenic Agora (and one of the most successful in Euroscrapers too) to date.

And all that for a story long gone, like Athens skyscrapers, with all the good and the bad sides, but not forgotten, it seems. I say this because regardless of the apparently substantial number of the forum visitors, both Hellenes of the mainland and the omogeneia, as well as the foreign ones, we may also have to assume that non-forum participants frequent this thread too.

I wouldn't expect that everybody that visits this thread would join the forum to make a comment. However, my aim is to simply transfuse this idea that properly designed tall buildings in strategic and appropriate locations, not in abundance but in adequate numbers to iconise the marriage of the old and the new, would give Athens an extra touch of class and grandeur, as the case is with not only most of the US cities or their Chinese overswollen clones where skyscrapers seem to almost pop-out of the ground like mushrooms , but also in cities like Paris, Warsaw or Vienna (and elsewhere (http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/IstanbulLevent10d-AnilfromMovenpick.jpg), you know :D), where such a union takes place on a form of urbanistic chemical reaction and transforms the city into a meta-entity as far as its urban character is conserned.

Well, to return to earth, the number of hits to the present day corroborates the fact that many people from Greece at least display an interest and want to know more, want to know more about why with the exception of Rome (which is not a financial centre and still has some tall buildings in its ourskirts), skyscrapers and tall buildings are built in all major cities in Europe (especially financial centres) but not Athens? Why do we have so many empty spaces next to 8-lane avenues and why is it so difficult to go forward with anything bigger than a 5-storey block?

The answer is not that bleak, at least half of it.

First of all, to shed some lights to Prometheus' comment, we need to identify the most influential stakeholders as far as construction in Greece is concerned.

-The State.

This presents two opposing aspects, i.e. a visionary minister or a high ranking officer who would like to see something big being completed on the one hand, and the bureaucratic legal system on the other which in Greece is extremely slow moving and has many loopholes that may affect positively or negatively anything that is to take plαce in the Greek territory. We are talking agencies, legal bodies (out of which the most opposing to anything is the infamous "Council of the State" - Συμβούλιο της Επικρατείας ). Also, of additional significance is the Building Code but I guess not as much as the interpreters of the law that apply it.

-The Local Municipal Authorities which employ various members and convene in the form of municipal councils. Mind you that Maroussi is a separate municipality totally independent from the municipality of Athens and that the Athens/ Attica region is NOT a metropolitann municipality which means that issues affecting Athens and Maroussi (i.e. maroussi "sacrifices" some of the empty plots of land adjacent to Kifissias for the construction of tall buildings to allow Athens as a conurbation to benefit from the beginning of a new business centre) will, in addition to all other implications (i.e. "bending", changing, modifying the building codes) require the issue to be addressed at a prefectural level, something that complicates matters even further. Plus, there is no way that, other things being equal, ALL members of the municipal council will agree on something like this. Even if they are convinced that building tall may not be as harmful as they think may be, their commitments to their misinformed voters may finally make them decide otherwise. Which brings us to the third, most powerful and most damgerous component of the equation:

-The Activist-Interest Groups

These come usually in forms of associations. They are the result of 30 years of anti-tall building propaganda and actually, they tend to be anti-everything in cases. You may come across them in mild-names such as "Beautification (!!!) Association of Papagos (Εξωραϊστικός Σύλλογος Παπάγου - name fictitious), or the more militant "Citizens Intervention of Papagos" ("Παρέμβαση Πολιτων Παπάγου" name fictitious again, Papagos suburb is where I live btw). Although in normal conditions these associations would not be such a danger, simply having authority -if any- over the microcosm of their neighbourhood, due to a populistic legislation that took place over the years 1974 to present with the aim to be used as a safety valve for the local communities, after the years of military junda (where all the permits for skyscrapers were given, regardless if the last ones were completed much later see Atrina Centre, 1980), they became partial rulers of the state's urban policy-making procedures.

I use the term "populistic legislation" because, in Greece by law (and I think this is based on a constitutional clause too), anybody that feels that they are subjected to environmental hazard, is entitled to a legal redress or appeal to the Council of the State, regardless of how significant or insignificant the matter is, and the council of the state. This means that, although for penal or civil or other judicial matters one may go to a first instance court (πρωτοδικείο ), one can go directly to the Council of the State, which is a supreme court, even for a simple matter, such as the arrangement of a house fence or something. However, this becomes a tragedy when it comes to public or other big works, since, even a senile old man may stop the construction of buildings, highways or whatever other big projects and all that even if the contractors have all the documentation present, if this person feels that s/he is negatively affected.

So, given the fact that we, mediterranean Greeks are amongst the most individualistic nations on the planet, you can understand why, during the years of the Olympic preparation, the biggest nightmare of every construction company was that the neighbouring citizens may take them to the council of the state, and you are probably clever enough to understand the room that is open here for blackmails (I am a nearby resident and I feel your works are harassing my environmental consciousness so I want €1,000,000 or I will take the case to the council of the state and you will complete yuor investment right before the Second Coming :D)

Add also the fact that most of those militant citizens (in their 50's most of them now) have been subjected to a strange ideological mixture where the military Junda is a bad thing that harmed Greece (OK ), they built tall buildings that represent the American capitalism and imperialism. So, we don't want tall buildings, we want them as small as we can because we want to feel "human" and live in a "human" environment (whatecver the definition is according to them).

No, I wouldn't object the idea that whenever there is no citizen control, the state shifts into absolutism and this may result in dreadful situations. On the other hand, in the year 2006, even our politicians started to agree that the 1986 Athens Master Plan needs to be updated in view of the new functions and roles Athens is or may be required to undertake. Or that it is the state that primarily deoes the urban planning and NOT the Counbcil of the state which may have legal jurisdiction but has no concept of urban planning and may additionally be used as an instrument of extortion and/ or manipulation by some malevolent citizens.

However, to even try to stir the murky waters of populism, especially when it comes to NIMBY activist groups, may result in losing votes. That is the reason that the local municipal authorities do not try to admonish their citizens. On the contrary, depending on which interest group is more influential, you may see municipal authorities allowing night clubs operating next to residential blocks on the one hand, and on the other hand, a 30-storey building built one km away from there to have its construction halted because some NIMBYs feel they will lose their "view".

You may think that I am writing too much, but I have given you many times a link to see the furious and militant aspect of the other side. Click here to see, those that you didn't up to now, the principal page of the Athenian NIMBYs. No images, no pictures, no layout, just negation and bitterness.

Click here and enjoy: It is worth a look: http://www.asda.gr/elxoroi/

My only question is: What are the visions of these people that when their website is the dullest on the planet? I mean, I have seen forums and websites made by individuals (like http://www.athens-today.com and http://www.stadia.gr ) that show their love for what they do. Whare is the love, the "meraki" of these people in "eleftheroi xoroi" ? The fact that their website doesn't contain anything other than criticisms, nothing constructive, not even a single drawing or picture, is the biggest proof that they constitute the epitome of negativism. Go there and check!!!

But is everything lost?

No, not completely in my view. You see, cities have their own life, their own psyche, their own dynamics and powers of evolution. I referred in another post to the term "megapolisomancy" - urban magic.

The cities are alive and mobilise their universal and carnal forces in order to evolve... The German cities have been destrioyed in WWII. Look at them now. So did Tokyo. Same thing. We didn't expect to see skyscrapers in Milan, Paris, London, Warsaw, Istanbul and Vienna. yet slowly but surely, it so happens. How come that cities that belong to the forefront of traditionalism choose to devote one location to tall and modern buildings? We don't know.

For Athens, I believe that the countdown started with the Olympics who, by nature demanded the construction of big structures. The 80m-tall twin arches of the Santiago Calatrava roof in the Athens Olympic stadium "legitimised" constructions in grand scales in the city. I know many many people that would "discuss" (να το συζητήσουμε -μου λένε ) the idea of "controlled" vertical development in places in the greater Athens-Piraeus area. At "the mall Athens" the best spot is atrium that looks towards the Olympic stadium. The "mall" itself has felt the rage of all the nimbys, it was illegal but the building codes are absurd in this region anyway, not allowing anything bigger than the size of a cottage to be built. And yet, people loved it. Also, every day, young Greeks up to 35 years old or even older ask me "why not"?

If you see what happened to this city from 1993 onwards when the Athens metro started, it was a complete transformation. The NIMBYs were opposite to the Attica Road. It was built. They were opposite to metro and metro stations (Aghia Paraskevi :yes: ) They were built. They were against the Humettus Ring branch of the Attica Road and I remember in 1996 they went to mount Hymettus after multiple appeals to the council of the State, had a concert with many leftist singers including the great Maria Farantouri, and had their children planting little trees at the spaces the digging machines were expecting to start excavations. They failed. In 2003, after they have lost all battles and depleted all their venom, the Attica Road - Hymettus Branch opened and every day and every night I bless God for this beautiful road with the multiple tunnets that allows me to access eastern Attica without having to drive though congested two-lane country roads behind 18-wheel trucks.

As for scrapers? I agree with Konstantinoupolis that all we heard are simply unsubstantiated rumours. However, I repeat that it is the first time that I saw the word "skyscraper" with such a specific reference in an article about Athens. We will wait and see....


Megapolisomancy - Urban Magic!!!

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20Visual%20Art/AtticaRoadskyscrapers.jpg


This one courtesy of Giorgos, our skyscraper fan from the Omogenia in Melbourne Australia:

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/3214/atticaroadandthemallathenscopy.jpg

Which begs the question....

Will the State make it difficult for a substantial foreign investment like this?

Short answer: I wouldn't say so, they seem to be getting the idea. the problem is how they are going to deal with the rest of the parts of the equation (read above). But I would say that at least the current administration (and some members of the previous one) seem to have a listening ear....

^^ Yes Gregory good analysis. However Panathinaikos inch forward oh so slowly with their new stadium and the subsequent revitilization of the Votanikos area (which will include new green spaces etc) and even without a massive movement against it (there is so resistance) real developments are far and few between.

So I do not get hope that this kind of thing will go unopposed. When a project like above provides for the revitilization of a run down industrial area with new parks and commercial areas cannot move forward like it would in a NORMAL COUNTRY what hope is there for a project like the Arabs have in mind which the "not in my neighbourhood" types would object to?

It's been 3 years since AEK's stadium was demolished to build a new one at Nea Filadelphia and as soon as it was the 131 "local residents" stalled the entire project. Granted Granitsa didn't seem to have a clue about what he was doing when he tore it down, but 131 people stopped contruction of a new stadium with new commercial areas and entertainment facilities (as well as parking). All this on land AEK FC OWNS.

So now PAO has no stadium yet, Votanikos is still rundown with no new green areas, Leoforos is not a green park yet, Nea Filadelphia's site is a pit of dirt (I guess the 131 like this more??) and countless new jobs with these works were not realized.

Now there's a group which is willing to build tourist/entertainment buildings in what will probably be somewhat underdeveloped areas of Athens to the tune of 350 million Euros minimum which would be one of the LARGEST SINGLE foreign investments in Greece, which would provide jobs and a new lease on some less developed area, and watch how the birds of prey come out to spit their venom.

That website you linked, it looks like it's made to be read by robots, not people. Imagine that these are the people who wish a say in how Greece's capital looks like.

Θεέ μου!!!!

I read news like this and I allow myself for a little to get excited. But then the reality comes into play and this news only makes me sadder.

FYI for anyone interested, look at how the new Emirates Stadium in London handled it's problems and how quick it happend and what it's doing for the surrounding enviroment. You'll see how they do business in a real country.

Τελοσπάντων.

http://www.sportsvenue-technology.com/projects/arsenal/

http://www.sportsvenue-technology.com/projects/arsenal/images/Arsenal_01.jpg
The proposed Lough Road development

http://www.sportsvenue-technology.com/projects/arsenal/images/Arsenal_05.jpg
The redeveloped Highbury Stadium from the new south end housing

http://www.sportsvenue-technology.com/projects/arsenal/images/Arsenal_08.jpg
The pedestrian bridge from Drayton Park to the new stadium

Great post, I totally agree with you; the morons in the government have absolutely no vision, it's pathetic. Things could move forward a lot faster if people had will. But, I think they're more concerned about their wallets...

The thing is, it's the average person who has the power as GM wrote to stop any construction. It's a nice principal to allow people to have a voice, but they have a carte blanche to stall and delay and stop anything, and for the most part their objections fly in the face development and economic bnefits.

Add the Votanikos, Leoforos and Nea Filadelphia stadia/commercial centres and we're speaking of alot of jobs and investments in these areas not realized because of people who quite literally have no franking idea of what they're talking about. 131 people have made that plot of land in N.Filadelphia a patch of dirt.

Now we can see 'some' vision from the government apparatus, but they are aware that too many human hurdles are in them way of proposed works, so they don't pursue with vigor.

Tell me why anyone in their right mind would have a problem with something like this in Liossa offering hotels and shops, with nice green around it, employing possibly hundreds of people and infusing life into a run down area.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/6061/dubaibuildings8jv.jpg

You see what Athens and Greece are up against. These people for various reasons GM outlined above are wishing to stop every work in Greece which does not conform into their vision of Athens as the big village.

GM says above, how can people with to stop construction of the Attiki Odos? Ok we all understand that the government must make sure to keep the enviromental impact in mind, but Jesus H.

[SIZE=7]
This one courtesy of Giorgos, our skyscraper fan from the Omogenia in Melbourne Australia:

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/3214/atticaroadandthemallathenscopy.jpg
Actually, Im in Adelaide, Australia. ;)

Sorry mate, my mistake!!! :)

And now with regards to our discussion with Prometheus, let me give you another example, this time with a happy ending:

For years and years there was a plot of land in Alexandras and Kifissias Intersection in Athens, called "the Thon Estate" (Κτήμα Θών ), formerly belonging to a nobleman named Thon, in the beginning of the 19th century. As Athens developed in an anarchist fashion after the end of WWII, for decades nobody was paying any attention as to why this was used as an open parking lot (just one level, no fancy underground and overground floors), while there were also a few tavernas and small clothes stores on the facade of the plot looking towards the Alexandras and Kifissias streets.

The fate of the plot, for years and years was entangled in a tug-of-war between local residents who wanted a "park" (for technical reasons there cannot be a "park" on every empty single property left unbuilt in Athens) and the Municilpality of Athens that also had something in mind that never became clear.

The highlight of the area, was of course one of the most ancient Byzantine churches in Athens which was embedded in the middle of the parking area.

To cut a long story short, nobody was making a move for years, interest groups, or the municipal authorities.

...until Babis Vovos (http://www.babisvovos.gr), the biggest dedicated office building contractor in Greece made the move and made a proposal... and hell broke loose!!!

:rant: :horse: :horse: :rant: :ohno: :bash: :tongue2: :wallbash: :poke: :| :mad: :mad: :rant::rant: :runaway:

For years and years and years we were hearing about the capitalist contractor, who would destroy the sight and the site -it rhymes!!!- (as if it was not already bad anyways) who would deprive the city of a park (now whether you can reproduce the Hyde park in half a city block it's another story), who would jeopardise the health of people's children in the area (the dirt and the mice partying and having the time of their lives because of the proximity of the parking lot didn't offend anybody).

Vovos on the other hand was continously pointing out that he would not build the whole area but only two buildings separated by green spaces, and that he would also display the Byzantine church which was hidden at the time.

Anyway, the voices and the reactions became more intense, with the usual cries about "cementization" of the place (as if the cars at the time were parking on grass :D)

Finally Vovos, because he had better lawyers and knew how to pull some extra strings, won. The result of this story can be seen in the following link (sorry I didn't put the pics separately but I have work to do). Please explore all of the links, especially how the church looks and then come and tell me about what you think. I direct you towards the Thon Estate Development Complex (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/cx/?id=109088) page in Emporis (click on highlighted link) It is 8-9 storeys but it looks great.

Just tell me: is anything wrong with this picture?

My question is: OK, some say that allegedly Vovos might have "bent" some rules (although the complex seems to be conforming to the building codes in general) but I prefer the end result to any alternative proposed by the municipality (who would take 10 years to make a "park") and the NIMBYs (who don't want anything).

Also, the building is close to the Athens Tower and one can see it from its grounds, while enjoying his/her coffee from Starbucks next to its entrance.

And with this image I leave you for now, have a nice day (in Europe it is 10:00 o' clock) and open your eyes: Progress is made by visionaries, not negativists

-Athens Tower from Thon Estate Development:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture/AthensTower10-small700x.jpg

Images do have a way of talking don't they?

Thats a brilliant shot and Thom Building is a brilliant development.

Its sad that because of a few people, Athens isnt progressing as well as she should.

That's a great tale Gregory and as usual your work on Emporis shows us exactly what is needed.

It's funny isn't it? Look at the lengths to which Vovos went to. Borderline "legal". And for what? To build very modern buildings in tune with their enviroment with the utmost respect for the history of the Church nearby. I mean the state is suppose to make it easier for people to do business like this.

Look an the synthesis between modern and historical. Look at the green. Look at the cleanliness. Why do the truly visionary companies in Greece who are ready to bring Athens into the 21st century as a European metropolis forced to fight the state on one hand and it's bloated bureaucracy and the citizens groups (we call them speacial interest groups here-mostly made up of socialists) on the other and their cyborgian militancy?

This is a great story brother but things will be like this all the time (ie always a war for every project, some won, some lost, but always opposed) unless the state enacts legislation making it easier for people to do business like this and setting up green requirements etc per hectare of development.

Until this changes it will be an uphill battle and Vovos will need their lawyers (lawyers are expensive, and not making it less expensive to do business which is what SHOULD be happening but what is not the case it seems).

This battle is won GM but the war is another story. Slowly slowly as the youth grow up we can hope that youthful energy finds it's way to change this situation.

However things are a changing. As your examples before this last one also (Attiki Odos, Metro etc).

Btw, let me say it again.

Looking at the latest pics GM posted, we can see that development does NOT mean destruction. See the synergy between the modern buildings, the trees and green, and the church.

When you combine nature, the future and the past, everyone wins. I prefer modernity with green and style to the "τζιμενδο-κατικιες".

...and the citizens groups (we call them speacial interest groups here-mostly made up of socialists) on the other and their cyborgian militancy?

:lol:

Very appropriate choice of words!!! :lol::lol:

Ένα ωραίο γραφικό του Κ.Γ.Τ στο Μαρούσι:

http://www.marneris.gr/images/projects/metalika/big/005.jpg

http://www.marneris.gr/Projects/Metalika.asp

Εξαιρετικό. Μιλάμε για 50.000 τμ γραφείων ή άλλης διαμόρφωσης χώρων. Περιμένω τα αποτελέσματα των διαγωνισμών για τον ανάδοχο να δώ για ποιά χρήση προορίζεται αυτό το οικοδόμημα.

Και μια και μιλάμε για γραφικά, υπάρχει μια κατασκευαστική εταιρεία η Μπομπότης Α.Ε. της οποίας η ιστοσελίδα έχει μια από τις καταπληκτικότερες σχεδιάσεις που έχω δεί, χώρια μου φαίνεται ότι το ΤΕΙ Ηρακλέιου που έβαλε ο Κ/πολις σε άλλη σελίδα είναι σχεδίασης αυτού του τεχνικού γραφείου.

Για δέστε εδω... http://www.bobotis.gr

Θα σας φανεί λίγο περίεργη στην αρχή αλλά αξίζει τον κόπο μια περιήγηση.

Απίστευτη!!!

πολύ καλόhttp://www.skyscrapercity.com/images/smilies/shocked.gif

Και πάνω που είπαμε να χαρούμε... μας ήρθε η κεραμίδα...

Αλλά όχι άλλα κατεβατά, βαριέμαι να γράφω σελίδες με αφορισμούς πάλι, θα το πω με ένα τραγούδι-σύνδεσμο (link)

Something's gotten hold of my heart
Keeping my soul and my senses apart
Something's gotten into my life
Cutting its way, through my dreams like a knife
Turning me up, turning me down
Making me smile, making me frown (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=8681376#post8681376)

Είναι, σαν, πως να το πω, θυμάστε εκέινες τις φορές που σας άρεσε μια κουκλάρα που γούσταρε και κάποιον άλλο που ήταν και πολύ τυπάς βρε παιδί μου και την πετυχάινετε στο πάρτυ μόνη της, της πιάνετε κουβέντα, είναι μεσάνυχτα, σας κοιτάει με τα υπέροχα ματάκια της, αλλά πάνω που αρχίζετε να ελπίζετε έρχεται ο τυπάς και τσουπ!!! μένετε σύξυλοι να το πω ποιητικά και μη βωμολοχήσω. Kάτι σαν Lemon Popsicle για τους άνω των 35 εδώ πέρα, αν έχετε δεί την ταινία...

E, κάπως έτσι νοιώθω εγώ τώρα. Και θέλω δημόσια να εκφράσω ένα μεγάλο ευχαριστώ στον Santiago Calatrava που μας ξελάσπωσε και πήραμε παράτα(ση ) που λένε για άλλα 20 χρόνια.

Στους δε Ελληνες αρχιτέκτονες, όσους ακόμα συμφωνούν με τις θέσεις μου θα ήθελα να πω:

Wake up, stand up

stand up for your rights

Wake up stand up,

Don't give up the fight

Αφού βρε μπαγάσηδες κάτι τέτοια (http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22634/35748/429293/0/Never+built-DEH+tower2-small.jpg) ήδη τα κάνατε... 35 χρόνια πρίν!!!

Αχχχχχχχχχχχ

Ένα ακόμα πολύ όμορφο και μεγαλοπρεπές κτήριο. Το κτήριο του Μετοχικού Ταμείου Στρατού:

http://www.meta-arch.gr/pages/contests/metohiko/01.jpg

http://www.meta-arch.gr/pages/contests/metohiko/02.jpg

http://www.meta-arch.gr/pages/contests/metohiko/03.jpg

http://www.meta-arch.gr/pages/contests/set.htm

Η Αλήθεια είναι ότι δεν έχουμε ξαναδεί αυτές τις μακέτες. Παρουσιάζουν την οροφη του κτιρίου, όποως και την τελική μορφή της σκεπής του κτιρίου για πρώτη φορά. Πολυ ενδιαφέρον.

Ένα ακόμα πολύ όμορφο και μεγαλοπρεπές κτήριο. Το κτήριο του Μετοχικού Ταμείου Στρατού:

http://www.meta-arch.gr/pages/contests/metohiko/01.jpg

http://www.meta-arch.gr/pages/contests/metohiko/02.jpg

http://www.meta-arch.gr/pages/contests/metohiko/03.jpg

http://www.meta-arch.gr/pages/contests/set.htm
:eek:
VERY beautiful. Reminds me of Attica department store.

Giorgo, this IS the building that contains the Attica Department store. As I wrote above, I like this rendering because it depicts the likely shape of the atrium roof, never seen before. BTW, there are many parts of the building still under construction, including the superb "Pallas" Cinema theatre with an immensely built screen that can be easily turned to a theatrical stage and 1500 extra luxurious and spacious seats, foyers, etc, probably the biggest cinema in the Maditerranean, much classier than any cineplex theatre, with chandeleirs and an unbelievable "art deco" design.

We beed to come back to this building...

If building a skyscraper in Athens (greater area) we will make history, never forget that this building IS History for our city.

My apologize for the mis-understanding.
So is this atrium still going to be built?
It belnds in beauftifully with the 'historical' facade.

Errr, I wouldn't say so. This rendering was made to an architecture firm and a good one I might say) called "Meta-architecture" based in Athens, but it appears in the thematic unit "architecture contests" (Αρχιτεκτονικοί διαγωνισμοί"), which means that it's probably their entry to this competition and this drawing will never be realised, since, as we all know, the architecture office of Stelios Agiostratitis won the competition.

Had this design been realised, the firm would apply its principle of "placticity" and "flexibility" in changing forms. I like it very much, probably more compared to the disciplined modern-style approach followed by Agiostratitis who probably didn't want to deviate from the original architecture concept prevalent during the 30's (art deco) and 40's (modernism) applied to the southern and the northern sides of the building respectively. True, the building occupies a whole city block, was the biggest in the Balcans at the time of completion and instantly became home to many city icons like the cinema-theatre "Pallas", the "Zonar's" coffee -restaurant facing Panepistimiou street, and a cabaret which later became a theatre ("Aliki") owned by the great, the legendary actress Aliki Vouyouklaki.

We are talking a piece of history here, that's why the building's renovation investors (have to be the Piraeus Bank Real Estate Department) chose the disciplined proposal of Agiostratitis instead of a more "liberal" one.

gm, let me show you a picture I found VERY interesting:
http://image50.webshots.com/50/5/14/11/526751411yncRll_ph.jpg

There are many buildings which pop out here. Which is the one straight ahead...it looks atleast 60m tall.

http://image50.webshots.com/50/5/14/11/526751411yncRll_ph.jpg

Unfortunately, webshots does not allow hotlinking so simply click to the address above.

This is the ugly part of the city as seen from the Acropolis rock, looking to the west.

From left to right the buildings sticking out in the picture are the Tower in Kato Patissia (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=163867), a highrise built in the early 1960's, the Greek Telekom building in tritis Septemvriou street (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=167139) (3rd of September) which houses now some of the Greek Telecom services and reputedly is the location from where the first black and white TV broadcasts took place ca 1966, a valiant attempt of a highrise which at 12floors stands above the 6-storey residentials in Tritis Septemvriou - Amerikis square, and finally, to the right there is another highrise the Agias Lavras street tower (http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=168458), whichn is towards the area known as "Terma Patission", completed in the mid-1970s.

With the exception of the Greel Telecom (OTE) building, the other two constitute yet another bunch of the so-called "lost residentials". Passers-by do not certainly understand the significance of these buildings trying to built by their architects as primal elemntary attempts to transcend and edify the spirits of the residents of this city...

Today their value is merely historical as well as iconic, with their limited heights sticking out of the concrete sea, simply indicative of what could have been... However, the urban density here is so thick that I like it that not many of them were built since, given the autistic drive of the civil engineers at the time to fill and "cementise" every spare square centimetre, had these heights been adopted, then we would be talking about a nighmarish highrise jungle with all the subsequent evils we saw in other cities where these models have been adopted, as far as the collapse of the social fabric is concerned...

They tend to takl about "human scale" Well this aint the truth but at least, the sky is still visible in these neighbourhoods and life goes on very well at street level...

My picture from exactly the same spot, a by-product of my visit to the Acropolis in 1004 which lead to the Athens Acropolis Definitive Thread (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=156051)

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/429160

I mean, the funny thing is that from the other side of the Acropolis, the view is something like that:


http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22632/24705/297111/0/Athens+-+From+Acropolis+-+Marble+Stadium+and+Olumpic+Zeus+Temple


Similar density, yet totally different visual impression. Same city, different worlds...

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/279/133596227rbqvchph3it.jpg
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/3156/274725257feuemzph8zx.jpg
Plenty of eye candy for you guys in this one.
:cheers:

Two nice pics that I found... Dedicated to gmhttp://www.skyscrapercity.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

http://i6.tinypic.com/11uc8ax.jpg

http://i6.tinypic.com/11uc8r7.jpg

...which reminds me that I need to take some new pics to update the emporis collection of the Athens Tower pictures. Thanks guys... :)

http://image50.webshots.com/50/5/14/11/526751411yncRll_ph.jpg

Unfortunately, webshots does not allow hotlinking so simply click to the address above.

This is the ugly part of the city as seen from the Acropolis rock, looking to the west.

From left to right the buildings sticking out in the picture are the Tower in Kato Patissia (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=163867), a highrise built in the early 1960's, the Greek Telekom building in tritis Septemvriou street (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=167139) (3rd of September) which houses now some of the Greek Telecom services and reputedly is the location from where the first black and white TV broadcasts took place ca 1966, a valiant attempt of a highrise which at 12floors stands above the 6-storey residentials in Tritis Septemvriou - Amerikis square, and finally, to the right there is another highrise the Agias Lavras street tower (http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=168458), whichn is towards the area known as "Terma Patission", completed in the mid-1970s.

With the exception of the Greel Telecom (OTE) building, the other two constitute yet another bunch of the so-called "lost residentials". Passers-by do not certainly understand the significance of these buildings trying to built by their architects as primal elemntary attempts to transcend and edify the spirits of the residents of this city...

Today their value is merely historical as well as iconic, with their limited heights sticking out of the concrete sea, simply indicative of what could have been... However, the urban density here is so thick that I like it that not many of them were built since, given the autistic drive of the civil engineers at the time to fill and "cementise" every spare square centimetre, had these heights been adopted, then we would be talking about a nighmarish highrise jungle with all the subsequent evils we saw in other cities where these models have been adopted, as far as the collapse of the social fabric is concerned...

They tend to takl about "human scale" Well this aint the truth but at least, the sky is still visible in these neighbourhoods and life goes on very well at street level...

My picture from exactly the same spot, a by-product of my visit to the Acropolis in 1004 which lead to the Athens Acropolis Definitive Thread (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=156051)

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/429160

I mean, the funny thing is that from the other side of the Acropolis, the view is something like that:


http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22632/24705/297111/0/Athens+-+From+Acropolis+-+Marble+Stadium+and+Olumpic+Zeus+Temple


Similar density, yet totally different visual impression. Same city, different worlds...
:okay: I'd like to see such photos more...

what is this project?
http://www.marneris.gr/images/projects/metalika/big/005.jpg

I noticed that modern Greek architecture has its own style. Cubic and Geometric forms come together although they are so differet then eachother.

What you mean Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stuff? Our cities have plenty, Kuv. I arrived in Istanbul by bus in 2002. So I saw... But I loved this city more. Istanbul is a people city like Athens. It has everything. Try Singapore for a change where with their laws they may fine you for crossing a street outside Zebra crossings. I mean, don't they charge people in there for breathing and exhaling CO2? :lol:

Our Plaka and your Istiklal (peran) street are unique. End of story.
As far as the above picture is concerned, this, it is not a project, it is a completee building and was in fact used in the Athens Olympics. The 52000 sq metre Main Press Centre was next to the 100000 square metre International Broadcasting Cente. Both were used to accomodate and foster the needs of the thousands of journalists covering the 2004 Olympics.

In the following panoramic picture that I composed with three of my pictures you can see from the right to the left, the MPC (from the front andge, the rendering is from the rear side of the building), the huge IBC and the Olympic stadium in the left of the pic, with the Spyros Louis Avenue taken from the junction of Kifissias Avenue with spyros Louis Avenue (I am risking my life to bring you the best dammit... :D)

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture/OAKAandMedia-PressInstallationsPano.jpg

Also

The MPC from the IBC parking lot pic posted by Leafs Fanatic in the MAGNIFICENT ATHENS - Rare Pics! (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=339120&page=2) thread

http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/772/99215133273363c5dao9ln.jpg

look, I meant such buildings... A geometric piece is put next to the other one but they are not related, but architect establishes this connection... It's somehow like syntethic Cubism more than Bauhaus or real constructuvism. It pretends constructive, but it is absolutelly synthetic cubic. Same goes for Athens Int. Airport and other Olympic complexes out of OAKA.

However, the shapes as you see are not clear. I would call this as a post-industrial style, merely because of the use of external elements either for decorative purposes, or for purely functional, i.e various pipes, etc.

This is accentuated by the fact that these buildings are amongst the first in Greece to have been built with pre-constructed elements, and their frame is made of steel and not with reinforced concrete. Funny thing, not many Greeks have been in them since they were used for the Olympics (thus access was strictly limited), and not many of us realise that with both the MPC and the IBC we will be found with some 150,000 square metres of multi-use space fully accessible to the wider pubic since their multi-purpose use will not render the visit almost impossible as the case is with other complexes that are limited for office use, especially under the fear of terrorism that makes their security extremely jumpy in cases.

EDIT: And here's some eye candy that best depicts what I try to fight for here:

Picture of Toronto - Canada - Again. I don't hotlink it, just open it to see this in an isolated browzer window. It is worth a look... http://static.flickr.com/69/155313786_9f64c09cb9_o.jpg.

look, I meant such buildings... A geometric piece is put next to the other one but they are not related, but architect establishes this connection... It's somehow like syntethic Cubism more than Bauhaus or real constructuvism. It pretends constructive, but it is absolutelly synthetic cubic. Same goes for Athens Int. Airport and other Olympic complexes out of OAKA.

To say the truth I believe it's because architects in Greece are afraid of progressive/contemporary and visionary architecture for 3 reasons:

- funding
- lack of vision.
- construction laws

+ maybe the fact that civil engineering(tech) and architecture(art) tend to be, in my humble opinion, synonymous in Greece. (for the reasons mentioned above)

However, the shapes as you see are not clear. I would call this as a post-industrial style, merely because of the use of external elements either for decorative purposes, or for purely functional, i.e various pipes, etc.


Just like Pompidou center in Paris ;)

This is accentuated by the fact that these buildings are amongst the first in Greece to have been built with pre-constructed elements, and their frame is made of steel and not with reinforced concrete. Funny thing, not many Greeks have been in them since they were used for the Olympics (thus access was strictly limited), and not many of us realise that with both the MPC and the IBC we will be found with some 150,000 square metres of multi-use space fully accessible to the wider pubic since their multi-purpose use will not render the visit almost impossible as the case is with other complexes that are limited for office use, especially under the fear of terrorism that makes their security extremely jumpy in cases.

EDIT: And here's some eye candy that best depicts what I try to fight for here:

Picture of Toronto - Canada - Again. I don't hotlink it, just open it to see this in an isolated browzer window. It is worth a look... http://static.flickr.com/69/155313786_9f64c09cb9_o.jpg.

You cannot be a saint in hell or as we say in Greek "και να θες ν' αγιάσεις, δεν σ' αφήνουν οι διαβόλοι".

New article in Greek titled "Athens on the footspeps of Los Angeles (http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=A&f=18553&m=N22&aa=1)" by Christos Manolas (click on link) published in the newspaper "TA NEA" on 3/6/2006 (fresh out of the oven :D). For the visitors here, the last paragraph reads:

Λύση, η επέκταση προς τα... πάνω

H περαιτέρω μεγέθυνση ή επέκταση της πόλης είναι θέμα που απασχολεί έντονα τους αρχιτέκτονες, τους πολεοδόμους, τους ειδικούς επιστήμονες. Ίσως αυτό που μπορεί να αποτελέσει τη λύση στην Αθήνα, όπως έγινε και σε άλλες πόλεις, είναι η επέκταση της πόλης προς τα.. πάνω. Σύμφωνα με έρευνα που επιμελήθηκε ο κ. Θωμάς Μαλούτας, καθηγητής Γεωγραφίας του Αστικού Χώρου και διευθυντής του Ινστιτούτου Αστικής και Αγροτικής Κοινωνιολογίας του Εθνικού Κέντρου Κοινωνικών Ερευνών (EKKE), η Αθήνα παρουσιάζει μεγάλη ποικιλία όσον αφορά τον αριθμό των ορόφων των κτιρίων. Το κέντρο της Αθήνας αλλά και περιοχές όπως η Κυψέλη, το Παγκράτι, ο Πειραιάς αλλά και το Παλαιό Φάληρο ή το Καλαμάκι διαθέτουν τα πιο ψηλά κτίρια με 7 ή 8 ορόφους - αλλά υπάρχει δυνατότητα περαιτέρω... επέκτασης προς τα πάνω. Στη Βιέννη, τη Βασιλεία, τη Ζυρίχη, την Κοπεγχάγη υπάρχουν κτίρια με 20 ή και 30 ορόφους. Στις πόλεις αυτές, σύμφωνα με στοιχεία της Πανευρωπαϊκής Αρχιτεκτονικής Εταιρείας, για κάθε αύξηση πληθυσμού κατά 35.000 άτομα «ανέβαιναν» κατά έναν όροφο τα κτίρια.

Translation:

Upward expansion as a (last) resort

"The continuous growth and expansion of the city is a matter of great importance for architects, urban planners and specialist scientists. What may constitute a solution for Athens, as it happened in other cities, is the... upward expansion.

According to a research conducted by Mr Thomas Maloutas, professor of urban geography and director of the Institute of Urban and Rural Sociology of the National Centre of Social Research (Εθνικού Κέντρου Κοινωνικών Ερευνών -EKKE -wow!!!- :eek: ), "Athens presents a high variety as far as the number of floors of its buildings are concerned. The centre of Athens, as well as areas like Kypseli, Pagrati, Piraeus but also Phalero or Kalamaki contain the tallest buildings with 7 or 8 floors - but there is the capacity of further expansion... upwards.

In Vienna, Basel, Zurich and Kopenhagen (*) there are buildings with 20 and/ or 30 floors. In these cities, according to data by the Pan-European Architecture Association, for every increase of their population by 35,000 inhabuitants, buildings were experiencing an increase by 1 floor (as far as the city's top heights are concerned).

Now, if I am to take the above in their literal meaning and if I take into account that Zurich has to be 1.5 million inhabitants approx (sorry if I am wrong) and has 20+ storey buildings, then Athens with 4.7million should have 200-storey towers!!! Not likely. I can settle with this number in metres for the time being!!!

But anyway, thanks professor!!! :bow: :hug:

:horse: :cucumber: :banana: :carrot: :cucumber: :banana: :carrot: :horse:

(*) Imagine that the wise professor does not even mention "hardcore" cases like Paris, London, Warsaw or Istanbul!!!

This one courtesy of Giorgos, our skyscraper fan from the Omogenia in Melbourne Australia:

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/3214/atticaroadandthemallathenscopy.jpg

hell, who can say no to this! Lets make a campain and spread the word! Show this to every Athenian and see how fast the public opinion will change...

Giorgo, can you make a similar 3D for the Helliniko park?

First of all, let us welcome our friend pilaf here, yet another skyscrapers fan who likes the idea of a tall Athens.

For your information guys, giorgos put together therse designs using a landscaping program and not an architectural design one. The guy is shy so if you follow the link in his signature, you can see the slylines ht designed with this program, which, as he confessed to me, are not easy to make.

Plus, especially the above pic wshows us some interesting perspectives but, knowing that this photo points to the direction of Neon Heraklion, I would say ot is difficult to build towers of such height near an already densely populated suburb, the NIMBYs would go ballistic :horse::runaway:...

Anyway, it is good to have our friend pilaf with us, a devoted advocate of the idea of a tall Athens.

hell, who can say no to this! Lets make a campain and spread the word! Show this to every Athenian and see how fast the public opinion will change...

Giorgo, can you make a similar 3D for the Helliniko park?


Hm, I can think of some people who can say no :ohno:

"World Trade Center" Movie Trailer

Oliver stone's long awaited "World Trade Center" will hit the theatres in August 8th, while in Athens there may be a delay of a few weeks until probably the beginning of September.

No need to say more, just click here to watch the trailer.

http://www.cinemad.gr/content/view/389/

Yesterday I got a new free cellphone from my mobile telephony provider with elementary capability of taking pictures sized 640x480 max, each pic size close to 35kb. Nothing significant really.

However, in order to put the damn thing to the test I went to Messogeion Avenue and I took three pictures of a complex we've seen here before and which I combined into a panorama. Then, sharpening the result a bit, this is what I got:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/LGMessogeionBlocksEnlarged.jpg

Not perfect but when need dictates it, can be a valuable tool. Notice the "phantom" car in the middle of the pic. Normaly I take my time and take such pics in Sundays where there's not that much traffic presumably.

Keep in mind though that I don't like gadgets. My heroic HP 945, 5,1MP, 9x optical, 8x digital zoom camera is my favourite, not stupid cellphone ones, although I admit that the new 1.3 and 2.0 Mp pack a little punch for something extraordinary in need of capture.

My heroic HP 945, 5,1MP, 9x optical, 8x digital zoom camera is my favourite, not stuppid cellphone ones, although I admit that the new 1.3 and 2.0 Mp pack a little punch for something extraordinary in need of capture.

You are lucky, I have a Kodak CD40 4,0 MP that I got recently ( Actually it' a present ), but it's suitable for me. Maybe I'll buy another one in the near future, who knows...

But no mobiles for our job, for God's sake.

No, this particular HP 945 model is combining a good zoom capability with a Fuji lens for an affordable price at the time of purchase (2004) and is perfect for the purpose I want it. Probably, Hewlett Packard understood the mistake they made for making a hubrid model between a high-end and amateur model, probably it might have been a flop saleswise, however, with this combination of features, it seemed as it was made for me.

Also, keep in mind that the new high end mobiles are seen as the main cause to create a new breed of amateur journalists that will have them "on the spot" if, God forbid, a new event like 911 takes place...

BREAKING NEWS!!! - THIS IS NO DRILL

Καλά απόψε πως γλύτωσα το εγκεφαλικό δε λέγεται...

I put in in English so that everybody can read :)
AFTER 30 YEARS ATHENS MAY BE BACK WITH A BANG!!!

SEE IT AND BELIEVE IT!!! 200m and 150m

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20Visual%20Art/WestAthensTowersvision1medium.jpg


Today's "Kathimerini" Newspaper (Sunday Edition) has a full-page story about a pair of twin towers envisioned for the area of "Elaionas" (or "Olive Grove" in English), to the south-west outskirts of central Athens, some 6 km from the city. The towers (scanned from "Kathimerini" look as follows, and are projected for heights of 200 metres and 150 metres respectively. The design looks surprisingly "Kalatravian", at first sight, although according to their designing architect Mr Manolis Anastasakis (Website: http://www.anastasakis.gr ) "they are designed so as to represent olive tree leaves coming out of the groung, incorporating the dual convert of two olive tree leafs coming out of the ground.

The newspaper also has a long reference to the issue of building tall in Athens with all you may already know if you are reading my threads. Mr Anastasakis talks about a bioclimatic pair of skyscrapers in the middle of a park incorporating all the benefits of modern eco-construction techniques and being in proximity to the station of Elaionaw belonging to the bunch of the Athens Metro extensions expected to be operational as soon as the year 2008, serving the west of |Athens to Aigaleo and Chaidari municipalities.

More news and comments later, as this was intended to be a first blast as I am still trying to catch my breath. Still a vision but even as such, it has tremendous value as it signifies the first time that something like this is thrown on the table. The time is nigh!!!

The location is here, if you find Athens on any map, you will understand where more otr less this is.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Miscellaneous/WestAthensTowersLocation2.jpg

And a little closer:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Miscellaneous/WestAthensTowersLocation1.jpg

This is a run-down area, occupied by small factories and other deserted establishments, plus is the base for the transport companies that will be transferred elsewhere. In summary, it will be the perfect place for such a re-urbanisation since it is close to the National road going to Thessaloniki, and is linked by highway to the new Athens airport. Also, in 2008 we will have the new metro station, completed which is part of the extensions to the west of Athens. This area is also directly accessible from Piraeus and... well, it is perfect. But I must admit that the height of the project stunned me (if it is built). At 200m tops it is going to be in the first five in the Balcans if we onsider that at the time of its completion Istanbul will already have ready the Diamond and the Dubai Towers and hopefully the Sabanci Centre III.

I keep a "reserved optimism" about this project. I have seen so much going on in Athens for the last 10 years that I believe this is realisible. After all, nobody believed that the Olympiv stadium would be completed on time and it was... This beauty can be ready by 2010 if they start next year...

Point is, everything looks fine on paper. The funny thing is that there may be no NIMBYs there. On the contrary, the poor west Athens neighbourhoods would probably like to see such a development there. I mean, new shopping centres, new football stadium, new towers, that should be enough...

Also, I don't believe that this story was ppublished just like that. They have plans for this area and if they start, you know it, I know it, and certainly they know it that there won't be just one scraper built there or elsewhere :D:D:D... :)

More news and commentary to follow later...


Welcome back Athens!!!!

:banana: :cucumber: :carrot: :banana: :cucumber: :carrot: :banana: :cucumber: :carrot: :banana: :cucumber: :carrot:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20Visual%20Art/WestAthensTowersvision1small.jpg

:banana: :cucumber: :carrot: :banana: :cucumber: :carrot: :banana: :cucumber: :carrot: :banana: :cucumber: :carrot:


ALL OUT FOR A TALL ATHENS!!!!!

Τίποτα, τίποτα δε μας σταματα, ουρανοξύστες θα χτίσουμε με τον τσαμπουκά

ΑΕΙΝ ΥΨΙΠΕΤΕΙΝ (always look higher!!!)

http://www.anastasakis.gr/images/project/project-09/photo_project-09-3.gif
http://www.anastasakis.gr/images/project/project-09/photo_project-09-4.gif
http://www.anastasakis.gr/images/project/project-09/photo_project-09-5.gif
from the site

Teleio! Makari na ginei estw kai sta mouloxta opws to "The Mall"

Φίλε μου, συγνώμη αλλά αυτό το πράγμα ΔΕΝ κρύβεται... Αν θα γίνει θα γίνει "με τη βούλα" και εν χορδαίς και οργάνοις, και με τη συμφωνία απάντων. Ουτε κρυφτούλι με το ΣτΕ, ούτε τίποτα. Αν και, ενώ μιλάμε για αντιδράσεις ξεχνάμε το ότι δεν νομίζω να υπάρχουν πολλοί περίοικοι στην περιοχή και ότι και να υπάρχουν, είχα ακούσει ότι δεν αντέδρασαν όπως πχ οι κάτοικοι του Γουδή και του Παπάγου στην κατασκευή του γηπέδου του ΠΑΟ όπου πήγαν να το κάνουν μέσα σε δασική περιοχή ας πούμε (Κατεχάκη ). Εδώ που λέει ο λόγος, ότι και να γίνει, θα είναι καλύτερο από αυτο που υπάρχει, αρκεί βέβαια, να προβλεφθεί χώρος για πράσινο. Είναι και το γήπεδο του ΠΑΟ θα αναπλάσει όλη την περιοχή τελικά.

Αυτό που έιναι κατάρα για τη μια περιοχή, μπορεί να έιναι ευλογία για την άλλη. Αρκεί να γίνει σωστά.

Vasika oli i perioxi tou Elaiwna einai toso tritokosmiki pou drepomai kathe fora pou pernaw, kai pernaw syxna logw douleias. Olo aftaireta ergostia-ektromata kai afthairetes xwmateres me skoupidia einai. Oi "dromoi" einai gia gelia kai ta perissotera "spitia" episis afthaireta. Olo to meros thelei gremisa kai xanaftiaksimo. Twra an oi gyrw katoikoi, pou prepei na einai polloi ligoi, enoxlithoun kai adidrasoun se ena tetoio ktirio, e tote einai axioi tis moiras tous. Alla einai mallon apithano, oi monoi pou borei na kanoun ti ladia einai oi polles "isxyres" epixeiriseis (Delta, Unilever, Star Channel klp) pou vriskontai ekei gyrw, kai isws i "tritokosmikotita" tis perioxis tous volevei.
Kata ta alla makari na ginei to thavma epitelous!!!

There are many similarities between Los Angeles and Athens! You are so right! Like some of the others have already said, the fact that they both have similar topographies...alas that is why they both have/have had severe air pollution problems which is even worse when we get into the inland valleys. The fact that they both have a Mediterranean climate which is characterized with long, hot and very dry summers and similar flora, Athens and Los Angeles have more than their fair share of similiarities. California in general with the exception of a few parts of the state[from Marin County on the coast and the inland Sacramento/San Joquoin Valleys and south with the exception of the inland high and low deserts ...California is almost an exact carbon copy of Greece .....[with the exception that Greece has warmer swimming water]. It is too bad though, that they haven't been promoted as sister cities! Both cities are outdoor cities ...where citizens can enjoy themselves outdoors for the entire year. The only other thing that comes to mind now is the fact that both cities suffer from earthquakes which has made building codes quite difficult [up until just a while ago , the City Hall was the city's tallest. Then the Union Bank went up, Bonaventure and all the buildings along the Wilshire [Mile] Corridor. Well, most of the obstacles have been lifted due to superior building methods in the developed world...the only thing that I believe is correct in maintaining here in Athens is the fact that we do have "THE Parthenon" and I believe that we should maintain and preserve its view. I mean for God's sake, if the people in Portland, Oregon are worried about their view...of Mt. Hood which is a 10,000 ft. mountain....shouldn't we be worried about losing the sight of the Parthenon on a hill that is some 300 ft?
All my best to all!

The first similarity I think of is the car dependance of both cities :sleepy:

I wouldn't say that California is a carbon copy of Greece since except for the Mediterranean climate areas of Greece there are other areas of Greece with Alpine climate (Central Greece, Epirus, Thessaly and Western Macedonia) and Central European Temperate (Central and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace). The first reminding me more Montana, Washington or Oregon and the second the Dakotas or Nebraska.

Anyway the Mediterranean parts look very alike the Golden State specially the islands.

They do indeed look like these states that you stated..the fundamental difference also being the topography...yes they are mountainous..yes there are lakes,rivers and the like that you find in these parts of Greece...though, you'll find that the trees for example are much different. The tallest trees in the world are to be found in Northern California ..looking on the map north of San Fransisco up towards Eureka on the coast and Yreka in the center [just after the Oregon border]....and up north towards Washington's Olympic Forest. Here we have a drastic change in vegetation. While the area looks somewhat alike, they are drastically different. As far as going inland, to Montana and the like, we might have the odd streak of what might appear to be a Montana winter day/week ...our record lows in Thessaly, Thrace etc., are the average daily highs for some of these places. It's really not the same. I'm not trying to go against what u r saying, though I have lived in all these places that I have mentioned and the only thing that compared with Greece was the state of California. California has many climates within the state[which compare in my eyes with that of Greece]. And of course micro climates within a region. You can be in Los Angeles on a single day and you can have people on the coast with a temperature of 70-80/21-27c, the city center 90/32 and the inland valleys over 100/38. Some of LA's suburbs hardly ever get above 78/26c while others never get below 100 for months in a row. And then there are places in California that average 45-61/7-16c all year and have over 300 cloudy days a year. Rain here is well over 65 inches of rain...and gets up as high as 300 inches of rain as we drive north. Athens gets 18-22" The other extreme is the deserts of the central and southern part of the state which average less than 3" a year. We don't have these extremes in this country, but the areas I mentioned in my last message do. Including the cold waves, snow, rain and temperature extremes that we experience in the central and northern part of the country. Athens' temperatures and records hold similar value to those of LA's though the latter has a milder winter on average than does Athens whereas on the other hand they both have quite hot summers. Your best bet? Live in coastal LA anywhere and you'll have cool to warm weather all year. Though it can get chilly in July in LA's Santa Monica....especially in June & July with the early morning/late nite coastal fog rolling in. I don't know where to stop here and I've forgotten what the heck my point was ...but if I haven't made my point I trust it will be continued.

Speaking about Elaionas though, the area reminds me much of South-central Los Angeles, or better, the area towards the river which looks like our Kifissos river (now turned into an 8 to 10-lane highway.

More in a few days, this thread needs updating... :)

Ok, let's get it rolling again...

Exclusive picture of Maroussi skyline from the 5th floor of a building in Chalandri. Picture taken by me in 1996 :)

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/Maroussiskyline1996-small800x.jpg

Reminds me of an old song by a British band called Edgar Broughton Band, titled "Evening over Rooftops"... :)

Speaking about Elaionas though, the area reminds me much of South-central Los Angeles, or better, the area towards the river which looks like our Kifissos river (now turned into an 8 to 10-lane highway.

More in a few days, this thread needs updating... :)



καλά αυτό πάντα το αναρωτιόμουν....γιατί το κάναν στο κηφισό? έχουμε τόσα ποταμια στη πολύ και τα καλύπτουμε με άσφαλτο...λίγο πιο πέρα δε μπορούσαν να πάνε?

είναι να τρελαθείς τελικά με της πόλeις χτισμένες πάνω σε αρχεία και κάτι τέτοιες "εμπνεύσεις"...και τότε υπήρχε χώρος πιστεύω για να πας λίγο πιο πέρα.

Athens is so thirsty for a skyline in the north!

THE NEW ATHENS TOWER PROJECT CALLED "Elaionas" (or "Olive Grove") will soon be under construction. The first tower will be 200m high and the second tower will be 150m high

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5892/westathenstowersvision1mediumcf9.jpg

( West Athens Towers – WAT) will constitute a powerful tool and will lend a new dynamic to the region. They will enrich the skyline of Athens with a shape that conveys the meaning of the site and will become a dynamic symbol that will consolidate its position as the largest metropolis in the Mediterranean .

The fact that the towers will rise out of the ground as olive leaves and the natural landscape of the olive grove of Athens will be restored constitute links with the physical and cultural history of the site. With the aim of revealing the natural topography, the restored olive grove is interwoven with the three towers at the base level and creates a public park area. The public nature of the entrances highlights the accommodation of public services on the lower floors. The multifunctional nature of the project is made visible by the housing of multipurpose areas such as shops, offices, a hotel and residential units. This is a complex that intermingles uses, building masses, the city with nature, past with present, public with private. This is a Multiskyscraper

http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_civ_1256496_18/06/2006_187580

Architect mulls skyscrapers for Athens:

The idea has traditionally met with ideological resistance from town planners and designers, who say such tall towers insult the Acropolis

From the top of Lycabettus, Athens is a dense white mass of not-too-tall buildings.

The few exceptions include the Athens Tower (the highest building at 103 meters), the Hilton and President hotels, the Apollo Tower and, further north, the 20-story Atrina, the first notable structure in what was to become the empire of developer Babis Vovos.

The Acropolis has always inhibited the construction of very tall buildings. Most Athenian “skyscrapers” were built during the 1967-74 dictatorship.

In less troubled times, the erection of tall buildings has always led to protests. When the Hilton was being built, it was criticized as an insult to the Acropolis, the symbol of the city.

Architect Manolis Anastassakis is challenging the skyscraper taboo. He submitted a design for two towers (150 and 200 meters high) in Elaionas in western Athens to an international architectural competition.

“If you look at what is happening in European cities, you’ll see that there is renewed interest in tall buildings, because today they can be an ecologically appropriate solution and at the same time can free up or conserve urban space,” he said.

In Greece especially, skyscrapers have often been associated with an outdated style of architecture, but this is changing.

“Newer skyscrapers are built with absolutely environmentally friendly specifications and consume less energy than conventional apartment buildings,” he said.

The design for the two towers in Elaionas is aimed at revitalizing that part of the city.

“It would revive the city skyline with a form that would highlight the importance of the site and would be a dynamic symbol for metropolitan Athens,” he said.

For Anastassakis, the problem is neither economic nor institutional but ideological.

Lack of daring

“In Greece we tend to do everything in moderation,” he said.

“That has helped us in some ways but, you know, there is often a fine line between moderation and mediocrity. We are generally hesitant and lacking in daring; as a society we are very suspicious of anything that stands out, that is outside the norm.”

Anastassakis’s design focuses on the kind of urban environment that a skyscraper can bring out, as well as the structure’s relationship with the ground on which it stands. “This is an issue that extends to the natural and cultural history of the site,” he said. “That is, the way a large-scale project translates the particular characteristics of a place and proposes meaningful connections as well as new relationships between the place’s history and the needs and viewpoints of today.” His towers rise from the ground like olive leaves, a clear reference to the ancient site of Elaionas (“olive grove” in Greek), west of Omonia Square.

“We are heading toward the creation of an important open public space which is a functional part of the design,” he said. “We treat the tall elements of the structure as natural extensions of the familiar ground. So the design is required to create a dense urban space in direct contact with the city’s natural substrata, the soil.”

As for the design concept itself, Anastassakis explained that the skyscraper was treated as “a combination of individual elements and not as a design for a large monolithic building unit.”

“The multiplicity of elements liberates possibilities both regarding the creation of an open public space and their combination with the natural environment,” he added. “We call this concept of tall buildings ‘multiscrapers’ because of the variety of entities and functions and the multiplicity of possibilities it provides.”

Two decades ago in an article in Kathimerini, architect Zissis Kotionis, an associate professor at Thessaly University’s Architecture Department, raised the idea of enlarging Athens by means of tall towers in the east and west of Attica.

“We suggested a series of towers at Megara and along the seafront from Hellenikon to Lavrion within the framework of a more general rezoning in view of the construction of the Attiki Odos,” recalled Kotionis.

He agrees that a refusal to enter into a debate on skyscrapers in Athens is indicative of prejudice and conservatism.

“The idea of a tall structure in the city should be dealt with in a strategic way,” he said, fearing that otherwise there was the risk of provincialism.

“People should consider that Athens can absorb the idea of tall buildings,” he added. “We should look for the why and how, and not just move ahead unconditionally. Personally, I am skeptical about the center, but we could see a new Athens as an urban entity reaching the boundaries of Attica.”

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=71150

What do you mean "Construction will start soon"? I thought this was just a proposal (see also the previous page of the thread and here ------------> http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=363673 )

Unless you know something that we don't, in which case I would be glad to know more...

Sorry, that part is indeed misleading, I simply copy and pasted the whole thing from another forum... I didn't know there had already been a topic about it...

No, it's OK :) For a moment I thought that you knew something more than I do (at least I was hoping you would).

It's OK, thank you for your interest and contribution. After all, we all want to see a Taller Athens emerging, some time in the near future, right? :):):):)

Well hang on maybe it is something that we dont know?
How do you know its not really going to begin construction? Can we have a source link?

Ok, let's get it rolling again...

Exclusive picture of Maroussi skyline from the 5th floor of a building in Chalandri. Picture taken by me in 1996 :)


hey!! this looks almost exactly like the view from the house of my parents (5th floor too!)

No, this is from a corporate office block, at the junction of Konstantinou Palaiologou and Kiffisias Avenue. Maybe your parents' house is near by as there are of course many residential blocks there... :)

actually my parent's house is in Agia Varvara, close to the Vodafone Headquarters. it is quite close...

It is on the same straight line, that's why this looked familiar, although I used a zoom lens... But that was long ago...

Picture I found showing some highrises:

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=220839271&size=l

Now THAT is a very good panoramic view of Athens Skycrapers.

Yet another nice view of the skyline of the area of Ampelokipi depicted. All thanks to the hilly terrain of Athens.

Update: The skyline of Aghia Varvara - Neon Psychikon with a very large magnification factor (50x) taken from the mall Athens ;).

For your eyes only, to all of you highrise freaks still longing for a new, taller Athens. Nothing to update since those buildings have been there for ages, but at least they are still standing.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/NeoPsychiko-AghiaVarvaraskyline-sma.jpg

The tall one to the left is the well known Dhifros Apartment Complex (http://www.emporis.com/en/il/pc/?id=148855&aid=8) built from Alexandros Tombazis according to the japanese "metabolist" style, while the green building to the right (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=166376) (now an office building accomodating also a big branch of the national bank of Greece) was built to accomodate the main offices of EDOK-ETER, a very large Greek construction company that was very active in Greece and the Arab world and yes, they were building highrises in Tehran too.

Coming next: Piraeus

Piraeus is the port of Athens, practically constituting part of the 4.5m inhabitants conurbation also known as "Athens greater area".

This port has been the target of some tall projects out of which the tallest one started construction in the early 1970's but due to an alleged engineering mistake it never reached completion. The Piraeus Tower (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=130986) as it is known today, was meant to be the Piraeus Trade Centre operated by the Piraeus Port Authority in a similar manner with the late World Trade Center towers in NY while they belonged to the New York Port Authority.

The last serious development to the 24-storey frame came in the early 1980's where it was cladded with glass and barble but without any other development on its lifeless frame. During the last years, there is a huge toy store, a school and an electronics retail chain operating in the first two floors. Also, a few years ago, some rumours were heard that the J&P Avax Greek construction company were to undertake completion and operations under a lease agreement with the Municipality of Piraeus. Still, nothing was ever heard since then except some computer renderings that you can see in this page here (http://www.emporis.com/en/il/pc/?id=130986&aid=8) (click).

The pictures that follow simply depict probably the tallest building of the eastern mediterranean at the time it was topped out. Although incomplete it allows us to dream of yet another "what if" scenario, and to visualise an alternative image of the most central part of the port of Piraeus had this building been completed and the surroundings, especially its backyard, were otherwise taken care of...

1. As seen from the port, street level view

In the first picture, the church is the historic Holy Trinity Church, which was bombed during the Second World War, killing many people in it. It took years to rebuild it after the war. One of the best orthodox churches, standing next to the beast. The neoclassical building was the Mariner's Pension Fund (Ναυτικό Απομαχικό Ταμείο - ΝΑΤ ) building if I remember correctly.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/Piraeus-TowerandTrinityChurch-small.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/Piraeus-Tower5-small.jpg


2. From inner city streets, side view

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/Piraeus-Tower2-small.jpg


3. Views from a park that nobody ever took notice, yet this is an image of Piraeus out of the ordinary. What can I do? It takes eyes to see what others don't see...

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/Piraeus-Tower6-small.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/Piraeus-Tower7-small.jpg


4. Rear side view. Yes, this is Piraeus... Right next to the public market

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/Piraeus-Tower3-small.jpg


5. View from the side of the base facint the seaside. Even now, the international style present in the (intended) architecture of the building looks impressive...

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/Piraeus-Tower4-small.jpg

I really do not know what your opinion is about this tower. Would you like it demolished? Would you like to see a small park there? Well, my view would be to complete it. If this is impossible, I would have it demonlished and in its place I would like a 40-storey tower with a pointy top, overlooking the port and pointing out its significance as a major seaport hub in the Mediterranean, which it is BTW.

Who will dare?

Ah....Grigori my friend since I was a child each time I passed by that area I couldn't resist not looking at it.....that didn't change through the time flow and it's still today that each time I pass by I still dedicate a few seconds (if not even a minute of my time) to it. I could not resist having it demolished.

No, definitely it should be completed and according to those renders it would look great, I think that with the framing it would be also raised by a meter or two.

If they did it with the one in Syngrou (though shorter) they can make it with this one, it would contribute substantially to the beautification of this area of Athens.

One of the finest towers In the balkans IMO...I wish it was complete.

I remember that as a young kid i was fascinated by this skycraper ... You see, our old apartement in Kallithea had a view of this building from its rear balcony and i was impressed that i could see a tower so clearly from so far away... I believe that this is the reason why i like skycrapers.

:yes::yes::yes::yes::yes::yes:

OK, the discussion is already underway in the relevant forum where the Thessalonicean forumers are thrilled with excitement but due to the gravity of the event, it surely needs to be mentioned here in this thread.

Three, yes three 165m towers were porposed for Thessaloniki and made the local news. (Sardonic smile)

Up to now, the only tall buildings and structures of Thessaloniki that I know of are:
(PIcs by our Thessalonicean Forumers)

-The Greek Telecom miniscule TV tower at some 90m height, known because of its location at the entrance of the International Fair of Thessaloniki, some 40 years old (and one of the most pioneering desings in Greece EVER)

http://www.saloniki.org/foto/foto/ekthesi/original/ekthesi_02.jpg

-A small number of 14-storey towers (3-4) to the west side of the city, built during the years of military Junda (comme toujours). Photos have already been posted aroubd but cannot find them right now...

-The over 100m-tall Silo of the Titan Cement company (impressive - I have seen it when I was returning from Istanbul by coach in 2002). I played with the contrast of the pic a bit to make the image of the huge silo more visible, sorry guys!!!

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/ThessalonikiwestentranceandTITANwar.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/tkostya/titan.jpg

-The "University Tower", a new building inside the university I am not sure which school or faculty it serves though

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Other%20Cities%20and%20Regions/Thessaloniki-UniversityTower.jpg

some 10 storeys and 45 metres at most...

So, it is with the utmost satisfaction, like in the case of Mr Anastasakis and his West Athens Towers, we also had a proposal for three 165m-tall towers to be built in the area of "Lahanokipoi" To the west of the city.

You can read the details here:
http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=9796279#post9796279

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/3636/photo2882006page42jp5.jpg

Well...

I know that this is just a proposal, a case study in a year-end paper of two students and simply endorsed by their tutors

I know that chances are that this particular jewels may not be built...

However...

The fact that only in two months we have two proposals where for 20+ years NOTHING was heard about tall buildings in Greece, is, in my humple opinion, VERY encouraging.

I have many times said that regardless of what the old-fashioned ones think, thw tide of Karma will find a way to make its course through history...

I hear the winds of Karma blowing in my ear whispering...


"Now is the time, now is the time, now is the time"

Mr Anastasakis (West Athens Towers), the Thessaloniki university team, me, the Thessalonicean and other Greek forumers speaking here about transformation instead of stagnation, all of us will share in a few years the joy of the first highrises in Athens and Thessaloniki. I can see that the plans are grandiose: three 165m-tall for Thessaloniki and three 100, 150 and 200m respectively for Athens at a moment that the height limit for buildings is how much for Athens, 27 metres?

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

OK, it took some time but this is way too low (not to say ridiculously low)


and the times they are a changing (Bob Dylan)

How can we lobby to bring this day a bit closer that it will eventually happen?

Strange thoughts cross my mind...



(Στο κάτω-κάτω αν δεν κάνεις και αυτο που αγαπάς η ζωή δεν έχει νόημα, έχει;
..

Also Available in the Hellenic Architecture Forum:
click here ------> http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=9854070#post9854070

Something strange happens in Greece during the last 6months as far as highrise construction is concerned.

While in the last 30 or so years Athens and Piraeus as well as Thessaloniki, even whispering the word "skyscraper" would invoke medieval style punishment from various citizen interest groups and public bodies, it seems that things are changing, and for a mildly superstitious person like me, I told you that I start to reading signs of change in the air, as far as construction of tall buildings in Greece is concerned.

First we had the twin "West Athens Towers (http://skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=8917244&postcount=357)" by Manolis Anastasakis proposed for the run-down area of Elaionas, close to the site of construction of the new stadium for Panathinaikos FC. Very good design although it was just a proposal for a competition. However, it was the first crack in the ice.

Second came the proposal for the three towers of the Thessaloniki Business Centre (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=388631) which further enforced the idea that "something's cooking" as far as the notion of highrise construction in Greece is concerned. This proposal was submitted by three architecture students in the "Aristoteleion" Technical University in Thessaloniki as part of their undergraduate degree dissertation and received coverage in the local press, while being supported by their professors. However, this is also an ambitious plan, not seemingly realisable in the foreseeable future.

Another proposal, which was in the drawers for quite some time, but now it looks its realisation is highly probable, was revealed yesterday 3 September 2006 in the Sunday Edition of "Kathimerini" newspaper. It includes a 16-storey office tower amongst other structures, as well as a preserved 150-tall chimney. But let's have a look at the facts:

For decades, there was an area at the west end of the port of Piraeus, now between the passenger and the cargo sections, on the site of the old Fertilisers Plant of Drapetsona (Κρατικό Εργοστάσιο Λιπασμάτων )1, named after the district of Drapetsona, where it is located.

After the factory ceased its operations, there have been numerous thoughts about the fate of the area, including the renovation of its buildings in order to be used as a cultural centre. However, the strategic location of the area and the prospects of it as a potential source of urban renewal and regeneration as well as a business hub that would offer the shipping businesses of Piraeus a proper place to be accomodated and conduct their operations.

Well, it seems that these plans have gained substantial ground and are now about to come to fruition. It is endorsed by the Real Estate branch of the National Bank of Greece, BP Hellas, AGET Cement Company and the Greek State.

Factoids:

-Cost:

Buildings: €430mn
Landscaping, Public Space and Infrastructures: €137mn

-Total Area under development: 352,000sq metres

-Partial Projects:

Business and Shipping Centre: 71,011sqm
Private Residences: 98,813sqm
Retail (Gross Leased Space): 68,698sqm
Entertainment - Tourism: 35,545
Other activities (cultural, education, museums etc): 40 625 sqm

There is already a Business Plan in motion, following a feasibility study conducted by the British Finance and Consultancy House Savills. The architectural study was submitted by the "Th. Papaginannis and Associates" architectural office.
Access to the project is secured by the 6-lane Schistou Avenue which for this reason will get some additional junctions, while, it is expected that the tram line extension to Piraeus will continue to Drapetsona (following an old line that existed until the mid-1970's if I am correct). Soem works are already in progress since all the non-preserved buildings have been demolished, leaving in tact, the old factory's main building (to be used as a cultural centre) and the old 150m-tall chimney, which is an icon of the past and a technical construction feat at the time of construction (ages ago, I hope I will get additional info on this).


And... Yes, I know, I know, I know. Photos.


First of all, the location, original image, courtesy of Google Earth.


http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Miscellaneous/Pireas-DrapersonaLocation.jpg

Scanned images from "Kathimerini" Newspaper, Sunday Edition, 3 September 2006

-Aerial of the site with the tall chimney clearly visible in the right of the pic:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/DrapetsonaProjectSite.jpg

-Computer rendering of the area from the same perspective:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/DratetsonaProject1.jpg


-Cloze-up on the... object of lust, the 16-storey office tower in the centre of the Business centre.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/DrapetsonaProjectRendering1-CBDDeta.jpg


-The tower. I wish it was taller. Notice the antenna which is almost the third of its total height...

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/DrapetsonaProjectRendering2-CBDDeta.jpg

They say that the project's full development will be extended over a 10-year horizon, but I think that four years from the start of construction should be enough. Needless to mention the overall benefits for the surrounding areas in terms of jobs created, upgrading of the natural surroundings, with new parks, etc.

I thought the following building kind of looks like the Athens Tower. Don't you guys think so?

The Athens Tower? Nope, just another version in Dallas, TX :) :

http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/6761/athens3di9.jpg

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/2040/athensuf7.jpg

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/8480/athens1cv0.jpg

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22633/29410/388578/0/Athens+Tower++-+View+from+the+base+2-small.jpg

Athens Tower seen from the base as I took it on Christmas 2004 -also my avatar at the time of this writing.

All the above buildings are characteristic of the International Style (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_style_(architecture)) of architecture that established the serious yet cosmopolitan style of buildings and which was one of the great proponebnts of the use of glass as a facade material, with -of course- the US being amongst the biggest users as far as skyscraper design is concerned from the 1930's to the 1980's mostly.

In Athens we have a number of buildings besides the Athens and Piraeus towers, which used this style, with the most characteristic probably being the IBM building in kifissias Avenue (http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=177638), which albeit a lowrise, follows the footsteps of its much taller counterparts internationally.

These are mostly the buildings that are called "boxy" nowadays, however, they kept high the flag of urban modernism for decades until plasticity started to kick in with regards to the form of modern highrises.

Also, do not forget that even in today's London, "boxy" buildings following the footsteps of the great international style US skyscrapers are built even today in Canary Wharf. After all, the Athens Tower is still considered one of the most pioneering buildings in this part of the globe at the time of completion, regardless of the reactions of many architects that are against the construction of tall towers per se.

^ thanks for the reply; interesting info

OK, let's continue:

Atrina centre and partial view of Maroussi skyline taken from "The Mall Athens" today, 6 September 2006...

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AtrinaCentrefromthemall-small800x.jpg

I am a massive fan of Maroussi Skyline, I think it looks great.
Even just 60m buildings around atrina would look lovely...I think Atrina looks massive for its size.

And the skyline looks very modern.

Piraeus Tower as seen from St Nikolas church in Akti Maioulis Avenue. More pictures from Piraeus to follow later.

And thank God the servers are back...

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/Piraeus-ViewofAktiMiaoulis-small800.jpg

lookie here!
http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/3375/athensbynightbymistikooq2.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensskylineFromLucabetus3-small90.jpg

Recently, the Greek architecture review called "Domes" (Δομές), March 2006, devoted a very large part of that issue (#45) to the topic of tall buildings, both built in Athens, the history and all, as well as a collection of significant New Towers. The text on Athens, different from my version in my Athens Skyscrapers thread (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=216281&page=1&pp=20), a bit summarised, yet much to the point, pinpoints the truth on the topic of tall buildings construction in the city of Pallas Athens, concluding with the following paragraphs.

"Since the implementation of the General Building Code of 1985, new buildings throughout Greece are restricted to a height of less than 32m, which was recently further reduced to 28m. The impact of this generic legal framework combined with inefficient planning provisions has been significant to the Greek urban landscape, with its lack of landmark locations, limited open space, costly and inefficient infrastructure, environmental degradation and ever increasing distances in terms of both space and time.

Within this ever expanding solid mat of the Attica urbanization [note: the ancient name of the prefecture where Athens belongs], a distinct metropolitan character and an urban topography are sought adfter. The imminent 5th expansion of Attica puts its urban processes into question. The new developmental and commercial needs, the the urban intensity as generated by its present density, and the city's cultural past and potential, have to affect its practices of urbanization. After the protection of heritage and natural sirtes has been secured, the introduction of taller buildings in selected locations can stimulate new environment. This will project the horizontal sprawl as peaks of a new vertical topography.

So there are voices out there that break the silence.... Let's hope they will continue... In the meantime, for archival purposes only, I present you with the Athens Skyscrapers and Highrises Top-20 List. The list is compiled by Mr Loizidis who actually did my job as Emporis editor and did it much better than me, since acquiring a building height is a precise job that can only be achieved if you know how to knock the right doors. Well, looka like Mr Loizidis did and through here I wish to extend m\him my aknowledgements for his excellent job. You may find also this list in emporis.com with clickable links to ALL these buildings and see their pics. Click here (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/bu/sk/li/?id=100623&bt=2&ht=2&sro=1) to proceed and have fun, if interested.

______________________________


Athens Skyscrapers and Highrises Top-20 List.



List#, Name, Height

1. Athens Tower [/URL]1 103 m
2. Apollo Tower 80 m
3. Atrina Center Tower 80 m
4. OTE Head Offices 72 m
5. President Hotel 68 m
6. Ministry Of Public Order 65 m
7. Athens Tower 2 65 m
8. Hilton Athens 65 m
9. Twin Tower 1, Messogeion Avenue 62 m
10. Dhifros Apartment Complex 62 m
11. East Tower, Aghios Nikolaos Acharnon 62 m
12. Twin Tower 2, Messogeion Avenue 62 m
13. West Tower, Aghios Nikolaos Acharnon 62 m
14. Athens Expo Center 60 m
15. Efterpi Tower 60 m
16. Athens Police Headquarters 58 m
17. OTE Tower 58 m
18. 24 Aghias Lavras Street Tower 56 m
19. Teachers Tower 56 m
20. Athens Tower 2 56 m


Source: Louizidis, C. (2006, March-June), Architect. "Horizontal Athens, Vertical Athens", in "Domes-International Architecture Review", issue #8, pp. 56-57. Also Available in emporis.com, here (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/bu/sk/li/?id=100623&bt=2&ht=2&sro=1).

If you are interested about getting the particular issue of this review, the contact info can be found in the following address:

http://www.domes-architecture.com/

-Unique pic depicting the Peace and Friendship - Neon Phaleron Arena, with the Acropolis, the Pnyx hill and some Athenian highrises. I took this pic from the Peiraiki peninsula. Great spot for taking pics!!!

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/FromPiraeus2-Small-WithAcropolisand.jpg

...and this one is from Lycabettus Hill, depicting the Lycabettus theatre and the tallest Athenian highrises. The theatre is one of the hottest rock and contemporary music concert venues in Europe BTW.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/Athens-HighriseViewFromLycabettus-2.jpg

Please Note: This post is available as a separate thread in http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=407718. Please reply to this post in the address above. :)

The incentive to write this post came after having recently looked at my Athens Skyscrapers and highrises thread (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=216281) and I realized that it not only has one of the largest numbers of visits all over the Skyscrapercity forum, but it is also mentioned in various sites, architectural or other. Closing 16,000 views at the times of this writing is not a funny number and reveals something. I also have a reason to believe that more than half of the visitors to the time of this writing are Hellenes, signifying an interest to see things differently. I am glad to have given them the opportunity to see the "other side" of their urban reality. :D

In addition, I noticed that the number of relevant articles appearing in the Greek press, especially in the "Kathimerini" newspaper, as well as elsewhere, looking not only at the position of Athens (and Greece) in the global architectural map, but also in comparison to other cities, is increasing. While during the decade of the 90's, only a couple of articles (that's less than half a handful) have made it to the press, after the millennium, the concept of "Athens Skyscrapers" and whatever is implied in these two words, appears frequently in the Internet, but also, in what one might call "the real world". Not to mention a number of friends from here and elsewhere that made some heroic attempts to present Athens in a new way, with prime examples being the unbelievable "Athens Today (http://www.Athens-today.com) by Demetrio Rizzo and the newest effort by Grigoris Sokratis called "Schedio Polis (http://schediopolis.ifastnet.com)".

However, while in the beginning I always liked my emporis.com editorship, which is the main reason that I spend numerous Sunday mornings taking pictures of buildings and Athenian skylines, I started comprehending that something was missing. OK, I got the relative recognition for being the premier skyscraper and highrise spotter in Greece. I had many people listening to what I had to say about the need of tall buildings in Athens, with a large part of them being accomplished architects. I had the chance to meet Mr. Manolis Anastasakis (http://www.anastasakis.gr) who designed the new 200m-tall "multiscraper" for the Elaionas area (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=363673), and I hope I may have the time to tell you about this rainy autumn afternoon that we had a chat over some coffee (we basically agreed on everything and he is a fervent supporter of building tall in Athens). I know that there are people "out there" that read "us". I have to admit that personally, after 2000 I haven't met almost anyone (when I started to make public my 30+ year-old interest over tall buildings), that was totally negative to the idea of building tall, with the only consensus being that this kind of buildings had to be constructed away from the "historic center" of Athens.

It has crossed my mind that although there are many proponents of tall buildings in Athens in cyberspace (including this forum as well as many other forums and blogs), a whole world that has reached what we may call a "boiling point", in the "real world" the NIMBYs and the negativists still have the upper hand. What is really needed is a connection to the "real world" that, besides some scattered articles in newspapers and the specialised press, still doesn't exist. The TV channels do not seem to be interested with the exception of NET. Notably, this particular channel presented Mr Anastasakis' proposal for the Elaionas area, before showing (the well known and still dominant) view of a "traditional" architect that talked –once again- about the "scale of the Attican landscape" which is now a conurbation of 5 million people, with much different functional needs compared to what the city was even 15 years ago (and the same pertains to Thessaloniki which is about 1,2 million in its greater area and counting…).

The situation is aggravated by the lack of interest by the majority of the citizens who, obviously have more serious issues to deal with than 40-storey towers in Maroussi or Elaionas, and the fact that whilst the NIMBYs are organised and well connected with the local authority mechanisms (i.e. municipalities), the supporters of the new urban reality, who are people mostly of higher education, are still "marginal and not heard – note that no traditional contractor- (εργολάβος ) would undertake a 30-storey tall tower, it's far beyond his expertise and visionary powers. It is tragic to see how isolated visionary people are in this country and as a result, besides the historical center of the city which is renovated, Athens does not deserve the image it has in many of its suburbs and periphery (although the coastal zone and the northern suburbs are world-class, period).

However, I believe that this particular moment as we speak, is one of the most suitable for a "turning point" in what constitutes a "new urban conception" about Athens which will include the development of the city in terms of new landmarks, with the major axes of development being in the cultural (i.e. museums, scientific venues, i.e. planetariums, aquariums etc), economy/business (skyscrapers – shopping centres), residences (like organized satellite "villages" or even residential towers at a later stage) and leisure (theme parks, multiplexes) areas. Well, it seems that ALL but the tall structures and their emblematic impact in the image of Athens are considered and/ or are under construction or completed. Still, Greece is the ONLY European country that doesn't consider tall buildings. As a result, especially with regards to commercial uses, the office space now offered by the construction community, especially considering the relentless "persecution" from various interest groups, is inadequate, and ineligible for serious business players to consider for accommodation. Small buildings, packed with inadequate parking facilities and isolated from the rest of the city functions, or even worse, burdening them, are the order of the day. This does not happen because this land is used –as it didn't happen in Paris, London, Warsaw and Vienna. It happens because the developers and the NIMBYs play hide-and seek in the light of poor and outdated legislature which does not reflect contemporary trends, and the lack of awareness on the part of the wider society which has been brainwashed to believe that "tall & big=bad" and "small=good" regardless of use, perspective, scale of needs, etc.

We also have the paradox that whilst a big building is relentlessly persecuted by the NIMBYs, giving the impression that society doesn't approve it, when it is completed, it is flooded with visitors regardless of use. This has happened in the case of buildings ranging from museums (i.e. The Hellenic Kosmos foundation, the new Benakis museum in Peiraios street) to shopping malls. Which means, that for every militant NIMBY, there are 10 other citizens that want to see some novelty and development in their city, want to see something tall and big, something emblematic. How is it that the NIMBYs are the only ones heard though? It is because they are organized and have established interests as gatekeepers of the community's interests by misleading other members of the local communities and making them their "army", rebels without an urban cause in a city of 5 million that has reached its next point of evolution. Question is: Will Athens go on to the next stage? And how can we, me, you, and everybody that loves this city but would like to see it reaching new heights, express a different voice in this cacophony of negativism?

Some of you might ask? But is now the right time? Well, my answer is a wholehearted "YES!!! I believe that we are about to come across a "carnal" turning point as far as the construction of tall buildings and emblematic structures in Athens is concerned. The mystic urban powers, so to speak, for this city, were set in motion the time Chuan Antonio Samaranch spelled these magic words, nine years ago: AND THE WINNER IS… ATHENS!!!

Since then, the latest infrastructure works completed mainly for the Athens 2004 Olympics or are still in progress in Athens (the Athens metro is expanding to the west of the city), especially the large stadiums (thanks to S. Calatrava), "legitimized" the idea of building big, grand and tall in my city. Despite the usual motifs played by the negativists regarding the problems of the city and its people in contrast to the "pharaonic" structures being built, the roof of the Athens Olympic stadium became the new symbol of urban pride and mobilized processes that are difficult to stop. That magic moment of the opening of the Olympic games, the memory of this feeling, is not easy to forget and dissipate, let alone go away.

Of course, Athenians (like many other big city citizens) do have problems with their lives and their urban habitat. They understand though that Athens cannot wait until these problems are solved, before it goes on to the next stage. Youngsters, fanzine magazine journalists (I read an article in "Lifo" the other day that sounded as if I had written it), blogsters and architects, all agree to the fact that the city has to change. Where and how exactly is a matter of discussion and interpretation. Even serious architecture reviews like "Domes" (Δομές), devote a whole issue to "the new towers" pointing out the need for new emblematic structures, taller and bigger, in developing areas, while respecting the city's past and avoiding sites of historic interest. A whole world outside the eight o' clock news is literally at boiling point, being kept hostage by unseen yet felt forces of inertia and backwardness which insist on keeping everything to a standstill. Whilst other cities in the region, including Belgrade, Pristina, Sarajevo, Tirana (yes!!!), Istanbul, Izmir, you name it, are literally on fire when it comes to construction, in Greece we are kept hostage by a minority of backward activists that do not represent us (me, you, us), have not been elected by us, and worse, while the ones in favour of a renovation movement are kept in the dark or badmouthed as "liberals", "capitalists", "little Americans" (i.e. "Amerikanakia – as if China and Dubai are not building much taller towers than the US right now :lol: ), whatever, by people that do not like dialogue, discussion, argumentation.

I have given a strong thought on what do we need to do more for the affair of the tall Athens to flourish, as, this was, is and will be my primary concern, with regards to my presence in this forum. There is only one answer: To jump from the virtual reality to the real world. And this is that I would like to do now. I am 43 and I would like, as the saying goes "while I still have some lead in my pencil" to see tall towers being built in this city. I wouldn’t have taken this initiative to come down so strong if I hadn't seen the amount of interest displayed by other "co-hostages" trapped in cyberspace and the gravity of the recent reactions coming in the form of proposals and independent articles in blogs and forums. However, there has to be something more tangible than simply presence in the web. We need to alert all the ones still positive but "dormant". We need to disseminate our ideas in the "real" world, to show them that there are alternatives.

For this reason, I started making moves, made a couple of contacts, even contacted a friend who is a video producer, to make a documentary about the new urban realities that Athens may have to face. Well, other things being equal, the monetary issue came into place and I stopped… However, a small video may come into place, a much cheaper production to be made with home equipment, with the "larger" project still on hold for the moment as I am in dire straits, the budget is relatively high, and most of all, if I am to do a piece of work from which others may benefit too (and I am talking about the big constructions who most probably welcome the abolishment of height restrictions on building constructions in Athens), why not make this appeal formal? Why not invite everybody in creating some form of a lobby with the aim to promote the necessity of building tall in Athens?

I would like your opinion of the regular members here as well as welcome everybody from the "real world" that can contribute to this idea of lobbying. How could this be done? How could we have our voices heard? I would also like to invite magazine and periodical editors or journalists. I know that this message may reach you in a much more comfortable situation than the frenzy of your workplace where I may probably not be able to reach you. If you believe that our city deserves more than 27m-tall office blocks and four-storey condominiums, if you believe that urban transformation is a way out, or a significant means by which the way we live, move, breathe, commute and interact may improve, if the term "urban pride" (αστική υπερηφάνεια ) means something to you, then go to my profile and e-mail me. We can still do it. We have the power to do it. We are the citizens, the urbanomancers, the ones that can infuse megapolisomancy into this inertia, the urbanauts of the new world, the spirited ones who can fly across space and time, the transformers of worlds, the episcopes of change. We can do it. Just close your eyes and imagine, just feel the reverberation of a city that is pulsating with the force to transform, yet it is kept hostage from its own inhabitants.


1968-1980 We started it, ugly and incomplete but we started it…

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22633/35730/429103/0/Athens+-+From+Pendeli+-+5+-+May+2005-+small800x.jpg

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22633/35730/429120/0/Athens+-+Highrise+Skyline+View+from+Hilton+2+-Focus-+small+800x

We had plans for more (1970's, never materialized). Some of them were indications that we might be going to the next stage. These are never mentioned anywhere in order not to distract the abundant aura of negativism. See, contrast and compare.


-Phaleron Delta, 1972


http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22634/35748/429285/0/Phaleron+Delta++-+small800x.jpg
Source: Architecture in Greece - Aρχιτεκτονικά Θέματα 8/1974

-Two entries for an architecture competition for the Power Corporation (ΔΕΗ) building. Year: 1972


First Prize: By Alerxandros Tombazis

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22634/35748/429292/0/Never+built-DEH+tower-First+Prize-small.jpg
Source: Architecture in Greece - Aρχιτεκτονικά Θέματα 6/1972

Another entry:

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22634/35748/429293/0/Never+built-DEH+tower2-small.jpg
Source: Architecture in Greece - Aρχιτεκτονικά Θέματα 6/1972

Get ready, never seen before in the web:


-Ioannis Vikelas (the architect of the Athens tower (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=astreetnstower1-astreetns-greece)):

Proposed residential tower for Neo Psychiko (never built)

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20Visual%20Art/VikelasNeonPsychikonTower.jpg
(C) Ioannis Vikelas and "Domes" Architecture Review, issue #45/3/2006


Now hold your breath:

Bird's eye view drawing of a proposed 27-storey residential tower in Glyphada.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20Visual%20Art/VikelasTowerinGlyphada-verticalview.jpg
(C) Ioannis Vikelas and "Domes" Architecture Review, issue #45/3/2006

In the second picture you can see the... hanging swimming pools for the high-class tenants of the same building as envisioned by the architects. Note that this was for the mid 1970's whilst for Europe, it is only in Paris that they even tried to build high-class residential towers in the 13th arrondissement (front de la Seine). Yet Mr Vikelas made his statement back then, and although not loudly heard, there are some to have taken notice of it. (Of course never built, σιγά μην, τον έφαγε η μαρμάγκα της νεο-Ελληνικής πραγματικότητας ).


http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20Visual%20Art/VikelasTowerinGlyphada-partialview.jpg
(C) Ioannis Vikelas and "Domes" Architecture Review, issue #45/3/2006

Funny thing, the clothing style in the last picture, you thing that James Brown (a.k.a. the "Sex Machine") is having a party or something... :lol:


Ειπατε τίποτα;

2004: Not exactly buildings but the height and size are there, albeit the Calatrava designs have been characterised as "Pharaonic" and -of course- incompatible with this abstract yet ever present notion of the "scales of the Attica landscape", now accomodating aclose to 5 million people but with a height limit of 27 metres :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:


http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/334269

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/334271



2006: We started dreaming again…

Manolis Anastasakis (http://www.anastasakis.gr): The 200m-tall "Multiscraper" (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=363673) proposed for the area of Elaionas, to the west of Athens

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20Visual%20Art/WestAthensTowersvision1small.jpg

-The 16-storey tower proposed as part of the development for the area of Drapetsona in Piraeus (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=391036):

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/DrapetsonaProjectRendering2-CBDDeta.jpg

-The three 35-storey - 165 m-tall skyscrapers proposed for the area of "Lachanokipoi" in Thessaloniki as part of a final year student dissertation :yes:

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/3636/photo2882006page42jp5.jpg


As you can see, the flame is burning again. It's in our hands not to let the dream fade away this time. It's in our hand to have then realised.

I got some replies and feedback in SSL forum asking me if I had a side views of Mr Vikelas's residential skyscraper he proposed for Glyphada when I was a kid :lol:. My reply is that honestly, I hope I had something more to show you. Unfortunately, this drawing has been published by Mr Vikelas himself after a long period of silence, being one of the many that were kept hostages of the populistic and "cyborgian militancy" (as Prometheus from DDC called it once), of the dominant ideology in Greece and its proponents for the last 30 years.

It took me two years for instance to find out which is the height limit for Athens, before I discovered it myself that it is just 27 metres. Even architects and civil engineers could not provide me with a clear answer, probably simply because they did not know or worse, they were probably never in the need to surpass it, nor did they have any intention to.

Now, I know that we have many allies here but as I said in the main article, forumers and bloggers may not have access to the "real world". Even Mr Anastasakis, was only given a brief 30" to explain his views in NET television before the academic architect took over to talk about "human-sized scales" in a flat 5mn inhabitants monstrosity :lol:.

It is only when you make noise that the media will come to you and you need them -good or bad- to go on. The issue of building tall is not just a vision of some "grafikoi". After all, the way things are going in Greece, everybody with a vision becomes a "grafikos" while at the same time 20-year old TV personalities are given the chance to talk about their latest love affairs or astrology, so, why not us? I mean, a couple of vertical clusters in Athens greater area will revive the city and will put the economy together with culture (many new museums and other venues planned) and entertainment-shopping, into the game. When investors and economic development doesn't happen you invoke it. And this takes place by offering fertile ground for it.

I respect the views of the "ecologists" and especially the one of Mr Margaris who is a professor of eco-systems in the University of the Aegean. Click HERE (http://tovima.dolnet.gr/print_article.php?e=B&f=12513&m=B06&aa=1) to see what this guy says about building tall in Athens. Can you imagine that this guy, a professor of Ecology, is one of us? Well, yes, he is!!!

Now, as to the tower in Glyphada, probably Vikelas and his assiciates had in mind the Marina City skyscrapers (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/cx/?id=100332) in Chicago that have similar balconies as suggested by the following pictures (click on them for a much larger view):

http://www.greatbuildings.com/gbc/images/cid_aj1122_b.150.jpg (http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Marina_City.html/cid_aj1122_b.html) http://www.greatbuildings.com/gbc/images/cid_1118350787_DSCN1954.150.jpg (http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Marina_City.html/cid_1118350787_DSCN1954.html)

Also, click HERE (http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Marina_City.html) to see more pics of the Marina City.

Conclusion: It is absurd for a city of 5 million not to consider vertical expansion, especially for office use. Residenses I understand (for now :D) but office?

The issue is still open and let's keep it open...

The article of Mr Margaris wont load for me.

Hello to everyone. I'm a great fun of highrises since i was a child. I can still remember the time that Athens Expo Center (Εκθεσιακο Κεντρο) was still under construction and i was FASCINATED!!! You see i live all these years in Ampelokipoi area and i've been raised under the tall buildings! :) As for these chronicle just got me stucked to my computer for hours!!!! I just got here searching for infos about the Athens Tower which i alwas liked very much. What i want to ask you is if there is any live contacts between the members in here. Thank you.

I would suggest you offer people your MSN, Yahoo, or Skype details to talk. Other than that, this site seems to be the central place for communication.

First of all let us welcome our new friend Prisma here.

Dear friend, we haven't seen each other in person, but many of us communicate with others through PM's and/ or e-mails, as well as MSN, ICQ and whatever service each one of us is a member of.

If you are a highrise fan as many of us are, you should read all the pages of this thread as I as well as many friends here have mabe Huge contributions. Also, explore this forum and see my random and scattered dialogue with architects in the relevant thread titled: "Hellene architects: Where are you (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=320623)?" to see some aspects of what we believe for or against construction of highrises in Greece. Also, I posted an updated version of this article (not many things) in the Skyscraperlife.com (http://www.skyscraperlife.com/forumdisplay.php?f=28) forum. Click to explore.

Also, if you are in the mood for extra reading, you can look into the threads "Αρχιτεκτονική (http://www.stadia.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39)" and "Η Αθήνα των ονείρων μας (http://www.stadia.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?t=119)" in the forum of "Stadia.gr", where similar discussions take place there in Greek.

Well, that's all for now, and I hope you will stay with us, in the hope that at least within our generation we will see new edifices reaching new heights in our city.

BTW, I remember this too (1977) as well as even the President hotel which was completed no earlier than 1978.

Too bad it had to end there, although many people say that Ampelokipi was an inappropriate place for building tall since even in the 1970's, they were densely populated and the towers were built next to lowrise residential blocks, thus hiding the sun from their residents. Of course, the visual effect is dramatic for the visitors and I cannot imagine the beautiful view the tenants of these buildings have, above the 10th floor... :). I am not sure about the residents though... :D :runaway:

Thank you very much pm..... I have read as much threads as i could until now. I still keep going. I have read a lot about Elaionas & Maroussi areas. How about Mesogeion Ave.? I honestly be depressed everytime i drive by Mesogeion. It's like an extended village as far as concerned of the buildings (except the Twins). On the other hand i don't think that Ampelokipoi area was bad to have these highrises at all! Just my humble opinion.

Messogeion Avenue is a six-lane boulevard beginning from the northern limit of central Athens (where the Athens Tower (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/cx/?id=101292), 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 (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/sh/?id=100623&txt=Dunant&button=Search), the Politeia Business centre (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/sh/?id=100623&txt=Politia), and the Ministry of National Development (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=ministryofdevelopment-astreetns-greece), 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

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/ResidentialTower-TeachersTowerMe-2.jpg
(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

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/MessogeionComplex-Full-small800x.jpg


-View from across Messogeion Avenue From left to the right the twin towers (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/cx/?id=residentialtwintowers,messogeionavenuenue-astreetns)and in the background the Teachers' tower (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=164626).

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/MessogeionTwinsfromacrossMessogeion.jpg

-The Twins and the Oracle building

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22634/35743/429259/0/Residential+twins-Tower+Block+Messogion+Av.+4-small2-800x.jpg


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

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/MessogeionTwinTower1-small800x.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/ResidentialTwins-TowerBlockMessogei.jpg


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

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/MessogeionTwinTower2b-small800x.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/MessogeionTwinTower2-small800x.jpg


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

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/ResidentialTower-TeachersTowerMesso.jpg

-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.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/ResidentialTower-TeachersTowerMe-1.jpg


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

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/Athens-ResidentialinNeoPsychicoComp.jpg

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.

Υes, these are the twins i've mentioned...BTW very nice pics!!!!! Unfortunatly this part of Mesogeion Ave. is the exception, up from Holargos area. If you pay attention to the buildigs all around the Twins you can agree with my previous post, that it's like "an extended village". I have no hopes for Mesogeion anymore, but it would be nice to have one pole of highrises there with another pole in Maroussi, which i'm rather optimistic that in the future something is going to happen there! So we would have two districts of business centers configuring something like a triangle with Halandri area in between(area which needs buildings no taller than the existings).

@ Prisma and the rest

Click here (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=10564731#post10564731) to simply find out that Athens is now at a stage similar to the one described in a movie titled "While you were sleeping (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114924/)". Our city is in an almost comatose state as the world goes on...

Speaking of skyscrapers/highrises Athens have the same problem of Lisbon. But even here things are changing.

Highrises are a becoming a everyday reality in europe, and Athens will not be outside. I'm sure in the next few years we will see many new projects proposed for Athens.

what matters is not the number, but the quality of each project. A unique good tower can made great changes in politicians/people's mentality.

@gm2263: I think we live pretty close to eachother. I live in Ambelokipi but right at the beginning of Mesogeion.

Anyways, I pass by those towers every day on my way to school. I have to say they are not very good looking, especially considering the neighborhoods surrounding them are pretty nice. I think what really ruins some of these buildings are the need for balconie, as well as the curtains/drapes put on the balconies to cover the sun. Those make the buildings look very ugly.

It's a shame considering residential buildings can be very good looking.

^^ This has been discussed, but is worth bringing up again, for the sake of change! Without this change in óld ways´of building we will be stuck with grey uninspired monsters.:cheers:

Read below:

http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=369958

i had no clue athen had so incredibly ugly buildings....very commie, and it really looks messy.... i must give u credits for ur exceptional highways though....

Athens has many beautiful buildings which are discussed in other threads, Skanderberg. This is a thread about highrises which were not built since 30 years now because of political decisions. On the other hand, what the city really looks like, can be seen in here: ----------------> http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=232402

Any further discussion will be pointless.

I am happy to inform all visitors here that following a kind invitation by one of its member contributors, I posted an article on the necessity of building a new generation of Athens skyscrapers in a Hellenic web magazine, namely the e-magazino.gr (http://www.e-magazino.gr).

The article which comes in Greek, can be read by clicking HERE (http://www.e-magazino.gr/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=59). You can also leave your comments if you want. For the non-native speakers, the article is a re-iteration of my usual arguments about construction of tall buildings on selected locations in Athens and away from its historic core, nothing new to be missed, that is. Also, the three pics accompanying the article have been presented here multiple times and in higher resolution. Again, a big thanks to that site's administrators for allowing me to express my views there and reach a wider public...

Anyways, I may have something new in a few days, as the issue of building tall in Pallas Athena never ceased to tickle the back of my brain.

Again, thanks to the team in e-magazino.gr for allowing me to post my views there :)

Megapolisomancy... Transformation... Evolution...

COngratulations GM. Good news on getting more publicity for our message!

i had no clue athen had so incredibly ugly buildings....very commie, and it really looks messy.... i must give u credits for ur exceptional highways though....

Actually Athens is the big city of Europe with the smallest number of commies.

We just have 4 small lowrises complexes (not surpassing the 8 blocks each).

Plus 5 isolated scattered buildings of this type (which you can see some of them in the pics).

So that's all about the commies in Athens, actually in just 10 pictures we could show all the commie blocks we got in a 5 millions metropolis.

So we are lucky to lack of that kind of architecture in our city.

Update on skyscraper publicity activity from the official highrise freak in this country...

The article in Greek titled: "Ουρανοξύστες στην Αθήνα: Ένα απόλυτο νεοελληνικό ταμπού" (i.e. "Skyscrapers in Athens: A Total Modern Greek Taboo", originally posted in e-magazino.gr (and I wish a million thanks to the editors and friends who contributed to this, click HERE (http://www.e-magazino.gr/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=59)to access the version and check the rest of the content of this beautifully organised e-zine) is now also available in the e-rooster.gr site (http://e-rooster.gr/) which is devoted to liberal thinking. The important element is not the article per se, but the overall debate developing which more or less constitutes a good summary of the views of the public towards this issue which is seemingly maturing as it appears from the exchange already in progress.

Click HERE (http://e-rooster.gr/12/2006/378) if you are interested and prepared for a good and lengthy reading.

...and there's LOTS more coming from this weekend onwards. A LOT more... :D

As promised:

Please note that the post below is also available as a separate thread in http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=10834951#post10834951, so please address your replies to this post there.

Posting here takes place for archival purposes only.

Preface

This thread is dedicated to Athens Tower (1971), still the tallest building in Athens. The pictures were taken in different periods but most of them are new. However, I included many old ones as a reference. Whenever the photos are not mine, due credit is given.

In short, the Athens Tower was the first (and to the opinion of many, the only "real") Athens skyscraper and the tallest building in the Balkans at the time of completion. What follows is a comprehensive account of the history of the building, giving credits to the men that built it and literally committed their lives in completing it. For it is because of the visions of a few good men that that building was completed, still constituting one of the few recognizable icons in the Athens skyline, tall and proud like the bold minds that made it a reality.

...35 years before the time of this writing...



I. Introduction: Historical Background

The decade of the 1960's is still looked upon with controversial feelings from many Greeks. These years, Greece had already signed an agreement for entry into the then EEC which would later culminate in the granting of a full membership status. From a social as well as an economy standpoint, the country was in an unparalleled upward spiral with building construction being (since then) one of the traditional sectors fuelling this somewhat anticipated post World War II development. The end of this decade though, was marked by significant historical events amongst which the most serious was the coup d' état that took place in 21 April 1967. This day marked the beginning of a dictatorship that lasted seven years until the military surrendered their powers to the politicians with a coalition government to be formed immediately thereafter to lead the country to general elections, the first in a decade.

One of the major concerns of the newly established regime was the continuing effort, following the initial post-war development, for Athens to become a cosmopolitan and financial center. This trend has already been expressed in some modernistic attempts in earlier years with the construction of the 14-storey Hilton Hotel (1963), as well as a number of smaller, yet notable buildings that were built along the major Arterial roads such as Syggrou Avenue, Panepistimiou and Stadiou streets, etc, marking the first attempts for a novel and cosmopolitan architecture that would embrace modernism with a an ever-present "classical" touch.

Up until that moment (1967), Athenian buildings could be separated into two categories: The usual 6-7-storey blocks of flats that were already establishing their image in most inner-central Athenian neighborhoods, as well as office buildings which at a first glance in their majority they looked like blocks of flats but were actually a couple of stories taller and had more glossy appearance compared to their residential counterparts. Expectedly, these buildings did not have as many balconies and were covered with pieces of marble, a material that exists in abundance in the mountains surrounding Athens. Even today, marble is still used extensively for inner and exterior decorative additions in construction. Overall, this repetitive trend resulted in the visible formation of a 6-8-storey urban ocean extending for many square kilometers on every side of the Acropolis, coating until today large chunks of the Attica plain, interrupted only by some wide streets or the new boulevards that were crossing the city from north to south.

However, from the early years of their ruling, it became apparent that the dictators had more grandiose plans about this city. Based on earlier studies that had been conducted by the Doxiades bureau which was appointed to devise a master plan in the early 1960's, the junta announced its will to make Athens a major metropolitan center, immediately starting discussions about the construction of a new airport or the extension of the then existing one (Hellenikon) deep into the sea off the coast of Hellenikon/ Kalamaki region. Actually, one of the target locations for the new airport was Spata, where the new award-winning new Athens International Airport "Eleftherios Venizelos" is located. Other plans included superhighways driving through Athens (what finally developed as the Attika Road system). Plans also included a mega-stadium of 100,000 seats which was eventually built years later, after the collapse of the junta (1982) with less seating capacity (75-80k) to serve the European track and field championship games of 1982. This later developed into the well known Athens Olympic stadium (the dictators were obsessed with stadiums as they believed that a youth into sports would mean less youngsters in the streets where they were in danger of being approached and indoctrinated by the communists :nuts: ).

Ah, and there was another visionary dimension, which is usually commonly admired by all dictators and thus gives a bad name to the relevant constructions: Height.

One of the first moves made by the Greek dictators was to allow unrestricted construction in a particular plot of land, under the condition that the structure would be free from all sides. This was, as mentioned in another post (see my Athens Skyscrapers and Highrises main thread (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=216281&page=1&pp=20)), decreed by the new "development law" (αναπτυξιακός νόμος ) Α.Ν. 395/68 "on the heights of buildings and free construction" (in Greek: "Περί του ύψους των οικοδομών και της ελευθέρας δομήσεως").

So, the biggest burden on the construction of tall buildings had been removed. But the truth is that although that was the official green light, the mechanisms relating to tall construction had started years before…


II. A Friend of the Family...

During all that time, my family was already living in a house in Papagos, a beautiful Athenian suburb located sat a distance of some 7 Km north-east of Central Athens, on the slopes of mount Hymettus. In the year of 1968, my parents were thinking about adding a floor in our house on top of the ground floor where we were living in. At the time I was going to prep school and even from these days I remember a sympathetic man coming frequently to our house with big rolls of paper. This man, whose identity was made clear to me at a later age since I was 4 to 5 years old at the time (1967-1968), was named Tasos Rodanas. A very good friend of the family, Mr Rodanas had a civil engineer's licence for up to three floors buildings since he was a graduate of a public "technical professional school". Now in order to get a full license, he would need to either gain certifiable work experience for a certain amount of time as a civil engineer, or, to take a series of examination papers that would allow him to enroll as an advanced student to the mighty "National Technical University of Athens" (also known as NTUA). So, our friend Tassos (from what my mother recalls), has been lucky in getting a good job in an ass-kicking Greek construction firm and had participated in countless projects in Greece and abroad. Consequently, he was full thrust on his way to be awarded "full" civil engineer's status within the next couple of years, upon certification of his working experience.

The large papers that Tassos was carrying with him contained the drawings of what was to become the upper floor of our house. It was then that according to my grandfather (who is long gone now), that he secretly told my family about something "very big" that was to be built in Athens by his company. He seemed excited about this secret project saying "nothing like this was ever made in this country before" and years may pass for it to be re-made in such a scale and magnitude. Of course, participation in such a project would entail immediate benefits for his career with the granting of the so wanted "full" professional status which would perhaps, open many career opportunities including potentially a fully paid master's degree in engineering project management, or a rapid advancement up the executive ladder. He started making frequent trips abroad to the US, France, Italy and elsewhere, in order to be trained and acquire expertise that was needed for him to contribute to the team in which he was chosen to participate by the company he worked for, Alvertis & Dimopoulos SA. Finally, it must have been late 1967 or early 1968 when Tassos revealed to my parents what this project was: The first REAL skyscraper in Athens!


III. Meeting Challenges

Barely mentioned in ANY recent Greek architecture magazine (OK, with a few notable exceptions) with total silence raising suspicions of intentional hushing up of the fact that this company ever existed, Alvertis & Dimopoulos SA was already an active construction firm with a considerably vast portfolio of built projects in Greece and abroad, being active, years before the junta came to power. Given the size of the Greek economy, they had literally accomplished miracles. Their completed projects portfolio includes the American and the British Embassies in Athens, the Evgenidion Planetarium and Sciences Foundation in Syggrou Avenue, many other notable office buildings in Athens, as well as technical construction work in the Middle East, etc.

It is a well known fact that for quite a long time, Alvertis and Dimopoulos were thinking about building a skyscraper, a building of emblematic height that would be the flagship of the company and will bear their sign forever (or at least as long as it can be…). Top engineers and architects have traveled extensively abroad and I know of the US and Paris where the French were already completing construction of the first generation towers of La Defence (les tours de la premiere generation) which were transforming Paris into a business hub, besides the cultural center that always was and still is). At the time, very few cities in Europe could claim that they had skyscrapers. Milan, Paris, London, Warsaw (thanks to the Palace of Culture and Science), were in the list. In a sense though, Athens pioneered, because the executives at Alvertis and Dimopoulos, as well as their engineering team were committed to novelty and excellence. And excelled they did.

The chosen location was north east of the Athens centre, in the intersection of Messogeion and the end of Vasilissis Sophias (Queen Sophia) Avenues, where Kifissias Avenue begins. A truly strategic and ingeniously chosen location, which at the time was one of the boundaries of transition from urban to suburban regions. Not too close to the Acropolis, close enough to the Lycabettus hill to make a notable, yet unthreatening presence in the vicinity of the 277 meter tall hill whose height still makes a true eternal natural landmark in the traditional Athenian landscape. .

The "star" of A&D at the time, who is still practicing his profession, a young then architect with the name Ioannis Vikelas, was appointed to design a tower to encompass the emblematic character that A&D wanted to infuse in their ambitious structure. When appointed, Vikelas and his team (amongst them, the also known architect Ioannis Kymbritis) tried various approaches to tame the embarrasingly diverse character of his project as an urban icon as well as point of reference for future generations. The challenge of the implications pertinent to the positioning of an artificially sizeable object on a location in proximity to the Lycabettus hill, one of the natural Athenian landmarks was immense and obviously created many headaches to the whole of the design and engineering team as at the time, it constituted some work to be carried out at an unprecedented, yet monumental scale for Athens, posing a challenge that few European cities had faced at the time. He knew he would have to fight the ever existing part of the public that are biased against tall buildings, and all that, without any previous existing point of reference in the Attika plain. From a point of view his work was destined to mark the acceptance or the demise of novelty in Athenian architecture. Did he succeed? Read on…

In his own words, Vikelas describes his early attempts to design the Athens tower as follows (see Vikelas, I. (2006) High-rises in the Modern World and their Short-Lived Athenian Past), in Domes - International Review of Architecture, Vol. # 45/03, pp. 116:

"In our initial deliberations, we concluded that, important as it was to seek to achieve an Athenian high-rise, it would be even more important to seek to contribute to the ongoing debate in Europe than merely address parochial Greek concerns. We submitted a proposal, which, as it turned out, was dismissed since the prevailing view suggested that it was lacking in local character. Having been forced to modify our objective we settled on the version that was actually built."

The following picture depicts the models of the rejected early proposals as they were presented by the artist Mr Vangelis Vlachos (http://www.thebreedersystem.com/artist.php?ArtistID=26#) in many cities in the context of the "Manifesta, Europe’s Roving Biennial of Contemporary Art" and have been displayed in various cities around the world around the year 2004.


http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTowerRejectedModels-VangelisV.jpg

The models have been shown here in an earlier post if I remember correctly but I believe it's time to put them again into perspective. One cannot do nothing but admire the way in which the architects manipulate form in order to achieve perfection. With regards to the wave-shaped design in the back of the picture, now THIS would have made a "Big Bang" in the Athenian skyline since it might have looked utterly futuristic, even by today's standards (we have seen similar buildings in the US later on, from the 1980's onwards). Notably, the closest and the leftmost ones in the picture are much closer to the final design of the Athens Tower, both looking like 1960's skyscrapers in 5th Avenue, NY.

But let us continue with what Mr Vikelas has to say with regards of the attributes of the design finally chosen in view of the revisions and changes that had to be made in the context of a more "local" touch:

"We addressed the classical Greek scheme of 'base, trunk, and crown', subsumed under an overarching sense of a plain and austere rhythm, providing for slightly more complex detailing on the grid than initially intended. Ιn many of the international examples one sees there is a repetitive use of a single module, which not infrequently renders buildings rather tedious and nondescript. For 'the Athens Tower' we strived for a composition that would involve several modules'.


-This is the drawing of the vertical view of a typical floor:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTowerFloorPlan-medium.jpg


-This is a drawing of the side view of the tower (originally presented here (http://www.culture2000.tee.gr/ATHENS/GREEK/BUILDINGS/BUILD_TEXTS/B72_t.html) in the very interesting architecture site Paris-London-Athens in http://www.culture2000.tee.gr/

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTower-FloorOverviewDrawing.jpg


-This is a sketch drawing depicting the final shape of the Athens Tower from the same angle with the above drawing by the hand of Mr Vikelas himself (1968) as depicted in "Domes" architecture review.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTower-SketchDrawing.jpg


…and this is the model as presented by the Mr Vlachos in "Manifesta", which now forms part of his private collection with the other rejected models presented above.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTowerModel-VangelisVlachos.jpg


One cannot probably understand the blood rush in A&D's top executives those days in 1967 to 1968. It was not just the mere size of the project that could probably kill any weak stomach. It is also the fact that apparently there must have been some intelligence that other firms were preparing similar projects in their drawing boards. Also, it seemed that at the time, there was an abundance of young engineers that were eager to take challenges and push the envelope further. Despite the uncontrollable expansion, the 1960's was the decade that Athens rode a wave of excess modernism and it seemed that there could be no stop to it, especially if we take into account that the Greek economy was only second to the Japanese in terms of development indexes. Whoever built the first scraper would be the king of the real estate market and all the players knew it.


IV. Bolt from the Blue, Iron and Freedom

In late 1967 a large board was erected in front of the land plot that the Athens Tower was to be built:


"ΑΝΕΓΕΡΣΙΣ ΟΥΡΑΝΟΞΥΣΤΟΥ"
"ΠΥΡΓΟΣ ΑΘΗΝΩΝ"
"ΑΝΑΔΟΧΟΣ ΕΡΓΟΥ: ΑΛΒΕΡΤΗΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΗΜΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΑΕ"

"SKYSCRAPER CONSTRUCTION"
"ATHENS TOWER"
"GENERAL CONTACTOR: ALVERTIS AND DIMOPOULOS SA"


Construction of the Athens Tower must have begun in early 1968 and as it seems, went on on a frantic pace since as mentioned before, going tall was in fashion these days, regardless if was done in style or not. But A&D were the pioneers all the way. A few months after the groundbreaking the building started to emerge above the ground, and when it reached the eighth, ninth and tenth floor, it started being clearly visible from all the top terraces of the neighboring 6-storey blocks of flats, and even further than that. At 15 stories above ground it set a new standard in terms of building height and this certainly was the reason that one of its future tenants, the "Commercial Credit Bank", later to become "Credit Bank" and today" Alpha Bank" advertised their new location while under construction and probably in such a way that as if the whole building was owned by them :lol:.

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22634/35743/429299/0/Athens+Tower+under+construction+-+small+800x.jpg
Source: "Αρχιτεκτονικά Θέματα" (Architecture in Greece, Vol. 6/72 )


And the building's top kept up going higher and higher…

Meanwhile, in early 1969, construction on the upper floor of our house had also started in an equally frantic pace. Tassos, "the man with the big papers" as he appeared in my eyes, was coming more and more until, construction started. Then, Tassos would share his time between our house and the Athens Tower construction site. New foundations were laid around our house and 6 new pillars were added to the existing sides of the house to support its structure. Tassos was adamant in that the cement to be used would be of the best quality, despite its higher price. He also employed some of the best builders that were used in the construction of the Athens Tower to work the cement which, in the construction workers' words, was "very thick to work with, what the heck, this isn't the Athens Tower". However, the metaphysical connection was there…

As time went on, Tassos worked with more and more intensity to complete the house since in his view, if construction stopped for any reason, it would have been difficult to be resumed after. He also went on a business trip to Thessaloniki for a few days that must have been in the middle of 1969. When he returned, he went for a full medical check up because he complained for "persistent pain" in the last few weeks. After all, he was working very hard and after the age of 40, fatigue may find strange ways to get to a hard working man and give him a warning to slow down. But it was no fatigue. And the warning – if ever was such a thing, came too late. Way too late.

Nikos Dimou, a Greek writer who keeps one of the best blogs in the Greek blogosphere, in one of his articles (http://doncat.blogspot.com/2006/06/blog-post.html) quoted the famous English writer and philhellenist John Robert Fowles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fowles) according to whom a man's life is determined by three factors (which he named in Greek): sideros, keravnos, elefteria.

Sideros (iron) is the limitations of our reality: time, space, our physical built and mental ability; the predictable details of our gradual wearing out long journey to the unknown yet inevitable end awaiting us all; the natural decay of our body with the passage of time.

Eleftheria (freedom) is our finest hour, the moment we revolt and transcend from the Iron Law of Sideros to the Kingdom of Heaven. When we have outdone ourselves and accomplish something beyond us, something to outlive us in eternity, then we attain real freedom.

Keravnos (bolt) is the unexpected. Something that reshuffles the cards on our life's table – or even turns our life's table -for the better– or the worse! A lotto ticket, a car accident, everything that may make us think that life as we knew it is no longer there…

Tassos was one of the few persons on this planet that was bound to live through the effect of all three factors in a very short period of time. I bet there are not many people on this planet that they could testify what this 43-year old man felt when he learned that in his finest hour he was diagnosed with advanced metastatic cancer, some time in mid-1969. A man in his early 40's, father of one little daughter, ready to advance his career in new heights, whilst belonging to a team including the top engineers in Greece, building at the time the tallest building in a region from Italy to Tehran, and from Moscow to Cairo…

Was it morning or afternoon? Was it a rainy day or a sunny one? What were his immediate thoughts? No-one can tell.

What followed from what I can gather from my mother, is that Tassos fought fire with fire. The brave man engaged in a feverish effort to complete the works in our house as well as the Tower, which for him became his life's work. Our house's upper floor was completed in 1970, at a time that the tower must have already been topped out. My mother tells me that at that time they have invited him and his family for lunch on a Sunday morning. He wasn't in a good shape but at least he could still walk. The urban myth says that at some time before the Great Journey he was brought under the tall building, probably on a wheel chair, certainly been supported along the way. Athens Tower, already topped out and being in the middle of the external cladding stage must have looked a real shiny beauty with its contrast of glass and marble covering the spots that the cladding was completed. Tassos looked up towards the blue sky and said in a faint voice "We did it… We finally did it". Nobody knows if any fellow team member told him "See, it's almost over man, we can take it from here. It's time to rest for you now, dear friend".

For him, that was probably a moment of absolute freedom and redemption, one that consummated everything that he lived for to that day. A moment that no mediocre mind can conceive its grace, let alone feel its transcending meaning. The true moment of freedom.

As for me, I still live in the same house and even now, some 36 years after his passing, my mother still remembers him for his kind presence and giving personality.

So, Tassos passed away some time in 1970, after having finally received his licence granting him the right to sign for the construction of large projects. His name remained on the board in front of the Athens Tower long after his death, until eventually the board was removed. For years, every time my grandfather passed from that particular spot at the base of the tower where Messogeion Avenue begins branching out from Vasilissis Sophias Avenue, he would say the same phrase all over again:

"He didn’t live long enough to really enjoy his work completed".

Yet it was one of these times that he said it, back in the mid-1970's when I looked at the building from its base and I was haunted with awe at the works of Man that edify mankind up to higher spheres. I took a picture from the same spot across Vasilissis Sophias Avenue. This is a vertical panoramic composite pictiure made of two single photographs, because it was impossible to fit everything in a single frame.


http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTower-Composite-medium.jpg

That day, probably some time in spring 1974 or 1975 was the beginning of my interest about buildings. I was not older than 12 1/2 years old at the time, and I then was beginning to understand what has happened to our family "friend with the big papers". Even today, this building reminds me of this brave man, his visions and his quest for excellence, even when confronting the worse, the ultimate adversity a man may face.

Bolt, Iron and Freedom...


V. The Tower and the City

Anyway, in the years that passed, Athens tower became an icon for the city, a recognizable shape in the city's skyline. Following its construction a new generation of towers appeared in Athens, none matching its height or elegance. As the years went by, the dominant ideology changed and, as I point out in my original Athens Skyscrapers thread (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=216281&page=1&pp=20),

"...the building became the hate symbol of a whole new generation of skyscraper haters in Greece that turned up in the early 1980's, with their negativism spread evenly between the government, as well as the ranks of professionals, architects and city planners alike. In any case, the building's boxy shape made sure that the skyline of the district of Ampelokipi, some 5 km from the Acropolis and 1.5 km from the Lycabettus hill to the north-east of the municipality of Athens, would never be the same again."

The negative obsession with this building is depicted in the following picture, originally scanned from a high school textbook by our forumer Kostya, where the legend says:

"Athens: Skyscraper

The dilapidated landscape of Attica and the impersonal style of the Greek capital does not object the the excess height or the cold elegance of the structure that abides to the international style of the big European Cities"

(Parenthesis in Greek: Άρες, μάρες κουκουνάρες που λέγανε οι παλιότεροι…)

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/athenstower-fromKostya-propagandafr.jpg


I continue in the original thread:

"The overwhelming presence of this building was immediately felt and recorded in the press at the time (early 70's). I remember the "Tachydromos" magazine having a story about it some time in 1974, talking about some small houses that were still a few blocks away from it, the last remains of another epoch that even back then, was quickly fading away… . Other papers were talking about a fear of "manhattanization" of Athens, while, when in 1975 the movie "Earthquake" starring Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner reached the Athenian cinemas, this building was part of many "what if" scenarios appearing in newspaper movie reviews. Also, the fire department of the city of Athens talked about their incapacity back then to reach above the 8th floor of a building and the stories continued when another disaster movie, "The Towering Inferno", starring Paul ******, also hit the Athenian movie theatres in 1976.

In reality, when in 1981 and 1999 Athens was hit respectively by two serious quakes measuring some 6+ on the Richter scale each, nothing was heard of the building in contrast to many lowrises, which on both occasions, either collapsed or were severely damaged because of the shakes. Probably the haters of the building would like it to collapse so as not to obstruct the "human scale" of its gray-walled lowrise neighbours. To their disappointment, the building stood and still stands unscratched :D."

Now, the building looks a bit outdated, despite its emblematic height. Both the small shopping arcade on its base, as well as the whole layout of the plaza would have been differently designed, had a similar building built on the same spot today. Chances are that in a few years, some major renovation work may have to be undertaken. In any case, I believe the exterior needs to be left "as is". It is and will be representative of the times when this building stood like a lone King with its smaller brother, against a whole sea of gray mediocrity surrounding it, stood alone for so many years with no equal in the skies of this city…

ΟΚ, ΟΚ, Pictures

VI. Images

A. Athens Tower and the Athens Skyline:

-Athens Tower and the rest of the Athenian talls in the district of Ampelokipi.

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22633/35730/429120/0/Athens+-+Highrise+Skyline+View+from+Hilton+2+-Focus-+small+800x


-The "Classic" View of the tower from the top of Lycabettus Hill

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTower13-ViewfromLycabettusHil.jpg


-From the top of "Profitis Hlias" hill in Piraeus with a large zoom. The top of the tower is visible behind the Philopappos hill. having the topof the tower next to the Acropolis to the left of the pic, probaboy this is the only photo that justifies Vikelas statement that the tower's design attempted to follow a "Greek scheme of 'base, trunk, and crown', subsumed under an overarching sense of a plain and austere rhythm."

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22633/35730/429107/0/Athens+Skyline+from+Profitis+Ilias+1-blasphemous+detail-small800


-This one was taken from the Admin of "Stadia.gr" and was kindly forwarded to me personally. Excellent pic, depicting the tower probably from the top of the 12-storey building of the "Ministry of Planning, Environment and Public Works" (ΥΠΕΧΩΔΕ) in Pouliou street, Ampelokipi (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=ministryofplanning,environmentandpublicworks-astreetns-greece).

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTower-FromStadiagr-AthensTowe.jpg


-View of Athens Tower from President Hotel. I like this pic, but it's not mine. Posted by Greekguy Mike in another thread, but after having seen some editing (needed a bit of contrast and rotation, sorry Mike if this is yours :)) , this is a heck of a shot.

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22634/40271/488967/0/Athens+Tower+from+President+Hotel-compressed.jpg


-As seen from Papagos, on the slopes of the mount Hymettus

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22633/29410/354984/0/Athens+-+From+Hymettus.jpg

Aerial view of the densely built Ampelokipi district depicting the Athens tower in the middle. The observant eye may catch the green coloured football stadium of Panathinaikos FC towards the upper middle part of the picture.

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22633/35730/429123/0/Athens+Aerial+1+-+Ampelokipi+-+small800x.jpg
(C) The Air Club of Serres


-Distant view from the Acropolis, amongst its successors

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/Athens-FromAcropolis-AthensTowers-s.jpg


B. Views of the building:


-The Athens Tower complex as seen from across Vasilissis Sophias Avenue

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22633/29410/389194/0/Athens+Tower+Complex+4Compact+2.jpg


-Looking up from the base... One of my favorite views

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22633/29410/388578/0/Athens+Tower++-+View+from+the+base+2-small.jpg


-View of the building from the park at the crossroads of Alexandras – Vasilissis Sophias Avenue.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTower4-small900x.jpg

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22634/35743/429225/0/Athens+Tower+9+-+small800x.jpg


-View of the entrance of block A, depicting part of the main plaza

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTower12-Entrance-small800x.jpg


-View from a pedestrian street in the district of Ampelokipi. This and the following picture clearly indicate how this building made an impact in its surroundings...

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTower8-Viewfromapedestrianstr.jpg


-View from between two neighbouring blocks of flats. Impressive picture taken from an open space in the neighbouring residential complex where the "Galaxias" (Galaxy) Cinema is located

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTower6-Viewbetweentworesident.jpg


-Yet another view from Vasilissis Sophias Avenue:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTower19-small800x.jpg


-An unusual view from the rear, depicting the block B, taken from the sidewalk in front the "Ippokrateion" Hospital

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthenstowerBuildingB-small800x.jpg


-From the same street after having walked a few meters towards the traffic light in Vasilissis Sophias Avenue

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTower20-small800x.jpg


-Another view of the rear side of the building depicting both blocks, taken from Sinopis street

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTowerComplex5small800x.jpg


-As if waving goodbye in the evening light...

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTower21-EveningLights-smal-1.jpg


-A last glance of a night view from an Athenian terrace with the Lycabettus Hill next to it...

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22634/35743/479976/0/Athens+Tower+and+Lycabettus+-+small+800X600.jpg


Epilogue: Ascension in a Declining World

Every serious student of the history of architecture is aware of the megalomania characterizing structures built by powerful regimes with extensive economic or military influence on a global or even regional scale. This creates the common misconception that because height and size characterizes many structures built during or by an autocratic regime, for whatever reason, they many people tend to make the erroneous assumption that ALL tall and big structures inherently indicate the existence of autocracy in a built environment, seeking to impose their size over a person's relative freedom and beliefs and consequently, through intimidation, deprive him of the willpower to question authority.

True, height and size were used by totalitarian regimes. However their symbolism goes beyond the arbitrary interpretation relating to the symbolic deprivation of freedom. In recent years, tallness has become a new symbol of artful transcendence. If a man cannot transcend physically, then his creations will. Not as a hubris against the greatness of the divine but as an attempt to touch its essence. Height is a tool, as is a knife. As Vikelas pointed out recently in Domes - International Review of Architecture, Vol. # 45/03, pp. 118: "High-rises stand at the pinnacle of technology-driven architecture and are proud monuments to human potential". They are there, tall and proud, standing above their creators, reaching for the skies. And, architecture that reaches for the skies is the product of visionary minds.

As for the ones that do not like tall buildings, I wish them once, just for once in their lives to be in a position to whisper these last words of a man on a wheelchair, yet standing a giant of a man in the respect of his colleagues, having seen iron, freedom and bolt in the last days of his life:

"We did it... We finally did it"…

True creation comes through transcendence, not repetition.


___________________________________________
The original thread is dedicated to the memory of our beloved friend and civil engineer, Tasos Rodanas (1926-1970).

Oh Greg, you 're "spoiling the soup" with your scrapers visions about Athens and Greece! :weird:

Couldn't you just post pictures of breathtaking touristic greek landscapes? :ohno:
After all that's what most people want Greece to be all about :D

Those "κουτοφραγκοι" ("dump-francs") can have all the architecture & highrises they want, us greeks have the mighty "Frappe"! What do they know? :D

BAAHHHH! :D

Oh Greg, you 're "spoiling the soup" with your scrapers visions about Athens and Greece! :weird:

Couldn't you just post pictures of breathtaking touristic greek landscapes? :ohno:
After all that's what most people want Greece to be all about :D

Those "κουτοφραγκοι" ("dump-francs") can have all the architecture & highrises they want, us greeks have the mighty "Frappe"! What do they know? :D

BAAHHHH! :D
Kai afto ta leei ola gia opoion anarwtietai giati den exoume ouranoksistes kai giati eimaste genikotera tritokosmikoi... Giati afti einai i nootropia tou mesou Ellina! Afou exoume to frappe (pou parepiptontws me ahdiazei) ti mas noiazoun ola ta alla? Kala eimaste mes ti mizeria mas.
Kai BTW den exw katalavei an sovarologei o Demetrius i eironevetai alla either way perigrafei poly kala tin nootropia tou Ellina...

Ειρωνεύεται ο κακομοίρης (δηλαδή διακωμωδεί την κατάσταση) από ότι καταλαβαίνω αλλά όλα χρειάζονται.

Απλά στην Ελλάδα εχει επιβληθεί μια μόνο όψη των πραγμάτων -η βολική. Διότι οι αρνητιστές δεν καταλαβαίνουν ότι στην Αθήνα μπορεί να συνυπάρξουν ΚΑΙ η Πλάκα, KAI η Μύκονος αλλά και ένας Ελαιώνας ή/ και Μαρούσι με ουρανοξύστες.

Ε, ας τη σπάμε σε μερικούς, δεν μπορεί να αρέσουμε σε όλους, στο κάτω-κάτω δημοκρατία δεν έχουμε;

Εκτός αν το φόρουμ άλλαξε ονομασία και δεν λέγεται skyscrapercity :D

Εκαστος εφ ώ ετάχθη που έλεγαν και οι σοφοί ημών πρόγονοι... :D

Επιτέλους πρέπει να καταλάβουμε σε αυτή τη χώρα ότι δεν πρέπει να συμφωνούν ΟΛΟΙ για να γίνει κάτι. Και ειδικά όχι τα κανάλια (πρωϊνάδικα, μεσημεριανάδικα, βραδινάδικα) και οι εφημερίδες (αριστερίζουσες, δεξιίζουσες, αντικειμενίζουσες).
Ελεύθεροι άνθρωποι είμαστε και ένας παρανοϊκός νόμος όπως αυτός περί του ύψους των κτηρίων πρέπει να καταργηθεί. Σαφώς αν υπάρχει πρόβλημα με την αεροπλοϊα σε ορισμένες περιοχές ή με την αρχιτεκτονική κληρονομία ή παράδοση (δεν είπαμε να κτιστεί και πάνω στον ιερό βράχο) είναι δυνατόν να εκδίδονται σχετικές απαγορεύσεις.
Τώρα αν κάποιος θέλει να φάει το κεφάλι του (ή να βγάλει κέρδος) και επενδύσει τα λεφτουδάκια του σε ένα πολυόροφο κτίριο ας το κάνει κι ας μην πατήσει κανείς μέσα να τελείωνει η ιστορία.
Αν σε κάποιους δεν αρέσει, είναι δικό τους πρόβλημα, όπως είναι δικό μου πρόβλημα να περπατάω μέσα στις πανάσχημες πόλεις της Ελλάδας και να πιάνεται η καρδιά μου. Τι δηλαδή εγώ είμαι πολίτης δεύτερης κατηγορίας?

Μα η υπόθεση όπως έχω ξαναγράψει δεν αφορά μόνο τα ψηλά κτίρια. Απλά στα θέματα με τα ψηλά κτίρια ξεκαθαρίζουν πολλά πράγματα γιατι διαφαίνεται τελείως πλέον ο παραλογισμός.

Αν έχεις προσέξει, και οποιοδήποτε ξεχωριστό κτίριο πήγε να γίνει το τάραξαν στις προσφυγές. Τώρα τα μουσεία κάπως τη γλυτωνουν στο τέλος γιατι στο κάτω-κάτω είναι κτίρια πολιτισμού. Εκεί, που γίνεται το γλέντι είναι με τα ψηλά κτίρια γιατι υπάρχει η ιδεοληψία κατά της κοινωνίας της αγοράς. Σου λέει τι είναι αυτά, ουρανοξύστες γραφείων, αυτά είναι "στρατευμένη αρχιτεκτονική". Λες και ο Παρθενώνας δεν ήταν "στρατευμένη αρχιτεκτονική", ή οι βυζαντικές Εκκλησίες.

Τεσπα, αν θέλετε να διαβάσετε περισσότερα σχετικά με το θέμα κάντε ένα κλικ ΕΔΩ (http://e-rooster.gr/12/2006/378#comments) και διαβάστε ένα σχετικό άρθρο μου (που είναι αναδημοσίευση από άλλο ιστοτόπο αλλά εδώ έχει και συζήτηση) και τα ξαναλέμε.

Μα θα μου πείς, δεν έχει δικαίωμα και ο άλλος να έχει άποψη; Σίγουρα, αρκεί αν μην την επιβάλλει συνεχώς με τόσο απόλυτο τρόπο και ενδεχομένως να μην βλάπτει τη χώρα του με την απολυτωσύνη του. Ολοι οι καλοί χωράνε σε μια πολη. Και να γίνουν και ψηλά κτίρια τι πειράζει;

Εκτός αν το πρόβλημα είναι ότι αν γίνουν, κανένας δεν θα μπορεί να διαφυλάξει το πράσινο που επρόκειτο να διασωθεί εφόσον από τη στιγμή που θα πέσει μπουλντόζα, οι εργολάβοι δε σταματούν με τίποτα.

Ε, αν είμαστε τόσο αυτοκαταστροφικοί, τότε αλοίμονο μας...

Guys, loosen up a bit!
I believe it is useful from time to time, to be able to sober up with a slight dose of "greek neo-realism" !!! :D
Even if it has to come with a tone of irony on the side!

Δυστυχώς όσο "προοδευτικοί" ή "κοσμοπολίτες" ή "ανοιχτόμυαλοι" θέλουμε ή μπορούμε να αισθανόμαστε από τις συζητήσεις που κάνουμε εδώ μέσα, άλλο τόσο πρέπει να έχουμε επίγνωση από τον μέσο τρόπο σκέψης του απλού έλλαδίτη, ο οποίος δυστυχώς άγεται και φέρεται από τον συρμό, και εμμένει σε αποψεις που απεχθάνονται το καινούριο, εκτός αν αυτό σημαίνει επιπλέον τετραγωνικά στο προικόο :D, απόψεις που τις έχω αντικρύσει (και ενίοτε αντιμετωπίσει :ohno: ) σε προσωπικό επίπεδο, μέσα από τους κοινωνικούς αλλά και επαγγελματικούς μου κύκλους.
Δεν είμαι γενικά απαισιόδοξος ως άνθρωπος, μάλλον οργισμένος με την νεοελληνική καθημερινότητα την οποία βιώνω καθημερινά!
In English: Oooops, time for my prozac! :lol:

Ti na peis Dimitri mou... Crazy situation... :nuts:

And now... a low-res night "mystery pic" I took from the tower a few days ago with my old-fashioned mobile phone...

Nothin' fancy but it intrigued me into taking a similar one, this time with the proper gear... :D

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/AthensTower-LG-Night.jpg

Pas mal huh?

http://www.domotechniki.gr/greek/buildingproject_housing/proj35/1gross.jpg http://www.domotechniki.gr/greek/buildingproject_housing/proj35/3gross.jpg


Μέχρι το Μάιο του 2007 θα ολοκληρωθεί το "Κτίριο Φιλίας μεταξύ Ελλάδος και Βοσνίας-Ερζεγοβίνης" στο Σαράγεβο.
Το κτίριο επιφάνειας 12.500m², που πρόκειται να στεγάσει τα Υπουργεία της Κεντρικής Κυβέρνησης (Council of Ministers) της Βοσνίας Ερζεγοβίνης, έχει προϋπολογισμό 16.000.000 Ευρώ και συγχρηματοδοτείται σε ποσοστό 80% από την Ελληνική Κυβέρνηση στα πλαίσια του προγράμματος του ΕΣΟΑΒ.


The building is being constructed by ΔΟΜΟΤΕΧΝΙΚΗ

Which proves that Greek companies will have no technical problem to raise any building if it is approved. And ΔΟΜΟΤΕΧΝΙΚΗ is not among the largest ones.

Thats a re-clad. It wasn't fully built by Domotexniki.
I love it though, and it has some Greek flags on the site :D.

Oops, OK then, I recall the evidence as misguiding :bowtie:

it's in Athens?

http://www.domotechniki.gr/greek/buildingproject_housing/proj35/1gross.jpg

No, this is the new parliament of Serajevo. The Greeks helped for it to be rebuilt after the damages it suffered from the civil war.

Καλά αυτό δε μου έχει ξανατύχει.

Με έκπληξη μου διαπίστωσα ότι η εφημερίδα traffic, στο φύλλο της 19/12/2006 δημοσίευσε μέρος άρθρου μου φέρον την υπογραφή μιας δημοσιογράφου ονόματι Ελπίδα Στούκα.

Τό άρθρο είναι κλεμμένο από δική μου δημοσίευση εδώ ----------> http://www.e-magazino.gr/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=59

Δηλώνω υπεύθυνα ότι δεν επέτρεψα εν όλω ή εν μέρει την αναδημοσίευση του άρθρου από την εν λόγω εφημερίδα. Τα υπόλοιπα στην κρίση σας…

Recently I was found in a department store, namely the exceptionally good Hondos Center on 159 Patission street (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=hondoscenterpatission-astreetns-greece). Patission street is a straight road [thus the name: Patission (Πατησίων) = "Pate Isia" (Πάτε ίσια) = "go straight" :lol:].

Nevertheless this road begins from the very centre of Athens and goes straight to the "midwest" disticts of the city. So, a few days ago (before the skies last turned cloudy :D) I went there to have a coffee on the 7th floor with my camera. This was a good and a bad idea.

Good because it offers a very good view of the "ugly" sides of the city, the ones we try to hide, and that were built the mid1950s to the mid 1970s.

Bad because the sun is difficult to harness this time of the year, especially in the afternoon. Add to the fact that the white of the Athenian buildings is notorious for ruining the dreams of any photographer about harnessing the contrast between it and the other colours as well as the shades in a pictures(unless it shot with a blue sky background) and you have a recipe for a photographic disaster.

Well anyway, I went on despite the odds conspiring against me I went on. Below you have the result... :)


-Looking towards the back streets of Patission street. In the far right we can see amidst a sea of concrete the twin 18-storey "Phantom" residentials in Ahios Nikolaos (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/cx/?id=103698), close to Acharnon Street (they are so far awat from ANY major arterial road that if you don't know where exactly they are, chances are you'll never find them).

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/FromHondosPatission-TowardsAghiosNi.jpg


-Detail zooming on the twins

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/FromHondosPatission-TowardsAghio-1.jpg


-Looking towards Kypseli district

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/FromHondosPatission-TowardsKypseli.jpg


-Detail depicting a cluster of old residentials on the top of a hill. I suspect this may be the "Ano Kypseli" area. Impressive in its ugliness, this pic depicts the utter density of inner-city Athens districts.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/FromHondosPatission-TowardsAnoKypse.jpg


I left the best for the last part. Unfortunately, I was facing the afternoon sun and thus. excuse my bad photography here:

-Landscape orientation picture depicting the view from the department store towards the Acropolis, with the straight Patission street. The "tall" building in the picture is the 15-storey Greek Telecom Building on Tritis Septemvriou street (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=otetower-astreetns-greece). Quite interesting view.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/FromHondosPatission-AcropolisandOTE.jpg


-Portrait orientation picture frame, same view:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/FromHondosPatission-Acropolisand-1.jpg


And this is the last pic depicting a close - up of the ensemble of the Acropolis and the OTE building. By looking closer at this view, we may find a quite reasonable excuse about why the view of the Acropolis would be spoiled by the presence of tall buildings in its immediate vicinity and mind you, this building was completed in the mid 1960s so at the time, its design seemed... well... OK... :D.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/FromHondosPatission-Acropolisand-2.jpg

Overall, a good case study to reflect on, although the new skyscrapers will be built in such locations so as to not obstruct so offensively the view of the "Holy Rock".

Although in my view, building so ugly buildings overall at the foot of such a wonder of architecture is a sacrilege, regardless of height.

And one last note: Merry Christmas, and the best season's greetings to everybody. Please do not troll this thread with the Athenian ugliness, all cities backyards are ugly, OK?

Although in my view, building so ugly buildings overall at the foot of such a wonder of architecture is a sacrilege, regardless of height.



For sure. Not only building the ugly ones, but tearing down the beautiful in the process.


What did we do. :ohno:


I wish, though it seems impossible, to do a block by block demolishing of these concrete apartments, and erect nicer buildings. At least around the centre. I don't know how that would ever be accomplished however.


Anyway, excellent presentation gm, as always.

I don't know how that would ever be accomplished however.


I do. Bulldozers! Let developers buy up apartment blocks there, tear these anatolian slums down, and erect something distinctly hellenic and beautiful in its place.:cheers:

I don't know but I don't remember of any demolished appartment or ugly block so far, with the exception of the unfinished 98's highrise of Ambelokipoys.

I think they knocked down a couple to build the Acropolis Museum.


Byzknight, in theory yes that seems ok. But to buy whole apartment blocks, where will people go? Will they want to leave? Will the buy out be enough? Can you imagine the protests and so on... popopo

The buildings in some of those pics are a real embarrassment. They need to go!

...και μαζί με τα καλά χριστούγεννα, όσοι θέλετε να μελαγχολήσετε Χριστουγεννιάτικα, δέστε φωτογραφίες από το Πάρκο των Εθνών στη Λισσαβώνα κάνοντας κλίκ ΕΔΩ (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=11013655#post11013655).

Για ευνόητους λόγους έγραψα το μύνημα αυτό στα Ελληνικά γιατι τα Τρόλλς καραδοκούν...

Ετσι για να μην ξεχνιώμαστε... :D :D :D.

I just noticed that my article on Athens Skyscrapers written in Greek, after having been published in e-magazino.gr (click here (http://www.e-magazino.gr/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=59) to see) and e-rooster.gr (click here (http://e-rooster.gr/12/2006/378) to access, lots of comments and discussion also), it is now available (albeit for a limited amount of time) in athinapoli.gr (click here and when connected look to the left hand column of the page). Beware that this article will be there for a limited amount of time though.

http://www.athinapoli.gr is the website of " Αθήνα η Πόλη μας (Athens, our City), a free press newspaper that is connected to the municipality of Athens and is distributed to various locations where, companies, organisations, as well as institutions related to the municipality of Athens and/ or the municipal affairs of this city, are based.

Overall this means that the article, although nothing of literary or research value, is gaining wide acceptance and this in my view is not out of mere luck.

Fist, I have noticed that this thread you are reading, is one of the most successful EVER (closely followed by the other dinosaur, the picture thread of Athens (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=232402) :)) threads published in SSC closing the un-be-friggin-lievable number of 20,000 visits and all that, with increasing frequency during weekends and holidays.

Second, I noticed that my postings and publications outside SSC and SSL regarding skyscrapers are enjoying large numbers of readership, in fact, many times more that the next most read publication. As a matter of fact, I have never approached any of the editors or other administrative persons in the respective sites, on the contrary, they contacted me. I hereby need to thank Mr Fragkiskos from Athinapoli, Ioanna and Vassilis from e-magazino, as well as Fotis and Sotiris and the rest of the gang from e-rooster, for kindly supporting me.

I feel honoured and I wish to extend a big thank you not only for embracing the idea of a tall Athens, but also for supporting me in further publishing my views about the future of Athens, a city that I love from the bottom of my heart and wish it to progress further and of course... reach new heights.

The bottom line however is that besides the support of these site administrators, I noticed that there is a big "underground" flow of ideas and opinions about the future of the beautiful metropolis that we live in. Unfortunately, these ideas still are in, allow me to say, the "incubation chamber", because the people or the groups fostering them, may not be sure... about what there is exactly to be done. This lack of precise proposals may be falsely taken as a state of inertia. However, I am afraid that this is not the case.

The large numbers of visits simply indicate that there is people "out there" that are "ready to embrace new ideas."

Well, I invite you, all unknown readers and visitors, especially Greeks who happen to wander "out there" to join in this forum, if you are interested about building emblematically tall, aesthetic buildings in Athens. If you feel that "now it's the time" (ή ότι απλά "δεν πάει άλλο"), join us, give it a try, and let's fight it. I can assure you that if you look around you will see that most of the cities that surround us are making efforts or have already managed to enter the 21st century. It is good to wish something better for your city. Join us to fight for it together.

The year that has passed has seen the first proposals for tall buildings in Greece after 30 or so years. If you don't know it already (well, I know you know :D), prominent Greek architects have proposed buildings that if built will give our built environment the thrust to gain respect and recognition in the new millennium. Structures that are ages ahead both structurally and aesthetically, as well as in terms of environmental friendliness compared to what you've seen thus far in Greece, being in parity with even the highest standards in place in the most advanced cities in the world. Explore the possibilities, live not just your myth in Greece, but a possibility to become better.

With this and that, I wish you A HAPPY AND REWARDING 2007 and prepare for a long journey of progress and enlightenment…



ALL OUT FOR A TALL ATHENS…

Or as we say in Greek:

ΚΑΙ ΕΙΣ ΑΝΩΤΕΡΑ... :)

I dont know about it being one of the most successful threads ever in SSC, I have seen MANY threads here with excess of 50,000 views. I have seen a thread in SSC with 200,000 views! I was just in a thread in a quiet sub forum with 98,000 views. So interms of this Greek Subforum, yes it is a large number. But If we compare it to SSC as you have mentioned, I dont think it really compares.

But that's another story.

Nice to see the extra exposure...hopefully 2007 will bring new 'life' to the Athenian skyline. The more attention your article gets the better!

Happy new year gm and all other forumers!

You are right, I was a bit over the top, but, especially if something tangible happens, I assure you that we will get those numbers.

However, the credits for this exposure do not go exactly to me, after all, nobody knows how I look like. What counts here is the idea of tallness that is being embraced, and not just the messenger (παρότι στα Ελληνικά λέμε και τη φράση: Μαζί με το βασιλικό ποτίζεται και η γλάστρα :lol: ). I remember very well the words of an architect who is a fervent supporter of tall buildings with whom I had a conversation last fall:

"What we are dealing here with is an exchange of ideas. Don't get personal, don't make it personal, here you support and fight ideas, not people".

And this is true, since most people (including me) at the moment do not have any expectations for monetary or other material rewards. Even the architects that designed these projects for Athens and Thessaloniki know very well that unless the process is speeded (and unfortunately the current administration is not as bold as they should be), given the current limitations, they will have to mostly struggle with medium-sized commercial or residential buildings in order to win their daily bread.

However, I believe that a significant part of today's Greek society, albeit not having a strong voice in the mass media or the press, are ready to accept changes and see this country enter the 21st century. There are people "out there" that know that restrictions and inefficient legislatures are not the solution. And much of the Hellenic NIMBYs problem is -I suspect- related to an ambient sense of mistrust to both the authorities, as well as the big capitalists that -according to them- if given the opportunity- they would have turned the Acropolis into a night club if they had the chance.

Well, I don't believe this is the case (anymore). We all need to sit down and see how we will first cater for the needs of the Business community of the city- and a new Business center in Elaionas with two minor clusters in Maroussi, Drapetsona and Liossia may be a solution- and after 2010, to see how we can drastically change the shape of areas like the ones I have shown you in the previous page. There wont be a magic stick or a city of 4.5 million with structures corresponding to the ones of a city ten times smaller that will do the job, sorry. We may need to manage upward expansion, yes, but not utterly suppress it, period.

And to project and expose this reality to the outside world, I am available and ready to contribute wherever I am called to :)

Again, I wish everybody a fruitful and healthy 2007 where all your dreams and personal aspirations come true :).

@gm2263, να σου γνωστοποιήσω (σε περίπτωση που δεν το ξέρεις) ότι στα θέματα που δημιουργούνται στο ssc υπάρχει ο περιορισμός των «500ίων απαντήσεων».

Όπερ και σημαίνει ότι μόλις το παρόν θέμα συμπληρώσει τις 500 απαντήσεις/μηνύματα/καταχωρήσεις θα κλειδωθεί.

Παρόλαυτα μπορείς να δημιουργήσεις ένα νέο, π.χ έχοντας τον ίδιο τίτλο και απλά προσθέτοντας τον αριθμό 2 (για να δείχνει μια συνέχεια με το προηγούμενο).
Επίσης θα σε παρακαλέσω αυτήν την φορά ο τίτλος να μην είναι με κεφαλαία γιατί χαλάει την ομοιομορφία της Αγοράς.

Ευχαριστώ.

Does Athens have any real skyscrapers??? doesnt look like it, as this is the "definitive" thread...

And I see some of you say that it is not allowed to build scrapers in Athens.. But I also see that there are many tall buildings in Athens - its just that they are very ugly... very commie, and no charm at all...

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/FromHondosPatission-TowardsAghio-1.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/ResidentialTwins-TowerBlockMessogei.jpg

Most cities that use to be conservative, with the new "skyscraper trend", use to have many historical buildings, wich have very high architectonical value... like for example Paris, Oslo, Copenhagen etc.... I don't share this idea being valid in Athens - as very large parts of Athens seem to have very similar chaotic and messy architecture to cities like Jerusalem, Kabul etc.....

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/FromHondosPatission-TowardsAnoKypse.jpg

I mean: is there really any need for preserving this kind of buildings?????? If so, why have you built ugly scrapers instead of real skyzcrapers????

^ I'm so embarrassed when I see those photos...

@ Skanderberg

Thanks for your sudden and recent interest about our city but your question is answered in the first page. I have chosen some pics of the ugly part of the city just to show that it also exists. Similar views may be seen in ALL cities in Europe, and I didn't see any enthousiasm shared on your part about the good parts of Athens depicted in the Athens Photo thread (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=232402) so I believe that any further discussion on this matter will simply be a product of hidden bias on your part and not true interest about my city.

Let us not continue this discussion as we recycle things that have been discussed previously.

^^ Actually I have been visiting this thread for some time - and now I had some questions, I wanted to be answered....THere is no reason for you to get offendet by my post, because there is no need to get offended by the reality... Every city in Europe has parts in it city which are very ugly. But I can proof to you that even in my homecountry Kosovo, its capital: Pristina - does not have any parts wich look like that even though it has suffered a war and oppression over centuries, and many people don't have jobs.....
One more question: why are the houses more similar to Jerusalem, then to you neighbours in the ballkans?? I mean you can't find such an architeture elsewhere in Europe... No reason to get offended just because the question comes from an albanian - I mean I'm just questioning the real situation here....It's not like I am adding something..

Seriously now, what are you trying to say? You tell people that their city looks worst than a bombed city in the balkans and you expect them not to get offended?!... In this thread you have already read about construction laws, economy reasons, social reasons and other that stopped the construction of highrises in the specific area. What don't you understand? Have you actually read the first post? Saying that you can proof that your homecountry looks this and that doesn't mean anything..

@ Skandergerg

Exactly the answer I expected from you. I didn't mention your nationality or anything else - you did. Thanks for making my point clear. :).

@ Kostya and the rest of the friends here:

No need to answer. No wonder why such comments come from some balcan "friends" and not from other European visitors whose cities, I assure you, look much better than Athens, and of course any other Balcan city.

I mean, please...

Ok, let's see if I can straighten this up.... What I am trying to do - is not to make out a point of ugly parts of Athens.... My point is that there is no reason to preserve those ugly parts - because they are so ugly and that that kind of style doesnt belong in Europe. And the reason is because they are even more interrupting to Athens historical image, than some scrapers would have been..... If you read my first post, you will see that this is what I meant - and this is not meant to offend, but rather rationalize and support building scrapers in Athens....

But I can proof to you that even in my homecountry Kosovo, its capital: Pristina - does not have any parts wich look like that even though it has suffered a war and oppression over centuries, and many people don't have jobs.


I ask you one question: Do you want me to post pictures of Pristina and other parts of Kosovo that I have found? Trust me, they are not flattering at all.

If you have nothing good to say or contribute, leave this thread before you ruin all of gm's hard work in putting the information and pictures together.

Yes, that pic of that particular part of Athens is ugly. But a large part of it is the angle that it is taken in. From the sky, it would look something like this:


http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/3457/189478649de3d20ab40bda9.jpg


As you can see, Athens is very dense. If you were to look at this same picture at a lower (or parallel level to the roofs) angle, it would look much worse as one would see more antennas and roof tops.

Smarten up, or get out of here.

Hi Grigori, please let me get a little off topic...or rather off-place, as I want to convince our friends that need to know that aesthetically offending places (or actually worse) can be found in other places of Europe too.

BTW many of the upcoming pics will remind us what an ugly contribution are commies for the urban landscape, and that fortunately Athens lacks of them.

Paris

http://irgendwo.free.fr/defensedec/14.jpg

http://irgendwo.free.fr/uneannee/13.jpg

http://irgendwo.free.fr/defensedec/9.jpg

http://irgendwo.free.fr/uneannee/7.jpg

http://irgendwo.free.fr/uneannee/11.jpg

http://irgendwo.free.fr/uneannee/16.jpg

London

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/2205/aylesbury16ut.jpg

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/4127/socialcleansing02sized0pj.jpg

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/5186/normalsmithpath9ft.jpg

http://www.**********/thumbs/3/%7BFB0F3BFB-5FA0-4073-A74E-C6CFAA0E2A59%7D/AD3A5A.jpg

http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/archive/exhibits/councilhousing/images/C54_0919.JPG

http://www.**********/thumbs/3/%7B313C934A-EE40-4A9B-A711-06E40D9049CA%7D/AY74F6.jpg

http://www.artofthestate.co.uk/photos/trellick_tower_ladbroke_grove.jpg

http://www.artofthestate.co.uk/photos/pglondonLADBROKEtrellick.jpg

http://www.urban75.org/photos/london/images/lon570.jpg

http://www.**********/thumbs/3/%7B5331BBCE-9969-436A-B7A2-9AF6921ECEE9%7D/ASEFB8.jpg

http://www.**********/thumbs/3/%7B23599306-F95D-4E1A-BA0D-B0B715D5D15B%7D/AH6G72.jpg

http://www.**********/thumbs/3/%7BDE5071D6-7E16-4F68-AA2D-0B2716EA00EB%7D/A689BD.jpg

http://www.**********/thumbs/3/%7B900FD933-B411-4CBE-8B1B-523A44359FBA%7D/AJHE71.jpg

http://www.**********/thumbs/3/%7B56B9B97B-DABD-4B09-B411-4A2C60CF0F7B%7D/AG84E8.jpg

http://www.**********/thumbs/3/%7BA11B7EBA-8C44-4B46-BCDA-10159920BF45%7D/AGE63C.jpg

http://www.**********/thumbs/3/%7BCFC599E1-3376-4973-943F-86756F54B097%7D/A3DDM0.jpg

http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/3629/106768669914758b6533mi.jpg

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/8389/108231981cb684f43ba7ux.jpg

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/1176/040207n0235cw.jpg

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/760/szrhhrt0142024353my.jpg

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/9950/thamesmeadlakeside1tv.jpg

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/5888/balfron25nf.jpg

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/4605/129498801b5ac6090f31gf.jpg

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/4420/balfron13bw.jpg

http://www.**********/thumbs/3/%7BBC5B8C54-68E3-473C-B093-16056DD654DC%7D/AH7G89.jpg

And finally a 1972 Whitechapel district photo
http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/7995/downie010pp.jpg

Grigori, great examples.

Here is one more:

We all know how beautiful Barcelona is. It is one of Europe's finest cities. However, take a look at the following "aerial" photos and the city looks not too appealing. Again, the angles pictures are taken at play a large role on what one sees. However, from street level, Barcelona is beautiful...

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/8259/barca1qn4.jpg

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/5017/barca2uo9.jpg

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/544/barca3cp4.jpg

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/2346/barca4wf6.jpg




YES! This is a pic of Barcelona.....do you now see our point? These look very similar to some of the uglier parts of Athens...these can be found in any city of Europe, or the world, for that matter.


http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/4967/barca5cy1.jpg

I appreciate your contribution guys but I hope time is not a scarce commodity for you right now to waste in replying to this thread (although I am afraid that Leafs must be in his office given the time difference between Greece and North America).

I have posted the above pictures of Athens so as to display an interesting part of the city which has been the focus of interest of many architects, since most of the blocks of flats depicted there, were built in the 1950's and 1960's and despite their ugliness in their rooftop views, inside they are cozy enough, bearing no resemblance to other mass housing projects. As a matter of fact, many foreign architects have been impressed by the fact that in the 1950's and 60's these otherwise "impersonal" structures had entrances covered with marble, elevators and central heating systems. Street life is enviable in these areas with many clubs, shops, etc. As a matter of fact, I took these pictures from Hondos Centre in Patission street, one of the finest department stores in Europe

Now, I would object the posting of pictures from London or Paris for the mere reason that they mean nothing to me. Every big city has ugly areas in its backyards. These pictures, albeit interesting at times since they prove that cities and urbanism are subjected to dynamic porcesses and not simply planned government actions, they are NOT representative of these cities themselves.My parents have long lived in Paris back in the 1960s and told me stories about the centuries-old lowrises in Paris. A friend of mine had to cross the Altern Estate in London by foot to go to Roehampton Institute to attend his sociology classes. So? Did this blemish the image of the Louvre or the Houses of Parliament? Not to mention that I like these towers from La Defence (http://irgendwo.free.fr/defensedec/14.jpg) posted by Grigoris Sokratis (α, ρε συνονόματε :hug: ). Very pioneering designs for the time they were built (circa early 1970s if I am correct), and they can still stand as representative buildings of the modernist era.

Also, I wouldn't post pictures of Pristina here, or whatever. Don't bite the bait of few strange individuals that want to kill time by starting flame wars. Pity, as I praised the effort of Pristina to modernise its image in many forums...

Anyway, enjoy another view of Athens from the poor and dilapitated slums of Maroussi, around the Athens Olympic stadium. This area is close to Kifissia, Pefki, and other poor suburbs in the north of Athens. The northern suburbs of Athens where some 500,000 people live, is considered as one of the poorest in Europe, almost in need for humanitarian help :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/gm22632/24691/334269/0/OAKA+-+From+Tourkovounia+-+3+-+OAKA.jpg

Wow Barcelona looks like Athens from above...


Does Athens have any real skyscrapers??? doesnt look like it, as this is the "definitive" thread...


If you actually did read through the topic as you said, you would have seen that Athens has 1-2 "real" skyscrapers. And you would have read the history as to why this is the case, and what we can hope for in the future. So your questions have already been answered if you did read through this whole topic.

Also, I wouldn't post pictures of Pristina here, or whatever. Don't bite the bait of few strange individuals that want to kill time by starting flame wars. Pity, as I praised the effort of Pristina to modernise its image in many forums...

Why don't u guys read anything of what i wrote??? I am NOT trying to offend you - but the more i say so, the more u believe i actually am.. I have no motivs for saying what I am saying.. The only thing I am saying is that: skyscrapers, or other modern buildings (like for example the olympic games building) would not RUIN Athens image, that is because THERE ARE MANY UGLY BUILDINGS, that ruin it more (the historical image) than some skyscrapers would do.... For example: if Athens made the slums that are a bit away from the historical sites as districts were it is allowed to build scrapers or other modern buildings - this would NOT harm Athens...
DOn't you think I am aware of that Athens has many ancient historical sites, and other parts of the city wich looks beatiful??? If U see a former comment I made a while ago, I was very impressed of the infrastructure in Athens...
The reason why Athens don't have scrapers, is according to you guys because it is not allowed to build so because it will ruin Athens historical image (that is what it is all about - and I am aware of that)... So how can I comment this, without mentioning the very ugly parts of Athens - that could be replaced with such buildings WITHOUT DOING ANY HARM!!?!! This is my point - My point is not to try to draw the image of Athens as the ugliest city in the world (wich some of you may believe)....

This is not an attack from me! Believe it or not - I have nothing against Greeks as a nation (except some individuals that tend to be very racist towards albanians) - actually Im very interested in greek history, and I listen to some greek music - so u have no reason to think that I hate greeks and is trying to make "a war"..... I have been in Greece for vacation once, and I liked it a lot...

My comments were not political comments: they were supposed to take the attention to the uglier parts of Athens that could have been a special zone for modern buildings to be allowed - because the replacement wouldn't exactly do any harm....... Its a skyscraper debate - and your goverments policy against them...

On a last note though, I don't think that the buildings in Patission street (where I took the photos under discussion), if ever demolished, would be replaced by skyscrapers. They are too close to the Acropolis. The closest point could easily be Elaionas, some 4km from the Acropolis, an industrial area now destined to be the new Business centre of Athens with the new Athens Stock Exchange building under construction, whilst the new football stadium of Panathinaikos FC is expected to be given permit in the coming months.

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/8259/barca1qn4.jpg

I hope this is an old pic of Barcelona(before the olympic games), if not then I have to review my opinion on this city. They seem to have a pollution problem.

The common problem of Athens and Barcelona is the lack of roofs at buildings. I think this is what makes these cities look ugly from air.

For example: if Athens made the slums that are a bit away from the historical sites as districts were it is allowed to build scrapers or other modern buildings - this would NOT harm Athens...



But Athens has no slums. Just because an apartment building doesn't have a roof and looks ugly from the air doesn't mean it is slums.


I understand your point, but how exactly do you propose knocking down peoples apartments to erect skyscrapers?


Most of the buildings would look alot better if they were just painted, instead of the concrete look.

I hope this is an old pic of Barcelona(before the olympic games), if not then I have to review my opinion on this city. They seem to have a pollution problem.

Well, it probably is an old pic, but if you look at the other (more new ones), you get the point of how it looks worse from the air than on the ground. Let's not kid ourselves, Barcelona is an amazing city! :)

The common problem of Athens and Barcelona is the lack of roofs at buildings. I think this is what makes these cities look ugly from air.

I totally agree with you here. If you note, in the nore northern suburbs of Athens, they still build homes and buildings in white but add the red shingles on the roofs and it makes a world of a difference. In this aspect, Athens is moving in the right direction.

Cheers! :cheers:

Yeah, the problem is those ugly apartments are the old ones and are mostly next to the Acropolis and in the general central area, they are literally the most viewed/visiable.

The newer suburbs are real class, modern looking apartments with roofs etc...


I think in the very least, we should make a code to paint the outside of the buildings. Nice bright colors like yellow, red or blue and even without roofs it wouldn't look so bad....

Yeah, the problem is those ugly apartments are the old ones and are mostly next to the Acropolis and in the general central area, they are literally the most viewed/visiable.

The newer suburbs are real class, modern looking apartments with roofs etc...


I think in the very least, we should make a code to paint the outside of the buildings. Nice bright colors like yellow, red or blue and even without roofs it wouldn't look so bad....


Δεν νομίζω ότι με διαφορετικά χρώματα θα φαίνονται ωραία τα κτίρια. Αν τα βάψουν, πρέπει να τα βάψουν άσπρα γιατί αλλιώς, θα φαίνεται σαν τα Τίρανα η Αθηνα....

My point is that there is no reason to preserve those ugly parts >>>

The Answer to your "question out of interest" is that ofcourse there is no reason for but you cant just demolish over night some 200-500 ugly buildings in a city with 4,5 million people...!!! Sometimes thinking helps...

As for the ugly parts of Athens.. well they are indeed very ugly but there are ugly parts in every city as we can see in previous posts...

Athens made a giant step forwards.. within 10 years the city changed like no other city has... Is there alot of work to be done? sure it is... But so far so good...

Well, it probably is an old pic, but if you look at the other (more new ones), you get the point of how it looks worse from the air than on the ground. Let's not kid ourselves, Barcelona is an amazing city! :)



I totally agree with you here. If you note, in the nore northern suburbs of Athens, they still build homes and buildings in white but add the red shingles on the roofs and it makes a world of a difference. In this aspect, Athens is moving in the right direction.

Cheers! :cheers:

The last pic indeed puts the difference. Red roofs look really nice with white painted houses and buldings, it also gives a mediterranian touch to the city... :okay:

Well I know some cities are doing wonderous things with colour nowadays.....Perhaps a template to follow.

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/3240/img2716vh6ho1.jpg
http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/9894/22579286buildingssr4.jpg

It wasn't my intention to bash neither London nor Paris of course, as I still believe they're among the most beautiful cities on earth (in the case of Paris, the most). I also enjoy those two cities each time I travel there. I don't know but if you take care to some previous posts of mine you can realize that to me Paris is an example to follow.

Btw, I would say that having a Parization of the Kypselli area would be a fine idea, as I'm a defender of the neoclassical/eclecticism renaissance (maybe I'm being utopic) ***sigh****.

A second Kolonaki in Kypselli would be great.

Also roof gardens would be a great addition already under implement in some cities like Paris, btw; Geneva, Zurich, Vienna, etc.

Finally I don't like those colored buildings at all, sorry but I like to be sincere.

LOL!
Im assuming Prometheus was being sarcastic as the only city doing that with colours is also the poorest city in Europe.

;11143822']LOL!
Im assuming Prometheus was being sarcastic

http://www.gamerevolution.com/games/pc/strategy/evil_genius_drevil.jpg

Speaking about Kypseli though, I like the Fokionos Negri street with the cafes and everything. I have a cousin living there and it's nice.

Now as for urban regeneration, I expect that ca 2015 we may see vast interventions in that part of the city too. And I ain't talking about re-painting of the facades (although the relevant programmes have been utterly successful before and after the Olympic games). I am talking about real demolitions of whole blocks.

However, the difference between Athens and other cities is that Kypseli may for instance be ugly BUT it's NOT slum, and ALL the apartments there are occupied (in fact, they are nice and cozy). It's a neighbourhood and not some massive city project gone bad if you know what I mean.

With this and that I would like to stress your attention to what our mod pointed out to me a couple of pages earlier regarding the "500-post rule" i.e. that threads reaching 500 posts/ replies are automatically locked and a new one may be opened, in our case something like thens skyscrapers II or something. So, I believe that we shouldn't deplete the full number of posts alloweed in this thread since I expect that Athens may giveus some pleasant surprises in the future. I have to upload some materials given to me by architects plus, I would like -before reaching the limit of posts, to provide you with a FULL list of the scrapers ever proposed for Athens (dating back to the 1970's of course).

With all that however, on the other side I was delighted to see all the most active forumers paying a visit here. Thanks guys and expect more, given the proper time for preparation...

And finally, may the new year bring more good newes regarding construction of tall buildings in Athens.

..και όχι μόνο ψηλών, αλλά εν γένει "εμβληματικών" κτιρίων γιατι από ότι βλέπω, είμαστε η μόνη Ολυμπιακή πολη στην οποία αντί να γίνεται "μπουμ" μετα-Ολυμπακών έργων, έχει πέσει νέκρα και αναρωτιέμαι γιατι...

Εκτός αν οι κατασκευαστές περιμένουν αλλαγές στο νομοθετικό πλαίσιο. Είναι κι' αυτό μια πιθανότητα...

And, thanks to your love and visits, this thread as at today has officially passed the number of

20,000 HITS

... and counting :):):):)

I hope the readers, and especially the Hellenes non-members and guests of this forum occupying influential positions get the message... :) It's time to dare...

I think one way Athens can improve its look from above is to paint the flat-tops of apartments in the same colours as tiled rooves (red, terracotta, burnt orange etc). Also, the idea already put forward by Athenian officials encouraging gardens on roof-tops is a step in the right direction, as roof-tops in Athens are like the backyards for apartment tenants, albeit very public for the whole world to see.

Here is an aerial pic of part of Naples in Italy, where they've painted their flat roof-tops in the same colours of tiles. It's not a great pic, but I think you can get the general idea.

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/9490/zzznaplesaerial2tf4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I believe i also made a post about this topic some time ago.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=369958&page=2&highlight=hats+on+heads
I think addressing the flat ugly roof issue should be of primary importance!

So... again I am working on something to be seen some time in the next few days.

In the meantime, I give you one of my new visions of the Attica Road looking from Kifissias Avenue junction towards the Mall Athens...

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20Visual%20Art/AtticaRoadskyscrapers2-480x.jpg

Just to heat things up a little... :)

Hi Grigori very nice work indeed, but being realistic and as things are going on I think that this kind of megastructures will be seen someday in Elaionas instead of Maroussi.

I think they will go the whole hog in Elaionas as the area is larger and with high needs of renovation making of it an Athenian La Defence or Canary Wharf, they're even planning a bigger mall than the one of Maroussi (a real monster actually, I hope they'll give it a nice and appealing arch style).

Indeed, if a change gonna take place that'll start from Elaionas. It is already known that the structure coefficient will raise from 0.8 to 1.6. But surely some spots in Maroussi could be another alternative for something taller (some others have been wasted throughout the years). Attiki odos in any way, is a perfect place, especially for structures in the size of the building shown far to the right on gm's "visual" picture above!

What i like about athens is its lack of skyscrapers. i feel they are souless commercial lumps add no unity to any skyline and the more you have, the more meaningless and familiar the skyline becomes. It is best to keep architecture related to man's own proportions. A few skyscrapers, ok, anymore - Athens will just become another city like all the others. In life it is nice to be unique, not desire a fall into the culture industry as Adorno puts it.

^^ There is a practical touch to everything. Skyscrapers have a purpose! To not build them where it really needs is just a stupidity. And a city needs and big structures and vastly developed infastructures in general! I cannot understand your thinking (as of many other people) about a big city! We could not use automobiles as well and remain to the horse carriages....they have a more "human feeling"!!! Sorry.

What are those "man proportions" that everybody is talking about!
For god's shake, if we were building like that, the largest building would be 2 meters high.
Man will build anything if it suits his needs, and has the technical ability to do so.

that would be sick if athens had buildings like that wow

I thought that we discussed this issue many times before.

Athens doesn't need (and it's not possible to build) skyscrapers anywhere. However, there are places (Elaionas, and locations in Maroussi or the area of the closed fertilizers factory in Drapetsona) where tall buildings could be erected for a start and hurt nobody, nor obstruct the view of the Acropolis or otherwise molest the view of the classical landscape of the city.

If such a decision was made in the 1980's, Athens would have been in a much better condition, had this development been properly planned. For reasons well known and described in post #1 of this thread (which will be closed in post #500, as per SSC regulations so please let us not repeat the same things again and again), back at the time different decisions were made which led to the creation of an over-swollen 7-storey tall city on the average and in its tallest parts.

This led to the following results:

1. Under-development and under-construction in vital parts that could have had skyscrapers built on them without harming the historical views of the city. Especially in Kifissias Avenue , the trained eye can see that tall buildings would have been suitable for the open spaces north of Psychikon. The fact that they were not built led to exorbitantly high prices on office buildings in the late 1990s, something which almost made the relevant real estate sector to nearly collapse. The offer of really useful and functional category A' office space in Athens (and Greece) is minimal and although in terms of absolute numbers there seems to be adequate office space, when it comes to the type that is mostly needed by modern firms and serious investors, supply is scarce, inadequate and offered at high prices.

2. The fact that tall buildings are not been built even in the periphery of Athens has lead to an uncontrollable expansion of the city which, although it did not solve any problems (on the contrary, in the present of height restrictions, the developers try to occupy all available space in a property, it is not height but the coverage of a land plot that creates this type of -allow me the term "urban asphyxiation" we experience in Athens), it aggraveted the situation.

Disorganised development in small plots of land leads to chaotic urban patterns with equally chaotic functions that create multiple problems, especially in the case of office developments. It is mathematically impossible to maintain "human scales" in a city of 5 million that claims to be the metropolitan centre of the Balcans west of Istanbul. The only cities that do not have tall buildings are the Scandinavian (the Turning Torso and some others are the bright exception to the rule) and Rome.

However, first of all, Rome is an open museum-city (Athens has lost this, despite the Acropolis when it passed the 2-million inhabitants mark) and is part of a bipole whose other end is Milan (which, after a 30-year inertia is destines to see one of the biggest booms witnessed in a European city-ever).

So, I believe that Athens sooner or later will have to face the dilemma of going taller or lose its momentum as a financial centre to other cities in the Balcans that are more eager to attract investments. The most probable pattern for Athens would be the one of Paris or Vienna where, outside of the city centre, a new Central Business District (CBD) should be built and as a consequence, the historical centre of the city be preserved and gradually relieved of harmful functions that were concentrated there during the decades 1950-2000.

This may take place by having the state, the contractors and the nearby residents engaging to some sort of a "social contract" where each party will negotiate and agree on the benefits and the visions needed fr the city to go forward. If this doesn't happen, in the absence of a new realistic master plan, which will provide for the abolishment of height restriction on certain zones, we will see the ridiculous situation of guerilla warfare between residents (both bona-fide skeptics and NIMBYs) and the developers making covert moves (σαν τους κατσαπλιάδες) in order to acquire and develop pieces of property that due to their location (i.e. facing major arterial roads) are suitable for anything but lowrise residences (I am not aware of any masochist who would like to have his apartment facing a 6-8 lane highway like Kifissias, even if no office blocks are built nearby...

Of course, the historic centre, and the traditional neighborhoods of the city as well as most of the seafront must remain untouched.

This is what common sense and worldwide practice suggests. Now, if in Athens and Thessaloniki we try to reinvent the wheel, we must be very careful, because experience up to now, may suggest otherwise. Urban planning is a disciplined process and NOT something based on emotions and obsessions.

After all, if people do not like living in a big city, there are other lowrise cities in Greece that are jewels, like Chania, Volos or Ioannina. To want and try to dictate bringing the scales of construction in these cities to a conurbation of 5 million indiscriminately is absurd and in contrast to any means of urban development practice worldwide or even common sense.

Time for a new social contract and a brand new vision which will enable us to re-arrange green areas in Athens and concurrently allow for sustainable development in our city. The cases of Toronto, Sydney, Melbourne, Vienna, Paris, Bratislava, Warsaw need more careful examination as they may provide us with viable models of highrise expansion.

I have said it before...Athens needs skyscrapers for vanity purposes, just like any other city in the western world.

;11450037']I have said it before...Athens needs skyscrapers for vanity purposes, just like any other city in the western world.

Listen, I want skyscrapers in Athens, but not for "vanity" puroposes.

Take a look a Rome, Italy. It is probably the nicest city in the "Western world". It has no clusters of skyscrapers, and like Athens, may have a couple of older taller office buildings scattered throughout the city. What's wrong with Rome? Nothing.

After some time of inaction on my part, I am happy to present you with the first video dealing with the need for building Athens Skyscrapers!!!.

The video is the third in a series small documentaries prepared by the e-rooster community ( http://www.e-rooster.gr ), which is a blog/discussion forum on issues related to economic and social liberalism.

The address of the video in e-rooster where you are strongly recommended to go to see the relevant discussion in Greek (and participate if you wish) is: http://e-roosters.blogspot.com/2007/01/rooster-report-episode-3.html

The video content is in Greek since it is adressed to a Greek speaking audience. The visual material came 99% from my photos and other downloaded visual material


wtQ6vMGhvcY&eurl
(C) e-rooster (2007)


The video production film credits are as follows:

-Project Manager: Fotis Perlikos, e-rooster principal administrator
-Narration: Katerina Koutsikou
-Video and Audio Editing: Kostas Christidis
-Visual Material co-ordinator: Gregory Maloucos a.k.a. gm2263

Script sources:

-Fotis Perlikos (2005), "Λίγο Ακόμα, Να Σηκωθούμε Λίγο Ψηλώτερα", Article published in e-rooster, address link: http://www.e-rooster.gr/04/2005/86

-Gregory Maloucos (2006), "Ουρανοξύστες στην Αθήνα: Ένα Απόλυτο Νεοελληνικό Ταμπού". Available at the following sites/ addresses (listed in chronological order of publication):

e-magazino.gr: - http://www.e-magazino.gr/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=59
e-rooster.gr - http://www.e-rooster.gr/12/2006/378

Also, the article was published in the monthly newspaper "Aθήνα η πόλη μας", #14, December 2004, p. 5 and will be available for a limited period of time in in http://www.athinapoli.gr , albeit without the full visual supporting material presenty in the printed edition.

Music Tracks used: As per relevant credits list at the end titles of the video.

@ Leafs Fanatic:

Also, we should not forget that in Italy we have Milan as a financial centre and Rome as the historical/ government one. And yes, Milan HAS skyscrapers and they are planning for MANY more at the time of this writing. :) As doew Brescia, Naples and quite a few other cities whose names elude my grasp at the moment (getting old, wise and senile, that's the fate of all the great men... :ancient: )

Well, they made a good one-sided debate by posting great pictures of the other cities and crappy pictures of Athens (aside from one or two - no offense to gm, as I've seen a number of your pictures and many of them are excellent). Had they posted great pictures of Athens, many people would probably have been going "Huh?"

She mentions the decentralization of economy and the presence of economic centers across the Athens area. To be honest, that's one of the things I love about Athens. Anywhere you are, you can get to one of these centers within 5 minutes walking. Of course, overall economy suffers for this. It's a trade-off.

It would be great if a few scrapers were built in Athens. I think their side of the debate, however, would be better accepted by the greater community if they also acknowledged the beauty Athens does have due to the lack of scrapers. Then, they could find common ground, without turning off "anti-scraper" people, to maybe get through the few skyscrapers that would be ideal for Athens. Showing pictures of New York and Tokyo probably isn't the way to go if you're trying to convince somebody.

Great video though, and I'm glad to see some initiative.

Take a look a Rome, Italy. It is probably the nicest city in the "Western world". It has no clusters of skyscrapers, and like Athens, may have a couple of older taller office buildings scattered throughout the city. What's wrong with Rome? Nothing.

Whats wrong with Athens? It isn't taken as seriously as Rome.
Skyscrapers really do redefine a city, especially a city like Athens that isn't know for its glamorous European architecture like Paris.

Basically, Skyscrapers being built for vanity in Europe has been a rule of urbanisation for some time now because old European cities cant cope with complete clusters like North America (generally speaking of course).

What I'm saying is, economically there is no real need for skyscrapers however they would certainly improve Athens image as they are the main symbol of contemporary architecture.

Take a look at Astana, capital of the now famous Kazakhstan..
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/lb/thumb/1/1c/Astana.jpg/220px-Astana.jpg

It gives a good impression and rids the capital and nation of the damage borat did with his false facts.

^^ There is no economic need building skyscrapers???? Just vanity reasons? Sounds a little out of reality to me! Nobody invests a backet of money to built something that tall just for "vanity"... Of course skyscrapers are impressive, but as i said before they have a purpose beyond that. One of these purposes goes to economic issues. I won't analyse it, i think it's easy for everybody to understand. As for Athens of course won't ever need 100-200 scyscrapers but should have 20-30 in specific areas.

The Great Costas Kondylis on Skyscrapers in Athens!!!

As at "Kathimerini" Newspaper Sunday Edition Magazine, 21 January 2007.


http://www.ekathimerini.com/kathnews/photos/26-01-07/26-01-07_79354_1.gif

Something that would arouse my architectural imagination is the site of Hellenikon, the former Athens airport. It is the best plot of land in Europe and the best chance for something new in Athens and hence Europe. I am not being vague. A whole community of skyscrapers, the Canary Wharf, turned London into the financial center of Europe. The same occurred in Paris with La Defense. New commercial centers were created without spoiling or degrading these cities, providing new areas for business to develop. The old airport, therefore, is the ideal location for a commercial center with office skyscrapers that could become a focal point for foreign companies as well so that Athens can become the financial center of the Balkans and Middle East. I have images in my mind that could form a harmonious whole.

For example, an Olympic square with an Olympic Torch lit permanently in the middle, green spaces between the buildings, passageways to provide easy access to the sea, creating the Copacabana of Athens, hotels, apartment blocks, schools

Click below to access the full article.

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_ell_6218605_26/01/2007_79354

Also, I found another very interestimg article in Greek by Mr Theodore Charagionis titled "Διεθνείς επενδύσεις σε επαγγελματικά ακίνητα στην Ελλάδα"

The full article, originally published in the newspaper "Κέρδος" can be accessed here:

http://www.kerdos.gr/default.aspx?id=465766&nt=103

Mr Charagionis is CEO of the Charagionis Group. Click below to be teleported to the Charagionis Group site:

http://www.charagionis.com

Thanks for the article.

Kondylis is a brilliant man and is one of Greece's best hopes for a true world-class project involving skyscrapers.

The idea of a Greek "Canaey Wharf", in Athens that is, is really rouses my enthousiasm!! And the intrest of such a man to take action in our city is great!

@gm2263
Do you think tha Hellenikon area is suitable for such a development plan? Or we should have another type of development over there? I believe that we could use it for more recreational activities (sports / parks) and some touristic development with some 2 or 3 high-rise luxury hotels. We could have some museums as well, a must for tourist attraction, maybe a "Technology & science Museum" (one of my dreams for a decent museum of such type to open its gates in Greece). And of course some medium densely business activities supporting all the recreational ones (restaurants/ cafes etc).
What do you think?

@ Prisma and the rest:

My friend, Kondylis was not the only one thast has envisioned skyscrapers for this part of Town.

A Greek-Australian developer, Mr Stamoulis (with LOTS of aussie bucks) also proposed a huge development for the area with skyscrapers, a Formula 1 track AND a park, all 3 in one location. Click HERE (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=261621) to read about this grandiose plan, and see renderings that prove that the Hellenes of the Omogeneia have bright ideas and are ready to offer their money and expertise if asked.

Also, there is another article in Greek by Sotiris Georganas called: Attika 2050 AD: The Big Plan (Αττική 2050μχ - Το Μεγάλο Σχέδιο) who sees the development area of Hellenikon as a stepping stone for the re-organisation of the whole of the Attica basin. Click HERE (http://e-rooster.gr/06/2006/238) to access this well documented research too...

Food for thought my friends, just food for thought... :)

Very intresting development plans indeed. Our leaders must "wake up" and, at last, Athens take place to the "step ahead" which other European cities are about to make. That, of course, will be in a smaller scale but we must take the opportunity. Paris and London (especially London) are the leaders for a "Europe of the 21th century". In Paris propositions for 1 or 2 skyscrapers of 300m (or more) as a city new symbol are taking place.
On the other hand in London a skyscraper of over 300m, the "London Bridge Tower" have been approved amongst others.http://www.skyscrapernews.com/imagesall.php?ref=46&idi=London+Bridge+Tower&self=nse&selfidi=46LondonBridgeTower_pic1.jpg&no=1

A "vision booming" hits the European continent. We must take place as well and let that vision turn to reality and stand up;) Maybe not to 300m or something but why not up to 100-150 m!

I really hope Athens can overcome the outdated way of thinking in regards to skyscrapers. If they are built away from the Acropolis what's the problem? And why stop at 150 meters if tecnology can provide earthquake safety? Such a low limit defeats the purpose and sets the standard way too low. I just don't understand the opposition. :nuts:

^^ I'm not opposite to something taller than the 150m. Not at all. But we must keep in mind that Athens, at least for now, may not need something a lot taller than 150m. We must first give up our stupid restrictions and start from somewhere.

Cool. The pundit has spoken.

'The best plot in Europe', WOW!!!

Isn't Eero Saarinen's building still at Ellenikon? That would have to be incorporated into what could be a fantastic new focal point for Athens. One of at least three that've been discussed already. Elaionas and Maroussi being the others.

Ellinikon must be the most high profile and ripe for development. The visionaries are there. It's time to make it happen.

@ Prisma and Metro:

Usually, when a city enters the highrise world, there are two patterns of development.

-For large economies, a whole area of the town (in Europe, preferably out of the historic centre of the city, in an un/under-developed area), is massively regenerated and even after 5 years you have a whole "new city" there. That was the case of Canary Wharf, which was almost forcibly turned from an old docklands dilapidated plot to a huge office cluster even from phase 1 from 1997-1991, although the planning goes back as eatly as the first years of M.Thatcher's administration who was a fervent supporter of the project. Notably, two things happened: First, one developer, the Canadian Olympia and York, was chosen for the whole of phase 1. Second, because of the massive offer of high class of office space, the market was saturated, given also a relative recession that the UK economy suffered in the early 1990's and this resulted in the bankruptcy of the project which took years to recover (and consequently, to see numerous new towers under construction).

Had this project been proposed for a smaller economy, we don't know what the results might have been in the face of an economic disaster. Bigger economies can sustain large projects even when the markets are downhill and the existing wealth sometimes plays the role of a "protective cushion" in case of such sudden financial disasters. For smaller economies, the perils of a venture involving a big financial risk gone bad many be spread all over a society's financial activities and consequently, seal off the possibility that a similar venture may be undertaken later

-For smaller economies, the most prudent way would be for the state to allow an area of the city for many developers to experiment, subject to preset specifications. This invitation allows for a gradual expansion and is what we see now taking place in reborn economies and cities like Warsaw (since the early 1990s), Pristina, Tirana, Belgrade, Prague, Bratislava, etc. These cities didn't go like- boom!!! Build 1,000,000 sq metres here and that's it!!! On the contrary, they started experimenting to see what formula fits better their economic size, and proceeded accordingly. France did something similar, albeit in a more planned manner. They designated the area, they planned the process, they invited the players but always in control of the result, that's why La Defense started being developed in the very early 60's (late 1950s in fact) but really flexed its first muscles in the mid-1970's, after the completion and the development of the futuristic RER Rail and metro station there.

In the case of Greece and Athens I would go for the middle ground too. What the few relating to the real estate markets say, even unofficially, is that Greece must move away from this state-induced protectionism and citizens must fight the conservative powers that constitute a drawback to unleashing the creative forces in our country. However, this will have to be done progressively as the real estate market in our country may go off with a big bang in case of an uncontrollable offer of hundreds of thousands of square metres of category A office space that most likely the market may not be able to absorb. For sure though, many big businesses in Athens, as well as smaller firms would go for high places if given the chance…

My view is that Athens suffers very much from the absence of such structures, but as I say, caution should be exercised and to this end, anything above 160-200m is rather unlikely to succeed. Anastasakis three-tower "multi-skyscraper" proposal which is designed for a 160m+ highest habitable spot and 200m structural height is in my view the realistic limit in terms of size and height that we can reach for now and until 2020, given the present conditions. Although my Greek experience suggests that after the first bang, a highrise frenzy may ensue, with Thessaloniki also starting to danse in high beats… Hopefully…

________________________________________________________


At this point I must warn our guests and visitors to the fact that after reaching its 500th post, this thread will be locked as per SSC rules and a new one will be opened.

However, regardless of the overwhelming response of this thread here, I too am not certain whether a new one should be opened, solely devoted to a topic that is still almost nonexistent in all but the minds of a few highrise-conscious compatriots and a handful of brave architects that dared to propose what is now becoming a regular pattern of urban expansion, even for cities that this would be inconceivable some time ago.

I am proposing then a new thread called: Athens Skyscrapers and Modern Architecture 2, which will not only encompass whatever developments we may have in the area of tall buildings, but also, about anything that is related to real estate news with regards to office, professional and retail use, as well as anyhting that if talled it would have made a skyscraper (No stadiums, No Museums, etc.)

This way, we will avoid opening threads about existing individual buildings falling in the above categories, whilst allowing ALL visitors to understand that there may be some buildings that are not, err, highrises BUT possess the same degree of novelty in their design, as well as equal quality, only smaller and shorter that their tall counterparts elsewhere. To this end, I urge those of you with a camera to become more mobile and take pics of moder buildings and complexes white you are walking the streets of our city, or Thessaliniki, or whatever. We need to show thw world that something's going on here, and that a new city is born.

Also, I will reserve the next couple of posts for the recapitulation of this thread which will also include some pointers to significant earlier parts of this thread, plus some additional material, surprise-surprise that you may need to know.

Overall, I must admit that I never believed that this thread would go that far.The fact that it did, I consider it a proof that many people, especially our "silent" visitors, are intrigued by the idea of a tall Athens. Well, to our friends "out there" living in Greece I have to say one thing:

Replace comfort with vision - Αντικαταστήστε το βόλεμα με το όραμα

We are the citizens, the urbanomancers, the ones that can infuse megapolisomancy into this inertia, the urbanauts of the new world, the spirited ones who can fly across space and time, the transformers of worlds, the episcopes of change. We can do it.

ALL OUT FOR A TALL ATHENS

Just to give you an idea of what we've been missing:

Maroussi Skyline from the Mall Athens in our dimension:


http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20and%20Modern%20Architecture%202/MaroussifromtheMall-12-05.jpg


Maroussi Skyline in an alternative present as seen towards the end of the Athens Skyscrapers Video (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=434900). A bit exaggerated in order to depict the contrast.


http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20Visual%20Art/KifissiasSkyscrapers-B.jpg


All buildings, vision or real, depicted close to their relative size and height scales. From left to right: Tekstilkent Twin Towers (Istanbul, 165m+), Atrina Centre Tower (80m), Sphere-shaped Proposal for Central European Bank (never built), West Athens Towers (tallest, structural height 200m, sorry Manoli that I moved them from their original proposed location in Elaionas but they are impressive!!!), and the Sisli Elite Residense Tower (some 140m, Istanbul, one of my favourites).

Καλές οι κλίμακες του Αττικού τοπίου αλλά καλή και η υπέρβαση που και που έτσι; :D

Introduction

What follows in this post comes as a complement to the original thread from last june regarding the proposal for a threefold multi-scraper in Athens called West Athens Towers (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=363673) by the architect Manolis Anastasakis (http://www.anastasakis.gr/).

Last fall, following a meeting with the architect himself, I had the opportunity to collect some additional material and pictures to the ones I already presented here, plus some additional information that may to the interest of any skyscraper fan in Greece. These materials shed new light on the project whose significance for Greece is monumental, since this is the first proposal (followed by theequally significant one for Thessaloniki (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=388631)/b] by a group of young architects as part of their final year dissertation at the University of Thessaloniki.


1. [B]The concept

The proposal for the WAT came as an entry to an architectural competition (the eVolo 06 Skyscraper International Competition - 2006) and has been received with mixed feelings by the Greek community, at least this is what I could decipher from what was "in the air". Of course, the majority was rather positive and a significant number of people exhaled "at last" (Επιτέλους), whilst others re-iterated their usual objections relating to the "incompatibility" of the Athenian landscape with the construction of such structures.

The architect himself declared his will to take on the dominant ideologies that have deprived the Athens Metro area, now with a population rising to some 4.5 million inhabitants, of a world-class skyline, which is the "trademark" of every city wishing to assume a regional and/ or an international metropolitan status.

In order for the project to gain a symbolic character as the first real skyscraper in Athens after more than thirty years, the project was positioned in an area that possesses a semantic yet bipolar significance: The run-down part of the city, many times mentioned as "the backyard of Athens", also known as "Elaionas" (Ελαιώνας) or "the Olive Grove".

This 10,000sq km area now mostly occupied by old factories, small manufacturing firms, and a number of other activities been targeted to host the aspirations of city officials as well as the Athenians, and carry a large part of the tremendous load of the intended revitalization of the Athens greater area, along with the Hellenikon Airport plot (another 6,000 sq km). Many serious projects have already announced for this area, of which, the biggest is the 45,000-seat Panathinaikos FC stadium.

On the other hand, the Olive Grove (Elaionas) area, is one of the most significant in terms of the history of the city (and used to be a real olive grove until Athens expanded uncontrollably and eventually covered the terrain with all sorts of buildings, mostly designed for small industrial uses. To this end, the intended revitalization also constitutes an excellent opportunity not only to rebuild the area, but also, to uncover the concrete-coated surfaces and reveal their old views as part a new landscaping programme which would restore historic memory and allow the city to re-establish rapport with its glorious past.

A past where which, according to the myth Poseidon and Athena competed in order to determine which one would become protector and guardian God to the city. At the climax of the competition, Athena touched the ground with its spear and an olive tree sprung from the ground. Since then, the olive tree is considered sacred and is protected and worshipped not only in Athens but also all over Greece.

-Image of olive tree leaves from the tree in my garden. Picture taken from my room.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Miscellaneous/OliveLeaves.jpg


2. Transformation

It was with the above in mind that the main concept of the proposed tower was established to serve both as an icon and an emblem. The iconic value would come with the liasing of the city with its past, and in order this would be accomplished with the building functioning as an emblem of this connection.

Early visualisations include the following two pictures where I kept the architect's comments as they were printed on paper:

In the first, the vision relates to three olive leaves springing out of the ground using as a canvas a painting depicting the olive grove in 1840, shortly Athens became the capital of the then new Greek state. In the second, we see the unit of the concept, the leaf itself in an upright position, ready to metamorphose from its original natural shape to a meta-form that will be used as the shell for expanding the architect's vision.


http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20Visual%20Art/WestAthensTowersinitialvision-detai.jpg


In the next image we see a series of drawings depicting the transformation of one of the three olive leafs into a meta-structural shape, a shell container unit which will incubate and finally deliver the end product of the transformation.

http://briefcase.pathfinder.gr/download/563927


Also, to the right of the image we see some typical floor plans from the 10th floor up to the roof of the building in order to get an idea of the vertical aspects of various of the multi-skyscraper's floors.

What follows is a sketch of the full elevation of the building, side view:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20Visual%20Art/WestAthensTowerscomplexphoto_projec.gif


3. The building

At this point I would like to make a correction here: In the original thread about this complex, I mentioned two towers measuring 200 and 150m in height respectively. After having met with Mr Anastasakis and according to the information given to me, the complex includes three towers interconnected with skybridges whose height data are as follows:

Tower A: Structural height, 200m, Highest accessible/habitable point at 165m (where the observatory is)

Tower B: Structural Height, 160m, Highest accessible/ habitable point at 125m

Tower C: Structural Height, 130m, Highhest accessible/ habitable point at 100m


The final view which is already seen in these forums, depicting the tower from a perspective view some 50m above the ground. Only the ones posted here were scan from the Kathimerini Newsparer. This one is straight from the source :)

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20Visual%20Art/WestAthensTowerscomplexphotoB-An-1.jpg


The next is a composition of two photos where I left the original legends. In the large photo we see a night vision of the upper floors of the complex whilst in the smaller one, an idea about how the building would visually interact with the Acropolis as seen from an elevated standpoint to the east of the Acropolis.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20Visual%20Art/WestAthensTowerscomplexphoto-Anasta.jpg

The last picture may be considered by many as a hubris, then I stare at it at awe: It is a night vision depicting the visually dialectic relation of the Acropolis with the tall complex. 2,500 years after the "Sacred Rock" started emanating its infinite wisdom, it now joins forces with a new symbol of urban regeneration, a new emblematic figure of continuity which transcends the ancient wisdom into the 21st century.


http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/gm2263/Athens%20Skyscrapers%20Visual%20Art/WestAthensTowersNightViewwithAcropo.jpg

I wish to God that this project were realized. It is so Athenian and yet so modern in its conception.

Megapolisomancy. Urban magic. Transformation.

______________________________________________________________

PLEASE NOTE: DO NOT REPLY IN HERE ON THE ABOVE.

This post is also available in the original West Athens Towers thread (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=363673). Please if you have any replies go there to post them (WE NEED YOUR COMMENTS) as this thread is about to close pending the completion of the 500th post, as per this forum's regulations.

Thank you for your attention on this matter :)

When I reserved this space I was planning on offering a final statement to the ones reading this thread to the end. However, besides marking the end of this thread, I have nothing else to point out since you, the readers will be the final judges of the content here, and especially the Hellenes, whether you agree with my views or not.

However, the effort does not end here. Later today I will open a new thread which, as mentioned above, will be related not just to tall buildings but also, to office complexes, buildings that would aspire to be skyscrapers had they been taller.

This way, whilst keeping the interest about tall buildings active, we will be focusing on the developments that have already been built in Athens and are the closest to a skyscraper philosophy of building construction such as for istance the Babis Vovos buildings, or the office developments of the past in Kifissias and Syggrou avenues that are neither skyscrapers, and cannot be placed in the "under construction" category since they have been built long ago.

So, there's not much to tell, again, thank you for your support, and let us continue to keep the spirits and hopes high for a taller and more aesthetically appealing Athens

ALL OUT FOR A TALL ATHENS!!!


====================================================================

Thread Highlights:

1. Main article on Athens Skyscrapers and Highrises: As per current thread, post #1 (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=216281&page=1&pp=20)

2. First skyscraper proposal for Athens after 30-years. The three space-age towers proposed for the West of Athens by architect Manolis Anastasakis. First post HERE (http://skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=8917244&postcount=357), on page 18 (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=216281&page=18), major update with more background, diagrams and drawings [url=http://skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=11551048&postcount=496]HERE (][/url), on page 25 (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=216281&page=25) (last page).

3. Piraeus Tower (Piraeus Trade Centre Tower), a 24-storey tall ghost building, relevant post HERE (http://skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=9742927&postcount=383), on page 20 (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=216281&page=20)

4. Thessaloniki highrises and tall structures - A first overview HERE (http://skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=9796973&postcount=388), on page 20 (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=216281&page=20). Includes reference and links to the three 36 storey- 165m highrises proposed by the architects Vandoros and Kondylis for the West of Thessaloniki (Lahanokipi area)

5. Second proposal for Athens/ Piraeus metro area in Drapetsona / Lipasmata area (the old fertilizers factory), relevant post HERE (http://skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=9854748&postcount=389), on page 20 (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=216281&page=20).

6. The Top-20 of Athens buildings heights HERE (http://skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=10271545&postcount=397), also on page 20 (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=216281&page=20).

7. Athens Tower - A close look at the only REAL Athens Skyscraper!!! HERE (http://skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=10840480&postcount=418), on page 21 (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=216281&page=21).

8. Athens Skyscrapers Video, HERE (http://skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=11471500&postcount=482), on page 24 (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=216281&page=24).


This thread now continues in "Athens Skyscrapers and Modern Architecture 2: The Re-Load (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=11601564#post11601564)". Please click on the linked title to continue the fight for a better and taller Athens... :)

this would be a dream come true to see Athens with buidlings like this

A very nice idea, and catchy for all those laymen that don't look deeper into facts.

Manolis Anastasakis did some great work, a world class design for skyscrapers, really modern, keeping up with the current trends, and contributing to the progress of this fine art.

This is not simply a very tall building. It is a landmark, it is a symbolism. It is an emblem for the city of Athens. It is the eternal and ancient olive tree denoting prosperity, glory and peace. It is the very symbol of the wise Goddess, the guardian and avenger of Athens. An idea, an emblematic figure, that every Hellenas can associate with.

And lots of credit and gratitude should be given to the noble and humble ambassador of tall structures, Gregory Maloucos, as well.

Κλειδώνεται και μεταφέρεται στο αρχείο (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=11438181#post11438181)