AML017
Kronos Str.
17 Amaliados str., Athens City, GRIoli Stecker, Nefeli Panagiota Drongiti
The residents of Ampelokipi know the building of Bampis Vovos as "Kronos Tower".
This tower, in one of the most lively and characteristic areas of Athens, is embedded in the city and marks the skyline of Athens as one of its tallest buildings. This tower seems to overlook any establishment since it’s "squeezed" into the building block, redefining this large open space that used to be between the buildings around it. Bisecting the block therefore creates a new passage and a very big interest in what is inside, a space formed by the Kronos Tower that was never given to the city. Some of the points of our research on the area led us to a single conclusion: this space was formed to be public. From the riots in the Ampelokipi metro to the destruction of the park to the general observation we made about reduced open and public land.
The Kronos tower started as an apartment complex. Then the 4 floors of the left wing on Amaliados were given to the Ministry of Environment and the rest remained as they were. With the departure of the ministry we were called upon to redefine this building and reverse the original idea with an innovative design of spacious apartments that "breathe" in the context of the dense urban layout of Athens. We accepted the challenge and met it by giving the ground floor of the building to the city as a public park-plaza, but also on the roofs with communal decks for users and tenants that dilute the building and make it perforated enough to allow sunlight and natural ventilation to penetrate, transforming it from an oncology to a nearly breathable floating structure. The apartments in the building on Amaliados are arranged alternately in their two-storey section, while opening up the communal circulation path and floors with seating and low planting. The building on Pouliou is also designed in the same way, with the apartments being connected so that they can once again have a second floor each.
As a final move in the building we give for public use the first 4 roofs of the building on Pouliou to a primary school that follows the Vittra system, as a reference to the use of the 4 roofs by the ministry, with better use this time and offer to the community of Ampelokipi. This system is characterized by its open plan layout, which is followed correspondingly throughout the building and its apartments, and circulation is made vertically through an opening in the passage of the buildings, which also offers dilution in the narrow and insufficient distance between the buildings.
