Greek Architecture

In this post I am trying to approach the subject Greek Architecture or Traditional Greek houses by referring to the work of Aris Konstantinidis. Greek Architecture is a very difficult subject for study and techinical as well, due to its long history and its very rapid, modern and irregular development.

We might say that Greek Architecture includes all the buildings built in Greece so far. Therefore examples of Greek Architecture are the famous ancient Greek buildings and constructions. By Greek Architecture we also refer to the modern or new buildings of Athens. If we focus on Athens particularly, typical examples of the Greek Architecture are the houses built by the Greek immigrants from Mikra Asia (Ionia, now is part of Turkey, Turkey's Aegean coast line) known in Greek as "Mikrasiatika" or "Prosfigika" and the new-classic houses of Athens built at the beginning of the 20th century. Prosfigika Houses can be found in many suburbs of Athens like Nea Philadelfia and Nea Ionia, to name some. Some characteristic images of the Prosfigika and how they look today, are:

















Back now to the work and theory of Aris Konstandinidis we should say that his work can be considered as the fist examples of modern Architecture in Greece. Is very likely by visiting Greece, especially Crete or Andros, Mykonos, Athens and Halkidiki to see some of his projects. Unfortunately enough, many of his buildings are not in good condition and are abandoned. The main technical reason for that, is that many of his works, are hotels owned from the Greek Public Institution of Tourism (E.O.T); a public enterprize with serious financial problems today. Thus, due to the limited funding, these beautiful hotels, known as Xenia, in nowdays are empty and many of them destroyed. An example, is the following hotel in Halkidiki:












Some more photos can be found here: Xenia Hotels

His architect has some clear features. In his buildings is always clear the main construction elements of the houses. That is, Konstantinidis separates the different layers of the houses: internal and external. Another important element of his work is the size of his houses. Konstantinidis was inspired from the domestic architecture, houses that they look like the Prosfigika. In other words, his houses are houses with gardens and outside constructions for making shadow over the summer, houses with clear structure of their construction and of a relatively small height.

Is almost impossible in this post to discuss Konstantinidis's work in detail. I hope that this post will motivate you to visit some of his projects. A detailed list of his projects with locations can be found here: Konstantinidis Projects

Konstntinidis's Biography, written by his son, Dimitris Konstantinidis also an architect can be read here: Biography .

Regarding modern and commercial houses for sale in Greece please have a look here: Properties in Greece.