POLYKATOIKIA a tapestry of shared ownership
The reinterpretation of the Athenian Polykatoikia
Z.D. Papaoikonomou (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
D.J. Rosbottom – Mentor (TU Delft - Situated Architecture)
Mark Pimlott – Mentor (TU Delft - Situated Architecture)
K.B. Mulder – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Building Design & Technology)
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Abstract
During the interwar period in Greece, urbanization drove people to Athens for better job opportunities and economic recovery. They brought a countryside mentality, fostering neighborhood and small community life within Polykatoikias. When I left Greece, I still remember my first impression of other European cities, "Where are all the Polykatoikia buildings?"
The term Poly-Katoikia, literally "multiresidence" is a composite word, from poly, translated as multi, and the noun katoikia, dwelling. The construction is built with reinforced concrete. It originates from modernism, retains traditional and neoclassical elements, treated like custom-made furniture by its users and architects. Athens' architectural tapestry, marked by flexibility and adaptability, accommodates remarkable diversity within a singular archetype.
The project’s mission involves expanding the potential for communal living in the “Athens of property.” Understanding various scales—neighborhood, urban, and building— the project addresses new design challenges, including minimal living spaces.
A new design of Polykatoikia by key interior spaces (Terrace, Balconies, Foyer, etc.) to establish collective character and activity among tenants. This attempt expands the means to create a new dwelling type that retains the spatial and social essence of the archetypal Polykatoikia for innovative living.
The tenants of such a building are favored with certain flexibilities in their individual spaces, allowing them to control the level of communal element they want to introduce. It is not a rigid, copy-paste element to be repeated identically, but only one version of this flexible framework that adapts to specific needs and conditions.