Builders,
Housewives and the Construction of Modern Athens is a book for
those of us who, blinded by the classical wonders of the Acropolis,
have never given much thought to the nondescript cityscape below.
This
is not about architect-led building design but an effort to
understand the positives of Athens’ 20th century urbanism, warts
and all. The heroes of the book are the polykatoikia – the prolific
post-war apartment buildings that were built at impressive pace using
reinforced concrete frames with masonry infill.
While
their white facades, flat roofs and horizontal lines bore some
similarities to the forms of modern architecture, these were, as
author Ioanna Theocharopoulou points out, extremely simplistic
versions. Polykatoikia differed from modern architecture in important
ways. Not only did they lack the modern movement’s political and
aesthetic agenda, they relied on informal ‘quasi-craft’ processes
of construction and avoided innovation, precision and
standardisation. Typically they had commercial uses on the ground
floor with a marble lobby and staircase leading to a few floors of
balconied apartments above. A roomier version was popular in middle
and upper middle class areas, often with a maid’s room and a
penthouse.
While
there were exceptions, the design of this building type was the
domain of the builder rather than an architect. It was, says Kenneth
Frampton in the foreword, ‘built for the people, of the
people, by the people’.
These
were ultra-desirable as symbols of modern city living, especially
when combined with the then groundbreaking domestic appliances. This
was lifestyle living, 1960s style, that represented progress,
optimism and access to ‘the good life’.
The
book sets polykatoikia firmly in the context of the preceding century
as well as the strife of war and civil unrest of the 20th, and the
densification and expansion of Athens. We learn how home ownership
swelled as these apartments were constructed as joint ventures
between developer and landowner. Typically this involved replacing
19th century neoclassical villas that had gone firmly out of fashion,
with the landowner donating the land in exchange for a few units in
the new development. In time, the migrant tradespeople working on the
developments would become those buying the apartments.
There
was a culture of ‘craftiness’ with regard to construction, with
the 1955 Building Code legalising existing illegal construction and
itself prone to amendments and deviations. Self-built humble
dwellings on the city outskirts in time became ‘up-lifted’ to
larger buildings as their rural immigrant owners acquired the
money to build polykatoikia and become landlords themselves. Here,
the author draws links with the work of Alejandro Aravena’s
Elemental practice today in designing homes that facilitate
incremental construction and expansion.
Rather
more interesting, to me at least, is the account of the social
dimension of the polykatoikia and their representation in popular
culture. Photos show women involved as labourers in the construction
of the apartments but it was inside that they really held sway as
interior stylists and consumers. Of course they were still doing all
the housework, even if they did now wear a mini-skirt and wield an
ultra-modern vacuum cleaner. Men, we learn, might have their own
‘masculine corner’ or room where they could relax in a
comfortable leather armchair. Some might even have their own bachelor
pad apartment.
Polykatoikia
were important as representing a new idea of modern life and of Greek
identity, and in doing so, says Theocharopoulou, blurred the
previously separate realms of ‘informal/formal, local/foreign,
traditional/modern’.
This
informative – although sometimes a little dense – book closes
with a look at some of the more innovative, recent architect-designed
polykatoikia buildings and consideration of how a new generation of
civic minded urban activists are responding to Greece’s financial
crisis and huge influx of refugees. Some are renovating abandoned
polykatoikia as housing, proving once again the resilience and
adaptability of these buildings. Faced with such economic and social
challenges, Athens needs the resourcefulness, wit and economy of
means that this unlauded building type embodies.
Text
by Pamela Buxton
Builders,
Housewives and the Construction of Modern Athens by Ioanna
Theocharopoulou, foreword by Kenneth Frampton, Artifice
