Project Type: Vocabulary

Ακάλυπτος (akalyptos means uncovered in greek) is the mandatory empty space in the back side of polykatikia and it is what remains of the land plot  when the permitted building coverage ratio is fully exploited and built. Its ultimate quality is exactly that it is uncovered, it exists due to a mere obligation to the … Continue reading Akalyptos or “uncovered space”-the back side of polykatoikia

Building block Οικοδομικό τετράγωνο (Ο.Τ.) is every single buildable land area, which is included between a validated street plan or between the borders of a settlement and is surrounded by common spaces. (NOK, General Building Regulation) The First General building code designated the building block as the minimum unit of urban planning and city formation, … Continue reading Building block

Τράπεζα Γης Land banks are public or community-owned entities created for a single purpose: to acquire, manage, maintain, and repurpose vacant, abandoned, and foreclosed properties –the worst abandoned houses, forgotten buildings, and empty lots.  Land banks replace those “liquidation” based systems ­ generally comprised of the sale of tax liens (the uncollected tax receivables of … Continue reading Community Land Bank

Οριζόντια Ιδιοκτησία Establishment of Horizontal Ownership is the act by which the owner of a property divides it and creates more self-sufficient and independent properties, each of which has a certain co-ownership percentage on the plot and on the common parts of the building (foundation, roof, yards and so on). A separate horizontal ownership may … Continue reading Horizontal Ownership

 Οικόπεδο / Land for building an oikos (house) Every piece of urban land in Greek is termed ‘oikopedo’, which means land purposed for building. Τhe term points out  building’s preponderance over public space in urban practice and Greek culture. Imprinted in the language the prompt for over-exploitation & overbuilding prescribed the evolution of modern Athens. … Continue reading Oikopedo-Land Plot

Αντιπαροχή The antiparochi system was enabled by the 1929 law of horizontal ownership and according to it a landowner could turn over the plot to a constructor, usually a small scale construction company, in order to build a multi-storey apartment block receiving in exchange an agreed number of apartments in the finished building. Antiparochi became … Continue reading Antiparochi

Πολυκατοικία Condominium/ apartment building Polykatoikia, the multi-storey apartment building, appeared as a building type in Athens all along 1910. Polykatoikia,though, as the social & legal contract which is the essence of it, was constituted and established with the 1929 law of horizontal ownership, according to which each apartment could have a different owner and the … Continue reading Polykatoikia