Athanasios Chairis

Technical University of Crete

School of Architecture

P30 | COLLECTIVE LIVING. The block/neighborhood

by Athanasios Chairis 



The model of the apartment block as it stands today within the Greek city, poses no real answer to the question of habitation. It does not respond to the real needs of the residents but to a generic audience. It does not incorporate collective spaces, a fact that results to the loss of a sense of collectivity. The answer to this problem can be the model of collective habitation. The aim of this thesis is to create a system that can absorb and respond to the needs of community members and establish relationships from the individual to the wider community-neighbourhood. The goal is the involvement of different social groups in different types of housing, the establishment of a community-neighbourhood within the complex and the creation of a symbiotic state with the neighbouring urban fabric. The chosen site is a typical building block, in a residential area, near the centre of the city, in Pachiana, Chania. The functions related to the city (shops, kindergarten, café, etc.) are located on the ground floor and the residential and collective spaces on the upper floors. A key element of the composition is the use of the interior void that generates a public passage on the ground floor and a shared semi-public square at the level above.


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Athanasios Chairis  graduated with high honours in 2011 from the Department of Architecture of the Technical University of Crete (TUC), Greece. During his studies, he received scholarships thanks to his academic achievements; he participated in research programmes and was elected president of the Student Administration Board. He currently works for the architectural practice MOV Architects in Athens and in the meantime he runs a website on 3D modeling and visualisation. In the past he has worked in the architectural practice of A. Vazakas – M. Mandalaki and has modified and designed residential buildings in Santorini, Kaisariani and Patras. Furthermore, during the academic year 2009-2010, he was appointed teaching assistant for the course “Digital technologies in architectural design” at TUC. He has participated in projects published in DOMES magazine and exhibited in expositions like the 7th Biennale of Young Greek Architects (Benaki Museum, Athens, 2013), the 1st Architecture Biennale in Thessaloniki covering the subject of "Architecture and the City in South East Europe" and so on. In the meantime, he participated in various international and Greek architectural competitions like the study for a Construction-Landmark in a central pier of Faliro Bay in Attica, the Design and Reutilization of the West Shipyard of Heraklion, Crete and the design of a London Olympic Games 2012 information pavilion.