The Tower of Athens is the tallest building in Greece. It is 103 metres high and has 28 floors. It was founded on 13/06/1969 and completed in September 1972 during the dictatorship. It is one of the two towers of Athens, with the smaller second tower next to the first. It is located in Ambelokipi, at the beginning of Mesogeion Avenue.
It is mainly an office and retail building. The architects were Ioannis Vikelas and Ioannis Kybritis. Despite the criticism it has received due to its design and great height, the Tower of Athens is now considered one of the landmarks of Athens.
Its history
The Tower of Athens was constructed at a time when the law limiting the height of buildings in Greece was lifted by Law 395/68 "On the height of buildings and free structure" and buildings were given the freedom to be arranged in any way within the plot to ensure the best lighting and ventilation.
Until 1968, the maximum permissible height was 35 metres. From 1985 to 2000, the maximum permissible height was 32 metres, from 2000 to 2012, 27 metres, and from 2012 to the present, 32 metres. Until 1968 the tallest building in Athens was the 14-storey Athens Hilton, which opened in 1963, while the other buildings were six-storey blocks of flats. Its construction lasted from 1968 to 1971 and was carried out by Albertis Dimopoulos S.A., one of the largest construction companies of the time.
The company wanted to show its success by building a skyscraper, which was made possible thanks to the change in the law. The design was undertaken by the architects Ioannis Vikelas and Ioannis Kymbritis.
For the construction of the skyscraper, the plot of land 2-4 Mesogeion, at the intersection of Mesogeion and Vassilissis Sofias avenues, at the then boundaries of the centre of Athens, was allocated. On the plot where the construction was to take place, at the end of 1967, the sign "ANENGERΣIS SKYRANOXYΣTOYΣ ΠΥРΓOΓOS ATHENS PROJECT CONTRACTOR: ALBERTIS AND DIMOPOULOS SA" was placed, which caused the surprise of passers-by.
Construction work began with the foundation of the building on 13 June 1969 and the concrete frame of the building was completed the following year. The building was completed in 1971. Despite its great height and the use of glass on the exterior of the building, the Tower of Athens was not damaged in the 1981 and 1999 earthquakes.
The sway at the top during the 1981 earthquake was 1.2 metres (3.5 ft) wide. In the 1990s, antennas were added to the top, but they were not part of the tower's construction.
Source: el.wikipedia.org
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