OT- Australian ambassador's residence

SYRACUSIAN

I thought of sharing a couple of photos of the latest work of my office.

This was initially conceived as two houses, for two brothers,located in a strategic roundabout of a very expensive suburb of Athens. It was the wish of the owners ,and rightly so I believe, to make a landmark building for the area and not a low profile one. The house was finally rented by the Australian embassy in Greece for the current and probably the future ambassadors. It has just been finished and these are some poorly scanned first photos of the front facade.

Bailathacl

Drat. It appears you have to actually be Australian in order to become Australia's Ambassador to Greece....

rhound1977

Looks like a nice shack to live in....

ajaan

<< <i>Looks like a nice shack to live in.... >>


Just think what the guest house must look like.

Udo

<< <i>Looks like a nice shack to live in.... >>

oldshep

Very nice Dimitri!!! Architecture is an art form that can be enjoyed in many dimensions by anyone passing by. I am envious of your talent.
Shep

AuldFartte

Striking design, Dimitri. I love the night photo

SYRACUSIAN

Thanks for the kind words. The night photo was taken a couple of days later than the day one, and as you can see the top balcony was already planted by then. I like the two guys in the first photo, it gives a scale of this enormous house.

This was the last project that I've done completely by hand. From now on, we are finally using the latest architectural software. I wish I had it back then, as I have drawn this project three times, each one from scratch, to meet the changing demands of the client, but also because I wasn't satisfied with my own results.

docday2003

nice digs!

MacCrimmon

<< <i>....but also because I wasn't satisfied with my own results. >>


Ah, another perfectionist among us.

Lovely place....more images please.

1jester

That's a fine-looking house, D!! You're a real artist!

secretsquirrel

I'm Australian, can i live in it if not i still want one lol

SYRACUSIAN

Well I did not intend to revive it, but since it's again on the first page, I might as well add a few comments. First, in case I've been misunderstood, this was not a renovation or a transformation of an old house, there was nothing on this piece of land before. It's just that we conceived it as two separate units inside,for the two brothers, and now it is inhabited by one family only.


I do not get often such important projects, nor are all my clients with an unlimited budget. These are very rare chances and I'm talking about the location, not the fees. The only publicity an architect can have is a simple sign with his name while a project is being built, so location is the most important factor. I'm now doing a very different project, a simple house,a pro-bono job,with a very limited budget. It's my favourite kind of project, because I'm a fan of simple modern ,low key houses but this decision is entirely up to the owner. It's much more challenging to produce a nice result with very limited means, less is more. My personal influences have always come from the US anyway,the great Louis Kahn, F.L.Wright, Richard Meier etc and a few more from Japan.


Many members used the word artist, I thank them for this but unlike other forms of art, architecture is very different , it depends on the needs of the client, the location, the budget ,the structure, building regulations, and a million other things.The final product is not the result of one person but of a big team, and finally, the clients will live or work in it, you can't take it off the wall like a painting if the result is disappointing. Also ,the proffession is not as glamorous as many people might think, the time spent to various state agencies such as the Ministry of Public works,the Fire deptmt,the Archeological deptmt, the building regulations departmt, etc, is a big percentage of the total time spent on a project. Dealing with them,handling the ever-present bribes,learning how to bypass stupid regulations takes a lot of time and this is not taught at Universities. So , an architect is very much like an orchestra director, coordinating the entire job ,and at the same time thinking of the future stages, so unless he really knows what each one of his team does or does not,and what exactly to expect from each one, from the initial sketch (usually his job) to the finished building, he'll have a very hard time and very often an unsatisfactory result, especially if he looses the control and coordination of the team, that includes the owner ,who often does not really know what he wants,the engineers, the contractors and subcontractors and the builders whose respect is an essential issue for me. Artists have none of this to deal with, and anyway we have many artists here,Darkhorse,Clankeye, originalisbest,Laurent, oldshep's brother to name but a few, and I also believe that every DSider has an artist in his/her heart, otherwise we wouldn't be in this hobby,collecting the beauties I see everyday.

I took the liberty of posting this here, because I feel the Darkside as my home.That's why the DS is so different Mr Eureka, because we share a lot of things here other than coins. End of the rant, thank you.




Edited to add ROBERTB's question,to not bring it bact to the top,security is not an issue in this house and this suburb in general. The vast majority of overnment officials, ambassadors and wealthy private individuals live there and it is a very safe place to be.The house itself is guarded 24 hours ayway.

1jester

Nice rant, Dimitri!!

An architect is indeed an artist -- a very talented artist.

Keep up the great work.

ROBERTB

Absolutley beautiful, but I'm thinking there may be some security issues though. Theres alot of glass and it appears very close to the street. Is that common?

oldshep

--- well said Dimitri - great rant!!! (more like a blog I think
Shep

cosmicdebris

Freaken awesome!