




Plinthes House
Site location: Old Heraklion, Athens, Greece
Gross floor area: 91,20 sqm
Project status: Complete, 11/2024
Photography: George Messaritakis
Reinforce + Restore
Plinthes House is located in the suburban area of Old Heraklion in Athens, in the back of a yard within a densely built neighbourhood. The dwelling was built in the late 40’s to early 50’s in two phases. The first part constructed using adobes consisting of a blend of soil and straws dried out in the sun, supporting a wooden pitch roof, a type of traditional and sustainable construction method that only a few remaining similar examples survive in Athens wider area today. It is mostly found in geographic locations like Thessaly, northern parts of Greece and villages in the Peloponnese. Two years later, the house was extended for creating an additional space by using cement blocks, topped with a reinforced concrete slab.
In the beginning of 2023, the new owners decided to preserve it instead of completely removing the existing structure by proceeding into an extensive reconstruction and upgrade that included a reinforcement of its load-bearing walls, new pitch roof and a heating pump using fan coils.