The KM Properties project, developed by OLIAROS, is presented for the first time in its entierty in the 13th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, COMMON GROUND, as part of the Greek Pavilion, titled "Made in Athens". The opening is on August 27th and 28th 2012.

Greek Pavilion's entrance at the Venice Biennale.

KM Properties is part of the Greek Pavilion which focuses on the particular dynamics and contradictions found in Athens today. According to the architects Panos Dragonas and Anna Skiada, commissioners/curators of the Greek Pavilion, the exhibition aims to highlight the positive potential formed in the critical present and to provide a better future for the city and its architecture.



OLIAROS started the KM Properties Project in 2006, assuming that the evolution of future cities will depend on the successful and educated cooperation among the various stakeholders found in the city, as such OLIAROS has followed a series of steps in order to assume an active and constructive position both in the private and public space.



The participation of the KM Properties at the Venice Biennale will present for the first time the complete project proposition, the process followed to date and a video documentation directed by Yiannis Gaitanidis, presenting Kerameikos Metaxourgeio and the recent dynamics. The curators have also selected to present five of the projects, designed by Atelier Bow Wow, BIG, Boyd Cody Architects, FORA and SO-IL respectively, with a view to introduce 5 of the distinct typologies presented by KM Properties.



The area of Kerameikos - Metaxourgeio (KM) consists of 92 blocks (400,000 square meters of land divided into 1,160 individual properties), 46% of which is unihabited, a large enough urban section to serve an potential example for a contemporary approach to the city.

OLIAROS’ vision is for KM to evolve into a sustainable and attractive new city Center neighborhood that will expand on its current attributes and host the new generation of Athenians with an emphasis on a balanced mix of productive and creative uses that will attract citizens back to the center.



KM Properties starts with the development of 60 privately owned properties in the area of Kerameikos-Metaxourgeio, 25 of which are listed buildings. The proposed use mix includes, a range a residential projects, a contemporary Greek arts & crafts street market, a student housing complex offering a new living experience to students, a creative enterprise cluster, which includes co-working spaces for technology, architecture and applied arts, a new media school, serviced apartments, housing, office and other mixed-use spaces.

To design the project, OLIAROS collaborates with architects: Andreas Angelidakis, Antonas Office, Atelier Bow-Wow, BIG, Boyd Cody Architects, Pavlos M. Calligas, deca Architecture, Divercity, doxiadis+, FORA, Jean Frederic Luscher, Nikos Nikolaidis, Camilo Rebelo,SO-IL, Rkitekts, Dionysis Zacharias Architects, VOIS and Elias Zenghelis.

KM Properties: The complete project proposition

The implementation of KM Properties depends on all stakeholders assuming their respective responsibilities and the successful cooperation among them, furthermore its financial, social and environment sustainability depends on the triggering of available and new financial instruments and incentives that would enhance the social and financial attributes of the project that would relate it to the new conditions, driven by the current financial crisis in Greece.

KM Properties: The process

"Made in Athens", the Greek participation at the Biennale of Architecture in Venice 

Architects participating in the exhibition: Andreas Angelidakis, Aristides Antonas, John Aesop, AREA -Architecture Research Athens, buerger katsota architects, decaARCHITECTURE, draftworks *, Point Supreme Architects.

The works of the following architects are presented as well as numerous proposals and designs, buildings and interventions in public spaces of Athens: D. & S. Antonakakis, T. Argyropoulos & C. Decavallas, I. Bertaki / C. Loukopoulou / C. Paniyiris, doxiadis+ (T. Doxiadis, I. Vonderthann), P. Dragonas & V. Christopoulou, D. Fatouros, FORA (João Fagulha, Raquel Oliveira and João Ruivo), C. Gkikas & E. Filtsou, ISV Architects (B. Ioannou, T. Sotiropoulos, A. van Gilder), Klab Architecture - Konstantinos Lambrinopoulos, K. Krokos, ksestudio (S. Krimizi, K. Kyriakou), N. Ktenas, Μ. Nikoloutsou & M. Filippidis, E. Scroumbelos, D. Sotovikis / A. Sotovikis / C. Batziou, tense architecture network (T. Andrianopoulos, C. Mavros, T. Bampanelos), N. Valsamakis, I. Vikelas, Τ. Ch. Zenetos.

Citizens' initiatives are also presented for the recovery of public space, such as the Demosion Sima, Navarino Park and the team local / athens.

Finally, architects/photographers Charalambos Louizidis & Aikaterini Niki Glinou, Yiorgis Yerolymbos, photographer Dimitris Michalakis, film director/visual artist Angelos Frantzis, architect/street artist b, will be all be participating in the Greek Pavilion exhibition.

As stated in the related announcement, "The Greek participation is part of the effort that supports the Ministry of Environment to develop a coherent policy on architecture, by upgrading strengething and promoting the production of contemporary projects in Greece. The objective of the participation is to distinguish Greek Participation within the international scene."

The exhibition is realized with the co-financing of Greece and the European Union.