HISTORIC AND CONSTRUCTIONAL ASPECTS OF STONE SCHOOLS IN GREECE: THE CASE OF THE ARISTOTLE MUNICIPALITY IN CHALKIDIKI

Vasiliki Pachta

doi:10.3846/jau.2021.14185

Abstract

Historic schools, built during the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, were evolved according to the wider socio-economic changes that took place at regional, national and international level. Their construction usually followed specific principles, governed by their functional role and structural safety requirements. In this study, the historical background of school buildings in Greece is given, in an effort to assess their evolution and physiognomy. To this direction, 14 historic school buildings, located in the Aristotle Municipality of Chalkidiki, N. Greece, were studied, taking into account their architectural and constructional characteristics. These buildings were erected from 1871 up to 1958 and are nowadays mostly used as elementary schools. In some cases, they are in second use or abandoned. They concerned 1 up to 3 storeys buildings, with rectangular ground plan, symmetrically organized around a main corridor. Their size and dimensions varied according to their capacity. From the beginning of the 30’s, supplementary elements of reinforced concrete (slabs, beams) were added, in combination with the existing building techniques. Nowadays, they are generally preserved in good state, due to the consecutive interventions taken place during their service life. However, their documentation and identification as heritage structures should be further assessed, in order to convey the tangible and intangible values they incorporate in the next generations.

Highlights

The evolution of school buildings may be directly linked to various parameters, such as the educational history of each country, the cultural background, the general socioeconomic conditions, as well as the diachronic principles followed in constructions (Watters, 2020; Guarini et al, 2020; Galimullina & Korotkova, 2020; García, 2020; Abreu Marques et al, 2015; Augustinaitė, 2018; Broekhuizen et al, 2020)
There is a great stock of stone school buildings at National and European level (Abreu Marques et al, 2015; Watters, 2020; Guarini et al, 2020; Galimullina & Korotkova, 2020; Martinez-Molina et al, 2017; Dascalaki & Sermpetzoglou, 2011; Arya, 1987; Lassandro et al, 2015; Perrone et al, 2020; Doukas & Bruce, 2017; Buvik et al, 2014; Khledj & Bencheikh, 2021; Camacho-Montano et al, 2020; Pachta et al, 2021) that are either still in function or abandoned
The methodology followed, firstly concerned the record of the stone schools located in the Aristotle Municipality of Chalkidiki, N

Summary

Introduction

The evolution of school buildings may be directly linked to various parameters, such as the educational history of each country, the cultural background, the general socioeconomic conditions, as well as the diachronic principles followed in constructions (Watters, 2020; Guarini et al, 2020; Galimullina & Korotkova, 2020; García, 2020; Abreu Marques et al, 2015; Augustinaitė, 2018; Broekhuizen et al, 2020) Their erection started to be systemized during the 19th century, while in the past eras, education was mostly conducted in private houses, public or religious buildings (Abreu Marques et al, 2015; Watters, 2020; Martinez-Molina et al, 2017; Dascalaki & Sermpetzoglou, 2011; Atkins, 1999; Camacho-Montano et al, 2020). Especially those located around the Mediterranean basin (Italy, Spain, France, Greece) present several structural and architectural similarities, since they have been mainly erected in a period of 50 years (end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century), according to the traditional constructional techniques and by using local raw materials (Martinez-Molina et al, 2017; Perrone et al, 2020; Buvik et al, 2014; Carofilis et al, 2020; Khledj & Bencheikh, 2021; Lerma et al, 2013; Pachta et al, 2021)

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