Architectural Design and Site Supervision

The office of Nikolaos Tzortzatos undertakes architectural design and construction supervision for houses and commercial premises throughout Greece. The instruction covers new buildings, extensions and work on existing buildings. We do not publish fees and we are not contractors.

Architectural design

The study splits the work into stages, so the owner sees what is being decided before money is spent on drawings that cannot be permitted.

The preliminary study records the plot or the existing building, the planning rules and what is asked of the space. It delivers options for layout, massing and uses, and shows what is allowed. It is not a permit and it does not fix the structure.

The final study locks the proposal: plans, elevations, sections, coverage diagram. That set goes into the building-permit file. If a structural or M&E engineer is still missing, the final study is not submitted alone as a complete file.

The construction study translates the permit into drawings for the site: dimensions, details, openings, materials, points that would otherwise be settled by eye. Without it, supervision can compare the build only with the permit drawings, which are coarser.

Construction supervision

Supervision is the architect’s presence on the works, against the approved drawings. It checks setting-out, levels, openings, finishes and whether execution departs from the permit. Observations are recorded and given to the owner and the builder.

It does not run crews and it does not take procurement. For the owner it matters because the permit alone does not guarantee that what was approved was built. A departure on site becomes unauthorized work; supervision catches it while it can still be corrected, not after the plaster.

The frequency of visits is set in the instruction, by stage: excavation and footings, structure, walls, joinery, handover. There is no single programme for every project.

Houses and commercial premises

The same sequence applies to a house and to a commercial building. Uses, loads and approvals change; the order design–permit–supervision does not.

Examples of houses are on the residential page. Examples of offices and shops are on the commercial page. A new study does not copy those buildings; it starts from the specific plot, the permit and the owner.

Work with the structural and M&E engineers

The architect does not sign the structural study or the M&E. He coordinates the file: the structural engineer sets the frame, the M&E engineer the services, the architect the architecture and the overall submission. That collaboration starts at preliminary study once the extent is clear — not on site, when a column “does not fit”.

If the project is a renovation or a restoration, the structural engineer judges what carries load in the existing building before it is decided what is demolished.

Permit and unauthorized buildings before construction

Construction starts after the permit or approval that matches the scope. A study without a file in the electronic permitting system remains a drawing. Detail on building permits, small-scale approval and Electronic Building Identity is on the building permits page.

A pending unauthorized construction or change of use blocks the file. Legalization of unauthorized buildings comes first, where inclusion is allowed. Categories 1–4 have a deadline of 31 March 2028 (ν. 4495/2017 → ν. 5306/2026).

Since 1976

The office has operated since 1976, after graduation from NTUA. About 343 projects. The line of study before the site begins in the student years, in the collaboration with Solon Kydoniatis.

Throughout Greece

The seat is at 5 Lalechou Street, 3rd floor, Neo Psychiko 15451; design and supervision are carried out throughout Greece.

The file follows the same Code whether the project is in Athens or elsewhere.

For a first conversation, with no obligation: Nikolaos Tzortzatos — Architect · 5 Lalechou Street, 3rd floor, Neo Psychiko 15451 · +30 210 6716237.