Tomorrows @Nantes

interview @vimagazino

Excited to have my interview featured at ΒΗΜΑgazino! 

Η Σιρών Τόποι στο ΒΗΜΑgazino αυτό το Σάββατο! 
Ο ρεαλισμός της Ουτοπίας από την Ιωάννα Ζυμαρίτη. 

"The realism of utopia." Ioanna Zymariti could not pick better title for my interview with her about Silo(e)scapes, as part of the thought provoking and visually striking Tomorrows exhibition in Athens, organized by Onassis Cultural Center. I thank her for the wonderful interview and for allowing me to share the ideas behind Silo(e)scapes. This is also a great opportunity to thank certain amazing individuals that made this project possible, including Γεώργιος Τολούδης, Παναγιώτης Σταμπουλίδης, Ilia Matsa, Ioannis Stratakis, Maria Toloudi, Dimitris Papanikolaou, Vien Nguyen, Theodore Levin, Hara Gavra, Thomas Hochmann, Sophia Toloudi, Nikos Katsikis, Κωνσταντίνα Σουλιώτη, and of course the amazing curators and designers Panos Dragonas, Daphne Dragona, and Varvara Christopoulou.

siloescapes @monopoli.gr

Silo(e)scapes installation featured in monopoli.gr article "Tomorrows: utopias of the past, dystopias of the future." Article by Spyros Kakouriotis. Photos by Kiki Papadopoulou. Exhibition curated by Daphne Dragona & Panos Dragonas. Produced by Stegi. To visit: Diplareios School. (Link to article, Date: May 19, 2017)

siloescapes @kathimerini

"From the euphoria of the 60's, to an uncertain future." Honored to see a photo of Silo(e)scapes in Kathimerini, right next to Takis Zenetos archive, and in great company of  AREA Office model (Stella Daouti, Giorgos Mitroulias, Michael John Raftopoulos). Many thanks to Daphne Dragona and Panos Dragonas for creating such an inspiring dialogue among artists and architects, past and future.

(Article: Sakis Ioannidis, Kathimerini, Friday May 19, 2017, page 14)

siloescapes @ozon

Date: May 18, 2017, link to Ozon

one year old!

My wall-intervention for the Leslie Center, Sync is On, turned one this February. An ongoing experiment on sensory architecture! Come visit at Dartmouth. Very thankful to Graziella Parati, Nisha Kommattam, and Sean Delmore, and who take care of it every day!

bz @routledge

The physical copy of the magnificent Routledge Companion on Biology, Art + Architecture is here! It is a great honor to have contributed a chapter, under the title: "Architecture & Living Matter(s): From Art/Architectural Installations to Metabolic Aesthetics"

DAX 2015

The Digital Arts eXpo showcases the talent of Dartmouth's students in various departments including Computer Science, Studio Art, Film and Media Studies, and Music.

7pm - Screening - Loew Auditorium 

8pm - Digital Art Installations - Hop Garage 

9pm - Augmented Fashion Show - Top of the Hop

http://www.dax.cs.dartmouth.edu/

structures on earth

Tassos Mpiris & Sofia Tsiraki's lecture

Tassos Mpiris, Dimitris Mpiris, Polykatoikia, 1980, Source: greek architects

Last Thursday, Tassos Mpiris and Sofia Tsiraki gave two lectures at Harvard GSD. They were invited by GreeceGSD. It was indeed touching to see Greek architecture being presented in Cambridge, MA. Tassos Biris presented his theory on architecture as typology emphasizing timeless dwelling and human inhabitation. Mpiris begun his presentation by defining good architecture, architecture of ethics (referring to ethos = habit and dwelling = habitat), as antithetical to the global architecture of "athletic trends." The focal image of his talk has been the beautiful, white, cycladic house by the anonymous architect who offered the example of the timeless human creativity (He claimed that even an Eskimoo would associate it with their igloo-house). Through a series of examples, he discussed relationships between the element (as house) and typology (as city or neighborhood), the personal and the communal, the typical and the original, the black (as the dramatic in life) and the white (as the charismatic), and so on. (Later, in a more informal setting he clarified that these antithetical couplings are what differentiates him from modernism and what have saved him from problematic situations.)

Tassos Mpiris @ NTUA, Source: greek architects

Tassos Mpiris, Experimental Teaching Model, Source: greek architects

One of the most inspiring moments of his talk has been when he explained his experimental teaching model, a kit of parts he uses for teaching at the Athens Polytechnic School (NTUA). The kit has the basic sturctural elements (the pilar, the wall, the beam, and the slab) which he uses to produce space-structure ("it is diagrammatic.")

John Hedjuk, The Nine-Square Problem, Education of an Architect, Source: designcoding

He differentiated his approach to that of John Hedjuk's educational kit where a series of morphological elements (combined all together) produced forms ("it is not diagrammatic; forms produce form; it is a formalistic representation.") By using his educational kit, Mpiris has been showcasing a series of archetypal space formations. He both constructs and analyzes an in-situ game of architecture: standing and moving, points and axes, atrium and gallery, inner and outer space, the corner, the roof, transparency and opacity, and so on. He emphasized that such a space is architectural space (where people live in), not any kind of space.

Sofia Tsiraki, Tassos Mpiris, House and Mutli-cultural Center, 2010, Source: arch photo missions

Sofia Tsiraki introduced a series of very interesting concepts that both of them use when making space and architecture, such as the micro-landscape, the human absence, the ground as compositional element, the structural relationship between the part and the whole, earth as a chromic archetypal symbol. In her talk she explained also a series of concepts they used for projects. One of those has been the spiral, as an ambiguous structure, that opens up. A kinetic tool that makes space constantly. For many of the projects she presented, she used very beautiful representational methods that include hand-drawing, sketching, open models, photography of hands showing the concept, and clay models. Tsiraki discussed the valie of small-scale interventions in urban landscape that are gradully adapted by dwellers overtime. Another dominant topic of her talk has been the development of an architectural syntax, almost like an architectural lego through which one makes space. The audience made quite interesting questions about typology, archetypes (as object or not?), teaching versus practicing, tool using versus tool making, and self-criticality. The night felt more like going to a class than attending a lecture. As in many other cases at Harvard GSD the discussion continued until late with more scandalous questions, comments, and architectural gossips, comparisons between here and there, but also architectural and educational ideas!

The event was organized by Dimitris Papanikolaou, Aphrodite Stathopoulos, and GreeceGSD

the other aqua

Xenakis House

photos by Dimitris Papanikolaou

Hozoviotissa Monastery

photo by Dimitris Papanikolaou

What is Architecture?

Saskia Sassen: For me architecture at its best is a form of knowledge. It is not just putting up walls. It is incorporating all the knowledge we have.  How can we use biospheric capabilities and how can we insert them in buildings? How can we use technologies, light, existing breeze, etc? It really is a form of knowledge; but a form of knowledge that is an axial condition that brings together many different forms of knowledge to come up with something. I make a big distinction between simply building a building (construction, the construction industry) and architecture. A lot of what goes under the name of architecture, I think, is a very mediocre form of knowledge. It’s not living up to what it should be.

AD Editorial Team. "AD Interviews: Saskia Sassen" 22 Aug 2013. ArchDaily. Accessed 23 Aug 2013. 

n-gon

n-Gon - Artforming - (installation, in the Powder Magazine main space, noon-5pm) A site specific collaboration between Rob Trumbour and Aaron Willette of Artforming and composer and musician Jon Sakata that explores an ephemeral mapping of the memory and the latent potential of place through sonic archaeologies and evolving spatial compositions. (www.artforming.org) 
The installation took place in the 1818 Powder Magazine building

rainy building

limanakia

Few kilometers outside Athens, opposite the lake Vouliagmeni one can find 3 little bays, named "limanakia"/ λιμανάκια (=little bays/ ports). I visited the 2nd one, which also includes a bar. It is one of my favorite beaches in Athens. What is amazing in this beach is first of all the rock formations around the water, making it an excellent place for those who like to jump into the water. The wilderness of the landscape attracts young people or at least people that do not need a lot of luxury and they enjoy the basics. Architecturally, the interventions made in the landscape are remarkable. The "beach" is composed by a series of wooden decks attached to the rocks in various heights looking at the bay. The bar/ cantine is very basic and also has a wooden deck with simple tables/ benches right at the edge of the water. As I was browsing to find images for this post I realized that the waters in limanakia is offered for divers. In the same search I also discovered that Alexandros Papadiamantis has written "Ta limanakia" in 1907. However this seems to be for a different area.

For more info about Athens beaches click here. 

For more info about diving at limanakia click here.

groundwork symposium