Kyriakos Kyriakidis (1937-2024)
For Kyriako Kyriakidi…
With deep sorrow, we bid farewell to our dear friend, colleague, collaborator and fellow traveler in the work of the Hellenic Institute of Architecture, Kyriakos Kyriakidis.
The architecture of Kyriakos Kyriakidis whether in the residences of his early career or in his later large-scale projects such as hospitals and office buildings was always centered on the human being and their needs. It was an architecture where the human scale is present everywhere, even in the largest and most expansive projects, and where the satisfaction and comfort of the user were a primary concern. Yet, this focus never diminished the distinctly personal character that defined his work.
His specialization in large hospital projects formed the foundation upon which his entire body of work was built. Upon this canvas, Kyriakos developed always keeping pace with the latest technological advances buildings that functioned exceptionally well for their users, while at the same time offering psychological relief and support to a large number of people during some of the most vulnerable periods of their lives.
He continued almost to the very end through challenging times for Greek society as a whole to offer a genuinely human-centered architecture. This contribution was realized not only metaphorically but also materially, through a number of studies and designs that he donated to various organizations and institutions.
He believed deeply in the social role of the architect and shaped the identity of his practice’s work by expressing a unified spirit reflected in the consistency of his choices and the composition of details.
Detail, for Kyriakos Kyriakidis, carried special meaning. “Especially when it is characteristically repeated in one project or even across several it requires special attention so that the whole is not sacrificed for the sake of the repeated part,” he would say.
In conversations with Kyriakos, I came to understand that he belonged to the category of architects who immerse themselves deeply in the problems of their work. And the more systematically they addressed issues, the more expertise they developed in the specific fields that concerned them.
He believed in the value and outcomes of collaborative creation and in the importance of specialist consultants for the successful completion of large and complex projects. He used to say that, in order to succeed, architectural composition must effectively serve a challenging combination of technological, functional, and aesthetic parameters.
Kyriakos worked with a large group of younger architects, constantly sketching his ideas. The passion for teaching young architects remained with him, even long after he stepped away from his position at the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).
Stavros Gyftopoulos
Professor NTUA, Vice President HIA