11th Biennale of young Greek Architects – Thessaloniki

The Hellenic Institute of Architecture, as part of its activities for the promotion of contemporary Greek architecture, announced a competition for the selection of projects to be included in the 11th Biennale of Young Greek Architects. The aim of the Biennale, organized by the Institute every two years, is to gather a representative sample of the work of young architects, to exhibit their projects, to highlight emerging creators, and to encourage the exchange of ideas regarding the development of architectural thought and the production of architectural work in Greece today.

The exhibition of the projects of the 11th Biennale was presented at the Teloglion Foundation of Arts in Thessaloniki, in co-organization with the Department of Architecture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, from December 16, 2023, to January 14, 2024, accompanied by the publication of the exhibition catalogue. On the opening day, a conference was held at the Tellogleio Foundation with the members of the jury as invited speakers, aiming at the presentation and critical analysis of the projects.

Members of the Jury of the 11th Biennale of Young Greek Architects were Anastasios Kotsiopoulos, Professor Emeritus of AUTH (coordinator), Anastasios Tellios, Professor at AUTH, Konstantinos Moraitis, Professor Emeritus of NTUA, Morpho Papanikolaou, Architect I.U.A.V., and Dimitris Thomopoulos, Associate Professor at AUTH. Alternate members were Stavros Gyftopoulos, Professor at NTUA, and Alkmene Paka, Professor at AUTH.

The Jury thoroughly examined the 165 submitted projects and classified them, according to their quality, into two groups, distinguishing 42 of them as award-worthy.

The large number of submitted projects and proposals allows for a highly optimistic view of architectural creation and practice in Greece. In terms of scale and subject matter, renovations of urban and country residences dominate, as well as new country houses, some of which, in certain cases, accommodate tourism-related activities.

Also noteworthy is the presence of landscape and urban redevelopment studies, generally the result of competitions that have not yet been realized, while the presence of public buildings and large-scale or complex projects is limited. In terms of compositional ideas, those aligned with the range of the so-called “Greek New Modern” are clearly noticeable, featuring clean geometric forms—usually rectangular—and an “honest” expression and correlation of structural elements and materials. However, variations can also be observed, possibly due to the distinctive features of compositional instruction in the Schools of Architecture. Design choices such as the creation of partially underground buildings should also be noted, as they may have gained the preference of younger designers. It was also observed that the use of advanced computational tools is widespread, although the potential of these tools to describe and support the transformation of the central idea from initial conception to the final work does not appear to be fully utilized.

In conclusion, it is once again emphasized the importance of the institution in promoting the work of young architects and, consequently, the role of contemporary Greek architecture within the ever-evolving and rapidly changing forum of new ideas on the global architectural stage.

The exhibition was curated by Alkmene Paka, Professor at the School of Architecture, AUTH, and Spyros Papadimitriou, Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture, AUTH.

Photographs © HIA / School of Architecture (AUTh)

EXHIBITION OPENING: Saturday, December 16, 2023, at 18:30
Teloglion Foundation of Arts  AUTh
159A Agiou Dimitriou Street, 546 36 Thessaloniki

Free Admission

Co-organization: Department of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
With the financial support and under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture