10th Biennale of Young Greek Architects

The Hellenic Institute of Architecture, in strategic partnership with ek magazine, organised the 10th Biennale of Young Greek Architects in December 2021, on the top floor of the historic Doxiadis Office on Lycabettus. The event took advantage of the momentum created by the building’s unfinished transformation into the One Athens residential complex, in which the majority of the properties are owned by SODIA Capital Management and whose exclusive sales have been entrusted to Engel & Völkers Greece.

The exhibition opening took place on Friday, December 17, 2021.

The 10th Biennale carried a special anniversary significance as it takes place 26 years after the 1st Biennale in 1995 on the occasion of the founding of the Hellenic Institute of Architecture. The establishment of the Biennale a quarter of a century ago was a pioneering initiative by the HIA, aimed at encouraging young architects and showcasing their work through exhibitions, conferences, and publications. Over these 26 years, hundreds of architects have participated in the Biennale, many of whom later distinguished themselves as professionals and university educators.

The 82 entries submitted for the 10th Biennale came from all over Greece, while an impressive proportion of projects originate outside the country, mainly from Cyprus, but also from New York, Copenhagen, Strasbourg, Mozambique, and Vietnam.

Amid the pandemic, they highlighted a distinctive aspect of recent architectural production. The main theme of the projects revolved around the ever-relevant issue of housing, while topics such as urban redevelopment and public architecture were noticeably fewer, though particularly noteworthy.

In those entries, “youthful” design proposals stood out, featuring original ideas as well as a sense of maturity—both in terms of spatial organization and development, integration with the site and scale (without, however, the pressure of “tradition”), and in relation to the effort toward their realization.

They represent approaches that remind us that there are young architects capable of moving beyond stereotypes and current trends. They seek to exist through their work, highlighting not only individual creativity but also universal values and the social dimension of architecture, aiming for the truly “new” through historical continuity and its subversion. In contrast, part of the exhibition is dedicated to the Doxiadis Office, which developed a modernist approach to the historic site across all spatial scales.

Will this generation succeed in leaving its own architectural mark on space and time? Perhaps this exhibition in the transforming modern monument of One Athens carried its own symbolic significance.

The exhibition was supported by the participation of the following companies:

Silver Sponsor: U MINIMAL

Sponsors: ALUMIL, EL GRECO GALLERY, ELVAL COLOUR, HALO ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING, IKT MARMARON, KANELLI, MAPEI, TWELVE CONCEPT, ELEFTHERIOU S.A., I.XENIKAKIS S.A.

Supporters: AKZO NOBEL, KEBE, KRAFT PAINTS – BIOCLIMA, PORIOTIS, SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC

We warmly thank ETHNOKAT S.A. for the construction works in the exhibition space and HALO ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING for the study and supervision of the lighting design.