Pantelis Nicolacopoulos

The Hellenic Institute of Architecture organized a new series of lectures by Greek architects under the title “HIA Lectures 2007–2008”. This series aimed to broaden public awareness of contemporary architectural practice, featuring distinguished professionals invited to present their views on Greek architecture and their own work.

Greek architecture today continues to pose a set of open questions. Issues such as the processes related to the profession, the insufficient execution of architectural competitions, the relationship between architecture and the country’s broader economic reality, the role and potential of construction technology, the gradual transformation of architects into executors of pre-decided choices by construction firms, the legacy of the Olympic projects, the relationship between architecture and society, the problematic role of the Greek architectural and urban tradition, the relevance of contemporary architecture to the lived reality of Greek cities, the issue of architectural education, the relationship between Greek and international architecture, the inadequate strategies for promoting architecture both in Greece and abroad, and the role of architectural criticism—these are all matters that often do not support genuine design research or the development of overall architectural quality. Architecture in Greece today continues to raise questions that remain unanswered—questions that have already been addressed not only in the West but also in many countries of the self-satisfied so-called “Third World.”

This lecture series, organized by the Hellenic Institute of Architecture, sought to offer responses to these concerns. The invited architects, many of whom belong to a younger generation, aimed to develop both theoretical perspectives on the above issues and to articulate the principles that define their personal architectural approach within the framework of the built environment.

“The continuity of space/ three versions”

PANTELIS NICOLACOPOULOS

He was born in Athens in 1954. He studied architecture at the Pratt Institute in New York (B. Arch.) and continued with postgraduate studies on a scholarship at Columbia University, also in New York, graduating in 1978 (M.S. in Architecture and Urban Design). Since 1980, he has maintained a private practice in Athens. He has received distinctions in national architectural competitions, while in the international competition for the New Acropolis Museum in 1990, his proposal was awarded honorable mention in the first phase of the competition. Since 2003, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Greek Architects, responsible for the Committee on Architectural Preservation and Environment, as well as the Committee on Architectural Competitions, which drafted the proposal for the new institutional framework for conducting architectural competitions.

The lecture presented a series of studies and completed works from the period 1987–2007, which are based on common principles, shared rules of hierarchy, and a unified method.