Draftworks* architects & Leonidas Koutsoumpos

The Hellenic Institute of Architecture held the fifth event of the 20th series of lectures by Greek architects, titled “Lectures & Dialogues,” on Tuesday, April 23 at 19:00, at the Benaki Museum on Pireos Street.

The Lectures of Greek Architects have historically been a landmark institution of the Hellenic Institute of Architecture (HIA), as over the past two decades, prominent creators have been invited to present their work. The presentation of the diverse expressions of architectural work, as well as their critical review, have been enduring characteristics of this initiative. The simultaneous presentation of the work of two architectural firms, followed by a dialogue between them and with the audience, is seen as an opportunity to spark public discussion about architecture, its relationship with institutions, and the processes of its production and critique, as well as its multiple manifestations in both private and public spaces.

The general coordination of the lectures on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Institute of Architecture was managed by Anastasios Kotsiopoulos (Architect, Emeritus Professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Dionisis Sotovikis (Architect), and Sofia Tsiraki (Architect, Professor at the National Technical University of Athens).

The fifth lecture of the series featured the participation of:

Draftworks* architects (Christiana Ioannou, Christos Papastergiou)
‘WHAT REMAINED’

The presentation aims to discuss the work of our team across various scales and programs, centered around the concept of “what remains”, a notion that brings together two architectural components: First, the void, as a space that ‘remains,’ whose significance for us stems from a personal synthetic mythology dating back to our student years. This views architecture as an act of creating a built framework that shapes various types and scales of voids and ‘useless’ spaces. Second, the unpredictable, the incidental, and the spontaneous, and our architectural effort to incorporate this factor, mainly through the adoption of vegetation and nature as integral parts of the built architecture. We will conclude by discussing how we recognize the enclosed garden as a typology that unites these two concepts as a ‘designed remainder,’ becoming a bearer of locality through the participation of nature, climate, materiality, and use in the compositional process.

Leonidas Koutsoumpos
ASSEMBLIES OF SYNTHETIC PRINCIPLES

Through the presentation of selected designed and constructed architectural works, a reflective effort is made to rationalize the compositional process. This involves exploring a series of principles that govern the work in the design studio. These principles stem from the ordering power of architecture and the need to establish a system of rules, alongside their local exceptions. Thus, a field of research is presented that examines the close relationship between architectural structure and form, with an emphasis on tectonic clarity and transparency. The boundaries of self-organization and external determination of the architectural work are also explored in relation to each specific site. Finally, the significance of the ethical dimension of the work is sought—both in terms of the internal consistency of its composition and regarding the social aspect of architecture and the actual or envisioned inhabitation in each case.

#eialectures20

The architectural firm draftworks architects* was founded in London in 2006 by Christiana Ioannou and Christos Papastergiou and is currently based in Nicosia and Athens. The team has received awards in architectural competitions, including 1st prize in the competition for the Environmental Education Center of Larnaca’s Salt flats, 2nd prize for a school complex in Palermo (in collaboration with AutonomeForme), a distinction from MIT for the project “The New Zidonians”, and 1st prize for the project “MUUSA” in the architectural ideas competition “Next Helsinki”, curated by Michael Sorkin. Their projects have been published and exhibited worldwide, including at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2008 and 2012, the Milan Triennale 2022, as well as in magazines such as Bauwelt, Site, and Blueprint. Their work was also featured in the book ATLAS of Emerging Practices. The project “House with Four Gardens” won the first prize in the category “Built Project” and the first prize in the “Peers’ Choice” category at the DOMA Awards (jury: Valerio Olgiati, Emilio Tunon, Oliver Thill). It was also shortlisted for the Piranesi Award 2019 and the Mies van der Rohe Award 2022. The firm works on design and supervision of projects at various scales and with diverse content, including art exhibitions, private residences, public buildings, and urban developments, while placing special emphasis on architectural media such as drawings, models, and storytelling.

Christiana Ioannou was born in Nicosia. She holds a diploma in Architecture from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), awarded with a scholarship from the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY), and a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Design-Space-Culture from the Architecture School of NTUA. Since 2010, she has been teaching Architectural Design studios at the Department of Architecture at the University of Cyprus.

Christos Papastergiou was born in Athens. He holds a diploma in Architecture from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Design-Space-Culture from the NTUA School of Architecture, and a PhD in Architectural Design from the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL (funded by a scholarship from the State Scholarships Foundation – S.S.F.). He has taught Architectural Design and Theory at the University of Cyprus and the University of Nicosia. In 2023, he was appointed Assistant Professor in Sector I, Architectural Design at the NTUA School of Architecture.

Leonidas Koutsoumpos (born 1976) is an architect and serves as an assistant professor at the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), specializing in the theory of architectural design. He earned his diploma from the same school in 2001 and completed his postgraduate studies there in 2004. As a scholarship recipient of the State Scholarships Foundation (SSF), he completed his doctoral dissertation at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2008. He has also taught at the Schools of Architecture in Edinburgh and Patras.

He runs an architectural office, which he conceives as a work/site where architectural ideas are constructed. The office undertakes architectural studies at various scales and devises ways to implement them. Its activities span a wide range of projects, including residences, apartment buildings, and public building design competitions. The office is also involved in restoration projects of historically significant buildings and the enhancement of archaeological sites, in collaboration with local Ephorates of Antiquities.

Photographs: © H.I.A./Stelios Nikas