Pieris.Architects & en-route-architecture

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

The Lectures of Greek Architects have historically been an iconic establishment of the Hellenic Institute of Architecture (HIA). Over the past twenty years, distinguished creators have been invited to present their work. The presentation of the diverse facets of architectural practice, alongside critical discussion, has been a consistent hallmark of this initiative. The simultaneous presentation of the work of two architectural firms, followed by a dialogue between them and with the audience, is intended to spark public conversation about architecture—its relationship with establishments, the processes of its production and critique, and its multiple expressions in both private and public spaces.

The overall coordination of the lectures on behalf of the Board of Directors of the HIA was undertaken by Anastasios Kotsiopoulos (Architect, Emeritus Professor at AUTH), Dionisis Sotovikis (Architect), and Sofia Tsiraki (Architect, Professor at NTUA).

In the fourth lecture of the series, participants were:

Pieris.Architects
From “Hansel & Gretel” to “The SPOT”

The Path Toward Architecture of Eco-Emotional Intelligence
“Where does creativity stem from? What truly constitutes sustainable architecture?
How is the path from the initial idea to the realization of a project shaped?
Perhaps it all begins with an emotion — or even with feelings and impressions that connect our senses to our perception of space…”
This lecture explores the work of Pieris.Architects through competitions and realized projects, using the analogy of the well-known Brothers Grimm tale, first published in 1812.
Is there, ultimately, an evolutionary path toward a sustainable architectural expression?
Can space acquire a timeless symbolic meaning beyond aesthetics?

en-route-architecture–
Re-inventing the wheel

As architects, we work with an intangible medium: space. A medium that is both invisible and dominant. It’s as if we are designing the air — we design space through elements that frame, restrict, or allow its experience in different ways. While the articulation of such architectural elements is endless, our tools for designing air/space are limited. Walls, columns, and roofs are undeniably primitive — yet they are the only elements that define space. This makes the process of inventing architecture both banal and complex at the same time. The wheel already exists, but it is open to reinvention. We are interested in this process of reinvention — of revisiting the obvious, not merely as an aesthetic variation, but in order to arrive at an anti-intuitive solution. A solution that may still be commonplace or simple — but one that (at the very least) can offer a different way of perceiving.

The work of Pieris.Architects has been published in renowned international and Greek architecture magazines (Architizer, designboom, New York Times, Architectural Issues, DOMES, Greek Constructions, Archetype, Archisearch, etc.) and has been presented at major conferences, schools of architecture, and institutions (Biennale of Young Greek Architects, FAU University, Benaki Museum, Onassis Cultural Center, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, etc.).
The office maintains a strong presence in the media (Kathimerini, Ta Nea, Eleftherotypia, To Vima, Athens Voice, Lifo, etc.). Their work has been included in both group and solo exhibitions in Greece, the UK, Italy, Taiwan, and New York, and has received awards in numerous international architectural competitions in Greece and abroad. They maintain offices in three countries: Greece, Cyprus, and the UK.

Dr. Stella Pieri is an architectural engineer. She completed her studies in the UK at the Universities of Bath and Sheffield with Distinction and holds a PhD from NTUA (National Technical University of Athens) on the evaluation of carbon footprint in construction. She taught Architectural Design and Construction courses as an Academic Fellow at NTUA (2010–2016).
She has been a partner at Pieris.Architects since 2003, is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), and serves as a juror for architectural competitions.

Pieros Pieris graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL, London) and has been a partner at Pieris.Architects since 2004.
He has served as a juror in international and local architectural competitions and was the editor of Architecture topics for the art magazine TA NEA TIS TECHNIS (2017–2021).

en–route–architecture– (e-r-a-) is an architectural practice based in Athens, focusing on built projects across various scales. It was founded in 2016 by Katerina Kourkoulas and Hannes Gutberlet.

Katerina Kourkoula was born in London, 1982, Katerina Kourkoulas has worked in architectural practices in London, New York, and Athens. She has taught design studios at Cooper Union, Pratt, and ETH Zurich. She studied architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) and at Cooper Union in New York. Katerina is co-editor of the publication Reactivate Athens (Ruby Press, 2017).

Hannes Gutberlet was born in Heidelberg, 1980, Hannes Gutberlet has worked with several architectural offices in the Netherlands and Switzerland. He was a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich. Hannes studied economics at EBS University, and architecture at TU Delft, MIT, and ETH Zurich.

Photo en-route-architecture: Alina Lefa

#eialectures19