Catalogue of the 2000 Architectural Awards

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Order: info@heliarch.gr

ISBN: 960-85742-6-9
PAGES: 104
DIMENSIONS: 24×30 cm

(from the catalogue)
FOREWORD

The primary purpose of an award is the recognition of the quality of an achievement in the field to which the award pertains.
This means not only rewarding the final result, but also acknowledging the effort of all those who contributed to its realization. In the case of an architectural project, many contributors are involved in its implementation. First and foremost, of course, the key role is played by the architect. Without the architect, organizing the user’s requirements and more importantly, expressing them in space through the three-dimensional configuration of material elements is not possible. Then, an essential role is played by the user. The user will express their needs and desires, describe behaviors, or even formulate aesthetic views. Finally, we have the builders those who, using specific materials and construction methods, will bring to life both the plans and the visions of the architect and the client. This process is very well known.
If I mention it, it is because within this familiar process lie two fundamental prerequisites, which we often take for granted when we are faced with a noteworthy building:

• that the relationship among all the contributors during its creation was harmonious,
• and that the result fully satisfies those who use its spaces.

And yet, these two prerequisites are by no means self-evident, nor are they brought about without great effort and hard work by everyone involved in the project — and especially by the architect. This seems to be substantiated by the fact that public works, where the user’s perspective, involvement, and evaluation are entirely absent and are instead replaced by bureaucratic procedures or even indifference, are often of mediocre quality.

On the other hand, it is not easy for an architectural award jury to determine these two prerequisites based solely on photographic material or other documentation. It is, in fact, to the credit of the first selection committee for the 2000 Architecture Awards, organized by the Hellenic Institute of Architecture, that it managed using only drawings to so successfully distinguish the most noteworthy buildings.

And it’s not just those two prerequisites that are lost in the drawings. It’s also a crucial quality of the architectural work what we might call “architectural wholeness” which can only be experienced when moving through the spaces. For this reason, and in contrast to what is usually done, the final selection committee for the 2000 Architecture Awards broke new ground by visiting the nominated projects in person, in order to experience firsthand even for a short time and together with the user the architectural spaces. The fact that the awards are granted to the buildings themselves, and not to a single one of their creators, is an additional reason why the judges should visit them and engage in discussion with those who live or work within them.

The committee, as noted in the minutes that follow, identified a high level of architectural quality, particularly in the residential buildings. Each one of these projects represents a model I would even say exemplary  proposal addressing a wide range of architectural challenges in our country, ranging from residences situated in predominantly traditional environments to single-family homes that stand as valuable objects, with a particularly high degree of refinement in construction detailing.

Regardless of the overall acceptance or rejection of the final selection, it must be noted that the entire process followed offered a unique opportunity to hold yet another discussion about the trajectory of Greek architecture at the dawn of the new millennium a discussion that indeed transcends the country’s borders, thereby contributing to the integration of Greece’s architectural discourse into the international architectural scene.

Professor N.Kalogeras, President of the Hellenic Institute of Architecture