Daskalaki – Papadopoulos Architects & Myrto Kiourti (BLOD)

The Hellenic Institute of Architecture, within the framework of the 18th cycle of lectures by Greek Architects, launched a new concept titled “Lectures & dialogues”. This initiative features the parallel presentation of the work of two architectural offices, followed by a dialogue between them and with the audience.

The second event of this cycle took place on May 24, 2022, at the restaurant of the Benaki Museum, Pireos, and was recorded by BLOD (Bodossaki Lectures on Demand).
The lectures and their accompanying presentations are available at the following link:

https://www.blod.gr/lectures/dialekseis-dialogoi-02

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 second lecture of the series, participants were:

Daskalaki I Papadopoulos Architects

COMPETITION PROJECTS – ARCHITECTURAL CONTINUITIES AND TRANSFORMATIONS
The lecture will present proposals, studies, and built projects by the office, stemming from participation in architectural competitions from 2009 to the present. This body of work is grounded in a continuous value framework that sees the active relationship between architectural practice and architectural composition as a methodological and pedagogical field. The lecture will focus on spatial organization through fundamental typologies and structures. A key compositional strategy that will be analyzed is the further development and transformation of basic architectural types into new, complex structures that address the collective and the individual, scale, and formal organization. Additionally, the presentation will include proposals on materiality and the use of structural and construction methods, approached as an extension of the compositional structure and in response to the characteristics of place and program.

Myrto Kiourti

EMOTIONAL FUNCTIONALISM – THE FLYING BOX
In my presentation, I will speak about Emotional Functionalism — a design approach that connects residential architecture with psychoanalysis. In this method, the architect employs psychoanalytic tools, explores the psyche of the resident, and draws inspiration from it in order to design their home. This approach was developed through my doctoral dissertation and postdoctoral research at the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), with a focus on pioneering innovation. It has been applied in a significant number of projects I have undertaken over the past 20 years. In this talk, I will focus on a recent project of mine, “The Flying Box,” as a characteristic example of this method in practice. It is an addition to an existing residence in the Dásos Chaidaríou (Chaidari Forest), through which I re-examine the psychological boundaries between parents and their adult children — grounded in the typical Greek construction practice known as “panosikoma” (vertical extension of a family home).

The discussion was led by Tasos Kotsiopoulos.

Georgia Daskalaki. She is an architect (NTUA, 2004), with an MSc in Design–Space–Culture (2009), and is currently completing her PhD on the topic: “The Architecture of Greek Spa Towns (mid-19th to mid-20th century): Health, Leisure, and Modernity” at the Department of Architecture, University of Cyprus. Her research focuses on health and leisure policies as they relate to architecture in the Eastern Mediterranean region. She has taught History and Theory of Modern and Contemporary Architecture as well as Architectural Design as a Special Scientist at the University of Cyprus, where she has also participated in research programs. She has published academic articles related to her research in Architectural Histories, the journal of the European Architectural Historians Network (EAHN), and is a contributing author in the upcoming collective volume Public Health in the Early Modern City in Europe: Salutogenesis Through Architecture, to be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2022.

Giannis Papadopoulos. He holds a professional diploma in Architecture from the School of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA, 2005). He is a PhD candidate at the Department of Architecture, University of Cyprus (since 2013-), and has been teaching Architectural Design at the NTUA School of Architecture (P.D. 407, since 2022). His doctoral research focuses on critical theory and the cultural heritage of architecture. From 2012 to 2020, he lived and worked in Cyprus, with his architectural practice based in Nicosia. He taught Architectural Design and Building Technology as a Special Scientist at the University of Cyprus and Neapolis University (2014–2019). His academic and professional work centers on collective housing and educational spaces, explored through the lens of the collective–individual dipole — a core focus in both his teaching and architectural practice.

Myrto Kiourti. She is an architect, a graduate of the School of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). She completed a postgraduate degree in Advanced Architectural Design at Columbia University in New York, and earned her PhD at the NTUA School of Architecture under the supervision of Dimitris Filippidis. She is currently conducting postdoctoral research at the NTUA School of Architecture in collaboration with Panagiotis Tournikiotis and Thanos Pagonis. She teaches at the Department of Architecture of the University of Patras and has also taught in the postgraduate program of the NTUA School of Architecture, as well as at the Department of Architecture of the University of Thessaly and the Department of Political Science and Sociology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). Since 2002, she has maintained an architectural practice based in Athens. Her work has been published in well-known international and Greek architectural journals such as Architectural Research Quarterly (Cambridge University Press), Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, DOMES, Architizer, Divisare, Ellinikes Kataskeyes, Archetype, Archisearch, among others. Her research has been supported by prestigious scholarships, including the Fulbright Foundation, the Gerondelis Foundation, and the Onassis Foundation. She has presented her work at prominent conferences, schools of architecture, and institutions, including the Hellenic Institute of Architecture, the Biennale of Young Greek Architects, the London School of Economics, the School of Architecture of Milan, Paris-Sorbonne, the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), the Benaki Museum, the Onassis Stegi, the Acropolis Museum, and the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation. She maintains a consistent presence in the media (Kathimerini, Ta Nea, Eleftherotypia, To Pontiki, To Vima, Athens Voice, Lifo, ERT, STAR, etc.)