Claudio Conenna & Eleni Amerikanou, Panos Exarchopoulos (BLOD)

The Hellenic Institute of Architecture, as part of the 20th cycle of lectures by Greek Architects, titled “Lectures & Dialogues,” held the second event of this cycle on January 30th, 2024, at the restaurant of the Benaki Museum on Pireos Street. The event was recorded by BLOD, and the lectures along with the accompanying presentations are available at the following link:

https://www.blod.gr/lectures/dialekseis-dialogoi-claudio-conenna-eleni-amerikanou-panos-eksarhopoulos/

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, the participants were:

CLAUDIO CONENNA: NOWHERE / NOW-HERE

The projects in this lecture, under the title NOWHERE / NOW-HERE, illustrate through four themes a design philosophy, a way of working, and the rationale I follow in the process of architectural composition.
“NOWHERE” means that these works exist nowhere because they are unbuilt, while “NOW-HERE” expresses that they come to light today, here.
The four themes: 1/ The Lines of Nature, 2/ The Forms of Time, 3/ The Roof-Scape,  4/ The Inner and Outer Explosion, reveal “A search between the lines”, as well as a personal perception of Architecture — one that emerges and aligns both with human everyday life and with the spiritual dimensions of art.
I perceive Architecture as a cultivated and at the same time humble act that constantly seeks the essential in order to contribute to the culture of each place.
Each time, the primary idea behind the solutions lies in the search for a simple yet dynamic compositional gesture that follows the guiding lines of the place. These are strokes or markings that engage in dialogue with the landscape—natural, cultural, and experiential. Memories, dreams, and external references are combined and interwoven, orienting the composition toward a dialogical response to the environment. These are traces along the labyrinthine path of composition, always originating from the environment—whether natural, urban, or cultural—in order to harmonize with the pulse of the place. These projects attempt, in their own language, to approach the highest grace of ARCHITECTURE: Emotion…!!!

ELENI AMERIKANOU – PANOS EXARCHOPOULOS: WORKS AND “PARA-WORKS”

By recording our initial architectural stimuli and influences, we will present selected projects of ours, focusing on: the clear compositional structure, the recourse to pure geometry, the respect for human scale and the environment, the emphasis on the ground-level zone, the “double” or “excavated” façade, the upper termination of the building, the subtle presence of the structural system, the stereometric variety, the morphological “episodes,” the use of color, and more. Through this selective “journey,” we hope to make evident our commitment to the  restrained/pragmatic realization of the architectural work and to Modernism, while our insistence on the use of traditional representational techniques contributes, in its own way, to our intentional restraint against excess. 
In addition, the reference to Panos Exarchopoulos’ “Imaginary Notebooks” reveals a desire for the continuous exploration of architectural ideas, particularly during times of professional scarcity.
Activities such as research on modern Greek architecture of the 1930s, 1960s, and 1970s, on the relationship between architecture and art, as well as painting, photography, and others, complement the field of architectural application. These constitute the “Para-works” in the title – though they are not without weight or significance, as the very definition of the word suggests.
The academic teaching of architectural design, though not included in the above, is naturally in dialogue with both the Works and the “Para-works.”
More informations www.eia.gr

#eialectures20

Claudio Conenna, of Italian origin, was born in Argentina in 1959. He studied at the National University of La Plata in Argentina, where he received his Diploma in Architecture in 1984. In 1999, he obtained a PhD in Architecture from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH). He is currently a professor of Architectural Design and Theory at the School of Architecture at AUTH.

More than 60 of his articles have been published in international journals and collective volumes — in Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, and Finland. He has also authored ten books. His articles and books focus on monographic topics in modern and contemporary architecture or on architects of modernism and contemporary architects from Latin America and Europe. In terms of architectural practice, he has completed more than 80 architectural and urban design projects at various scales, including private/public commissions and architectural competitions. Some of these projects have received awards and have been exhibited, mainly in architectural exhibitions abroad.

Eleni Amerikanou was born in 1960 in Lamia, Greece. She is an Architect Engineer, a graduate of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA, 1985), and holds a PhD from the same institution (1997), with a doctoral thesis titled “Representation in Architecture: The Nature and Function of Representational Media in Architecture.” Since 1987, she has operated an architectural practice in partnership with Panos Exarchopoulos, focusing on the design of both private and public buildings, as well as interior design projects. Their work has also included numerous participations in architectural competitions. She has received several distinctions, including one First Prize, four Second Prizes (notably the Second Prize in the international architectural competition for the New Acropolis Museum), one Fourth Prize, and one Honorable Mention. Her architectural work has been published widely in Greek and international journals and presented in exhibitions. Since 1999, she has been teaching Architectural Design at the Department of Architecture at the Democritus University of Thrace in Xanthi, where she currently holds the position of Professor. She has also been invited as a guest lecturer in the Interdepartmental Postgraduate Program of the School of Architecture at NTUA. Her research activities focus on the pedagogy of architectural design, representational media in architecture, geometry and spatial theories, the intersection of art and architecture, and modern Greek architecture of the 1930s, 1960s, and 1970s. She has served as the scientific director for research projects within the Department of Architecture at DUTH and has published academic articles in books and journals, while also presenting her work at conferences and symposia. She is a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), the Association of Greek Architects (SADAS-PEA), the international and Greek branches of DOCOMOMO, the Greek Section of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the Hellenic Architectural Society, the Hellenic Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage, and the editorial board of the online architectural journal Archetype.

Panos Exarchopoulos was born in 1961 in Athens to parents who were painters and printmakers. He graduated in 1986 from the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). Since 1987, he has co-run an architectural design office in Athens with Eleni Amerikanou. Their main focus is the design of private and public building projects, interior design, and participation in architectural competitions, in several of which he has been awarded (three Second Prizes and one Fourth Prize). His architectural work has been published in books and journals and has been exhibited in various shows. Since 1999, he has been teaching Architectural Design at the Department of Architecture of the Polytechnic School of Democritus University of Thrace in Xanthi, where he currently serves as Assistant Professor. His main research interest lies in the study, documentation, and analysis of modern Greek architecture from the interwar period and the 1960s and 1970s. This ongoing work has resulted in the creation of an extensive and systematized photographic archive, complemented by building documentation, bibliographic references, and more. His academic articles and texts have been published in books, specialized print and online journals, and in the daily press. He has also presented his work in conferences and scientific meetings. Alongside architecture, he is engaged in painting, photography, graphic design, book editing, and the self-construction of interior design elements for personal use. He is a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), the Association of Greek Architects (SADAS-PEA), the international and Greek branches of DOCOMOMO, the Hellenic Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage, the Hellenic Architectural Society, and the editorial board of the online architectural magazine Archetype.