Stella Kitsiou Junior Architect
Architecture Portfolio, Selected Works, 2020 www.skitsiou.netify.app, kitsioustella@gmail.com, +(357)96755315
Education
STELLA KITSIOU Junior Architect
Bachelor in Architecture Oct.2014 – Feb.2017 École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Versailles (énsaV)
Profile Enthusiastic junior architect, recent graduate from the school of Versailles, with hopes of improving urban tissue through interesting and functional designs that engage emotion. Participated in a competition for a housing complex, as a member of a French architecture atelier and won the 1st prize. Seeking a full time junior architect position in the architectural field.
Language GREEK Native
ENGLISH Proficient
Master in Architecture, Feb. 2017 – June 2020 École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Versailles (énsaV) - Final Project Feb. 2020 – June 2020, Rehabilitation of the Ledras Palace: A theatre of all the urban transformations of Nicosia - Thesis work Feb. 2019 – Jan. 2020, Between the limits of Nicosia, a spatial memory experience.
FRENCH Proficient
Software Skills Drawing AutoCAD Sketchup ArchiCAD Rhinoceros Blender AutoCAD Editing/Graphic AutoCAD AutoCAD AutoCAD AutoCAD
Contact kitsioustella@gmail.com +(357)96755315
Portfolio www.skitsiou.netify.app
Printed portfolio upon request
Recent Workshops Intelligent Fabrication & Concrete Canvas, by Klaas de Ryck, Bollinger + Grohmann engineering, April 2019, Manufacture and exhibit various pavilions on a human scale using concrete canvas. International workshop with Kyoto Institute of Technology (KIT), by Kimura Hiroshi and David Leclerc, Kyoto, Feb. 2019, Design of a modern onsen (hot spring) around the subject of traditional Japanese architecture and culture in the 21st century. Density and Metropolis - Soft Hardware for Growing Disparities, by Klaas de Ryck and Kofler Andreas, London, June 2018 Study on data-analysis instruments, and data-mining tools of the IoT, for the purpose of a better, more integrated, designing. Metropolitan realities, Nablus, Palestine, by Yves Roujon, Luc Vilan, An-Najah University, Nablus, April 2018, Study of the architectural and urban heritage of Nablus, as a bridge between the Middle Eastern region and Europe. Intelligent Fabrication, by Klaas de Ryck, Bollinger+Grohmann engineering and Tomás Saraceno, April 2017, Use of digital tools (Rhino, Grasshopper, Karamba3D) to produce physical models of bridges in full scale.
Internships Architectural Intern, ITAR architectures, Paris, June – October 2019, Active participation throughout the first phase of a competition for a housing complex. Competition won / 1st Prize. Eraclis Papachristou Architects, June 2015, Worked on a residential project, that was later built. Exposure to the professional field. Stelios Ioannou learning resource centre, July 2014, at the constrtuction site, Observing the construction of a building consisting of five storeys and the coordination needed of the various tasks carried out in a construction site.
Contents: Affordable housing complex with shops on the ground floor,
Bondy, France, 2019
Rehabilitation of the Ledras Palace, A theatre of all the urban transformations of Nicosia, Cyprus, 2020
Architecture and Music school, Saclay, France, 2017
Collective housing,
Versailles,France 2017
Rehabilitation of the Tuqan Palace,
Nablus, Palestine, 2018
Rehabilitation of the Maradas elementary school, Pontoise, France, 2017
International workshop with Kyoto Institute of Technology,
Kyoto, Japan, 2019
Intelligent Fabrication Workshop,
Versailles, France, 2017
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AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMPLEX WITH SHOPS ON THE GROUND FLOOR With the guidance of Oriane du Chéné, 2019 COMPETITION WON - 1st prize
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Perspective - View from the canal 2
AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMPLEX WITH SHOPS ON THE GROUND FLOOR Active participation throughout the first phase of the competition, during my internship at ITAR architectures. With the guidance of Oriane du Chéné, 2019 COMPETITION WON - 1st prize Located in Bondy, France, in a high potential sector – this project, amongst others, aims to create new centralities and new life along the Ourq Canal. This proposition is the answer for an architecture competition requesting the construction of a housing complex with a total footprint of 3,349 m2, made of 3 separate plots, which are separated by future public spaces, including 121 affordable housing units and 625 m² of shops on the ground floor. The challenge of this competition is to create a project that fit in perfectly with the context in order to create a dialogue between the existing districts in the North and the canal while creating a lively place. Our approach therefore intends to respond to several issues: that of re-establishing visual and spatial connections, but also of being linked to future qualitative public spaces. It is above all the quality of use of housing that has been at the heart of our concerns. Three essential intentions structured the project and the organization of the typologies of the current floor plan: to design rational and compact housing, offer multi-oriented housing and outdoor space for
Site plan
all dwellings. Thus, the apartments have, for the great majority, optimal orientation qualities, and are double-oriented.
Ground floor plan 3
Typical floor plan
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We worked on the volumes in order to play the role of articulation between the project activity sector and the central plots of the neighbourhood by providing a North-South visual porosity. To respond to this contextual problem, the layout of the buildings is designed to find the best balance between solid and void, sunlight and open views while offering generous outdoor spaces. We have chosen to set up on plot C09A1 two main buildings rising to 4 storeys plus a penthouse and 7 storeys, keeping the alignment on the roads. The implementation of this plot let us find out, through an opening from streets A and D, the heart of the block and its generous vegetation. On the garden side, we have developed some smaller volume “townhouses”, along a landscape fault to dialogue with future neighbouring constructions, while creating a qualitative distancing with the high volumes of the 1. Affortable houosing complex with shops on the groundfloor
surroundings. Particular care has been taken in the work of the “5th facades”, the roofs, which are mainly used for the creation of spaces outside the apartments. Pitched roofs, technical roofs and terraced roofs with decking or vegetation form the rich and diverse set of these 5th facades. The highest roofs of the project (7 storeys) are used to install the photovoltaic panels necessary for the environmental quality of the project and to meet renewable energy needs.
Perspective - View from the corner
South elevation
North elevation 5
of the road (Nicolas Boythias)
West elevation
East elevation 6
REHABILITATION OF THE LEDRAS PALACE A theatre of all the urban transformations of Nicosia Multi-Purpose Building Final graduation project, work in collaboration with Estelle Grec Mentor: Professor Pham Nicolas, 2020
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Green Line’s limits Ledras Checkpoints Limites of the plot N
Site Plan 8
REHABILITATION OF THE LEDRAS PALACE A theatre of all the urban transformations of Nicosia Multi-Purpose Building Final graduation project, work in collaboration with Estelle Grec Mentor: Professor Pham Nicolas, 2020 The Ledras Palace is located in Nicosia, Cyprus, in the interstice between the occupied part of Nicosia and the free part, inside the green line. Completely inaccessible today, except through the passage between the two checkpoints, it retains a certain charm of the past years. Although the Green Line appears inaccessible, it presents itself to me as a field of possibilities. I therefore propose a rehabilitation project for the Ledras Palace hotel: By being at the centre of this separation, this hotel integrate a symbolic charge due to its geographical status, by being inside the buffer zone. But also by its historical character, being a former place open to the public. The question would then be: How to intervene in an existing building with a symbolic and historical charge, as important as it is neglected, in order to introduce an experiment of dialogue and a possible reconciliation between the two communities?
Ground floor plan
Through the analysis of the urban context of Nicosia, and the experimentation of a possible reconciliation between the two communities, I therefore propose a project based around an itinerary, a ‘parkour’ with different steps, which each person who takes it, can define it as he wishes. All of the proposed spaces are designed to create different emotions and to accompany a sharing of experiences, in a public and common environment, conducive to a possible understanding between the two communities.
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Not only located in a buffer zone geographically, but also temporally, it becomes, through my project, the scene of all the urban transformations that will take place in the future. The challenge is therefore, to introduce a notion of experimentation and a dialogue based on the existing qualities of Ledras Palace. Thus, I keep the existing qualities: - The unity of the composition, - The unique material of the Pouropetra stone, the supporting structure, - And the principle of an architecture of components. It is then a question of intervening on the building by means of
First floor plan
2. Rehabilitation of the Ledras Palace
transformations, inducing destructions of some parts. -
This results from a division into servant and served spaces.
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The notion of the wall as a separating element, but also a gatherer. It can be seen as a physical separation of space but also as an interstice, by the capacity for emptiness that it creates.
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The existence or the absence of light which is created by the work
on the openings linked to the emotions transmitted within each space. Bringing together these aspects, I organize this building through a journey, a ‘parkour’. The succession of spaces, structures the different programs, and the building becomes a machine that evoke emotions. The programs we find are: an observatory in the roof, a small hotel, a
Third floor plan
dance hall, a music room, a games room, a museum, a media library, an auditorium and outside we find the meditation pavilions, of different sizes.
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Second floor plan
Fourth floor plan
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Each space has its own character, defined according to the needs of each activity. The shape of the wall will thus adapt according to its function. This will also translate into the use of concrete, as the main material. As the existing interior of the building is covered with white plaster, the wall will differ in its textured appearance and height. Light participates in this definition of each space. It accompanies the transcription of feelings through each of the activities. In the dance room for example, the column / slab structure of the building offers us the ability to integrate a double height, but also to explore the spatial qualities through freer forms, defining secondary spaces, such as seating, changing rooms or individual rehearsal rooms. This space reflects the idea of movement and openness. The calm atmosphere of the break room above the dance room differs with the energy deployed on the
2. Rehabilitation of the Ledras Palace
previous floor. Or the meditation pavilions, which adapt to the association of being alone, and being together. . The desired atmosphere in these pavilions is akin to a mystical idea, where the zenith openings are grazing and frame the view
Perspective - View from the break room
towards the sky. The thick walls support the idea of solitude, reflection and exchange in this intimate place.
To conclude, through the analysis of the urban context of Nicosia, and the experimentation of a possible reconciliation between the two communities, I propose a project based around a journey, a ‘parkour’, which each one can define as he wishes. All of the spaces are designed with the idea of producing emotions and supporting the sharing of experiences, in a public and common environment, conducive to a possible understanding.
Perspective - View from the interior of t 13
m to the dance room
the meditation pavillions 14
Architecture and Music school Final project of bachelor’s degree Mentor: Professor Chas François, 2017
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Perspective - View from the courtyard 16
Architecture and Music school Final project of bachelor’s degree Mentor: Professor Chas François, 2017 For the final project of my bachelor’s degree, I had to create an architecture school following the three key words: Program - Structure - Piece. For the first, the Program, the school of architecture becomes an architecture laboratory where future architects share tools and programs with the audience, in order to understand how they work. In this case, it is the music that gives a new identity to the school of architecture. For the second, the Structure, I designed a structure in three poles: the education, the cultural space and the entertainment space which is open and accessible to the public. And last for the Piece I created spaces with the floor and the ceiling in curves and the challenge was to find a way to inhabit those curves. For me, the school of architecture is a multidisciplinary school, which can have a new identity through its interaction with another discipline – in this case: Music. Therefore, the School of Architecture has several programs for exercising, practicing and playing music (concert halls, rehearsal halls, a music library and others). Each program has a specific height and width and the building becomes an extension of the landscape by creating living spaces above the roof. Each roof is carried independently with columns that create spaces of different thickness and height, allowing light to pass through. It creates
Ground floor plan
a large hall where it is the furniture that organizes the space. There is nothing attached to the facades. There is a diffusion between music and architecture, and at the same time a perspective that is created by the columns positioned in curves.
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Section AA’
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Collective housing Project in collaboration with Claire Cendres and Celine Goncalves Mentor: Professor Pham Nicolas, 2017
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COUPE -AXO Section from the courtyard 20
Collective housing Project in collaboration with Claire Cendres and Celine Goncalves Mentor: Professor Pham Nicolas, 2017 This exercise consists of designing a collective housing complex working on a group of tree students, on four themes imposed by the teachers. Our keywords are ‘backyard’, ‘neutral plan ’, ‘natural ventilation’, and ‘wood ’. For us the courtyard is a large common space which underlines the limits between public spaces (the city), private spaces and common spaces. A free space but at the same time delimited. Throughout the entire plot we have a gradation of the courtyards. The largest one is in the middle of the plot, it starts from the ground floor and is shared by all the inhabitants. The medium and small courtyards, are used for natural ventilation, to bring the sunlight inside the apartments and the distribution. The medium courtyards start from the first floor and the small ones from the fourth floor. The distributive spaces also serve as common spaces that can be used by
Site plan
the residents. The courtyard on the ground floor are used for circulation but also to bring sunlight on the shops. The 5x5m grid of the columns determines the courtyards and creates continuity with the street. The particular geometry of the 50 cm thick concrete slabs visible from the outside of the building, organize and unify the entire project.
First floor plan
Main courtyard 21
Ground floor plan
Second floor plan
Public
Road
Semi-Public
Road
Commnon
Private
Commnon
Semi-Public
Public
circulation common space
Appartments
circulation common space
courtyard
Road
Diagram of the space distribution
Schematic section of the different courtyards 22
My individual project is presented as an assembly of apartments around the courtyards. My keywords are ‘neutral plan ’, ‘natural ventilation’, and ‘wood ’. The shape of the courtyards is created in relation to the arrangement of the apartments and they serve mainly to naturally ventilate all the spaces. The distribution areas each serve 3 or 4 apartments for each floor and are thresholds between the apartments and the public spaces outside. For the apartments, in order to answer the question of neutrality, all the typologies have a simple, flexible plan which offers users the possibility of fitting them out according to their needs. All the pieces have the same size, and they are equivalent and at the same time homogeneous. The users of the apartments are not predetermined. The same apartment can be owned by one person or an average family or Sextion AA’
even two roommates. The rooms in an apartment, they all have the same amount of open facades, with full-height sliding windows that offer natural ventilation. To protect
4. Collective housing
against the high summer sun on the South-East facade there are movable sun shades which are denser towards the top to let less light pass, unlike the North-West facade, where they are more spaced. In addition, the brise soleil can be closed completely for privatization.
PLAN R+4
PLAN R+5
Third floor plan 23
PLAN R+6
PLAN R
Sixth floor plan 24
Rehabilitation of the Tuqan Palace in Nablus Event hall – Music Venue
Workshop “Naplouse, Palestine”, 2018 Mentors: Professors Yves Roujon and Luc Vilan
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Sectional Axonometric 26
Rehabilitation of the Tuqan Palace in Nablus Event hall – Music Venue
Workshop “Naplouse, Palestine”, 2018 Mentors: Professors Yves Roujon and Luc Vilan The object of study of this workshop is the architectural and urban heritage of Nablus, in the development of the metropolis, as a bridge between the Middle Eastern region and Europe. This workshop thought me how a today’s architect can carry out contemporary architectural and urban projects while building up a relationship with a remarkable space and heritage. The project was to create a space for an annual event that takes place in Nablus: the international music festival. I would like to offer, through my project, a space suitable for music and the city. It is a project of rehabilitation and reinterpretation of the architecture of Nablus. During this workshop, we had the opportunity to learn and analyse the traditional architecture of Nablus by observing and then freehand drawing many important buildings of the city in plans and sections. During the last days of our stay in Nablus, our focus was on studying the Tuqan Palace, which dates from the 17th century.
First floor Plan
At the palace there are 3 areas: two residential areas, inhabited today, a neglected, inaccessible area and a garden in the heart of the plot. Each zone has its own small fountain, and courtyards at varying heights, due to the topography. I was interested in the abandoned area, which is in ruins on the 2nd floor. On the ground floor, we can still see the rooms with rib vaults, the rooms in succession and the iwans (a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open). While on the ground floor, only the room with the dome is still in good condition. The view of the garden is magnificent.
Second floor Plan 27
Housing area Abandoned area Garden
Concept diagram of the site
Solid / Void diagram
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Music ‘Box’ 28
First, I redesigned the entrances to this new place but also the access to the garden from the city. I kept the existing staircase, to create the north entrance to the music venue. Through the main hall, there is an opening that allows you to cross the garden and exit through a passage that has become public. The topography of the garden urged me to design this garden as terraces. For the music venue, there are some small halls to play and listen to music, but also a housing area to accommodate musicians, which is located in the current inhabited area. On the first floor, we use the existing rooms and their qualities to slip our program into them. The successive rooms offer complementary functions between the main music halls (a recording studio for example). One of the biggest interventions is the creation of a new opening on one of the sides of the iwan ( a rectangular hall, usually vaulted, walled on three 5. Rehabilitation of the Tuqan Palace in Nablus
sides, with one end entirely open) to give direct access to the garden, by a new wooden bridge. On the second floor, the ruined and non-predefined space, gives me architectural freedom. My main idea was to interpret existing architectural elements in a contemporary way. For example: Le solid and the void: The existing parts of the first floor are extruded on the second. There are therefore “music boxes” on the ground floor, taking the morphology of the existing pieces. The music box: A box with concrete sails with traces of wood. Reminiscent of the wood used in the windows and the interior.
Detail se
The windows: The idea of marking the window with a wooden frame echoes the idea of which stone surrounds the window-level openings of Palestinian buildings. The wood protrudes from the facade. The roof ‘floats’ above the boxes. It consists of a wooden beam 30x6 cm thick. It makes it possible to unify the music boxes with the existing building because it has the same surface as of the ground floor. The roof is covered by either an impermeable veil which covers the circulation areas, or with a thick mesh veil which allows light to pass.
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ection 1:50
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Rehabilitation of the Maradas elementary school, Cergy, Pontoise Elementary school Project in collaboration with ThaĂŻs Macarry, Aude Windeck and Maxime Perra Mentor: Professor Boitard Julien, 2017
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Sectional Axonometric 32
Rehabilitation of the Maradas elementary school, Cergy, Pontoise Elementary school Project in collaboration with Thaïs Macarry, Aude Windeck and Maxime Perra Mentor: Professor Boitard Julien, 2017 The Maradas school, located in Cergy-Pontoise, was built in 1972. The school is built in a concrete structure, and has a surface area of 2944 m², it has about fifteen classrooms and a set of housing units operating independently from the school. The different classrooms are distributed in a fan-shape, facing south and communicate with each other through a large hall. The generating idea for the project was to simplify the space so that the children could navigate easily. Today, the school has various thermal and ventilation issues. For this reason, our work is consists three phases: - The first, is to rethink the insulation from the outside of the building to minimize thermal bridges, and thus rework the facade in order to restore the existing chromatic intention during the construction of the school. - The second is to set up natural ventilation through the skylights that will become openable. - The last to create a physical link of circulation between the primary and nursery school with the installation of a ramp to ensure accessibility to
Detail section of the patio - roof top
everyone.
6 4 3 1 Roftop terrace detail
Main room detail 33
3 4
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1 - Rigid Insulation 2 - Thermal insulation 3 - Reinforced concrete slab 4 - Thermal insulation 5 - Rigid Insulation 6 - Platform floor treatment
First floor plan 34
International workshop with Kyoto Institute of Technology (KIT) Design of a modern onsen (hot spring) Mentors: Kimura Hiroshi and David Leclerc, 2019 The workshop’s subject was to design of a modern onsen (hot spring) at the place of the ancient onsen Funaoka, after analysing the traditional Japanese architecture and culture in the 21st century. The funaoka onsen is a traditional japanese establishment that is used by the local community as a public bath. It has a very distinct organisation because of its function (entrance, male and female changeroom, male and female bathroom with multiple interior and exterior baths, rest-rooms). Being able to experience onsen with local customers made us understand the importance of this place as a place for bathing, resting but also sharing. When we frst visitet Funaoka onsed we realised that an onsen is not only a place to meditate but also a place to socialize and meet new people afterwards. With our project we wanted to create a transition between the public Funaoka onsen to the more private smaller onsens inside the appartements of our guesthouse, where people can socialize. That’s why we created a transition from the public place (ground foor) to a semi public (1st foor) and a private (2nd foor). To do so we created a grid based on the dimensions of a Tatami to create a module that we repeated it many times to create the appartements. We also used the public road as a passage for the pedestrians who want to go to our guesthouse.
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DUPLEXES Ground Floor PLANSFirst floor Couples apartment plan
STU
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FA
CO
Ground Floor
First floor
CO
Couples apartment plan Bis
FA
CO
FA
FAM
Ground Floor
Family apartment plan 35
First floor
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1st FLOOR 2nd FLOOR
First floor plan
SECTION
UDIO
OUPLES ROOM
1st FLOOR 2nd FLOOR
OUPLES ROOM N
Second floor plan
SECTION
MILY ROOM
Section
1st FLOOR 36
Intelligent Fabrication Workshop Use of digital tools (to produce physical models of bridges in full scale Mentor: Klaas de Ryck, 2017
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Photograph of the full scale bridges 38
Intelligent Fabrication Workshop Use of digital tools (to produce physical models of bridges in full scale Mentor: Klaas de Ryck, 2017 During this workshop we had to use the digital tools like Rhino, Grasshopper and Karamba3D to create a bridge that we would later built using wooden beams. During the first week, for the first Triangle reciprocal structure, experiments around the triangle and the Leonardo da Vinci bridge were made, with different shapes, sizes, thicknesses, and different assemblies such as notches, nails, joints, etc. The purpose of the first bridge was to create two arches composed of isosceles triangles and to mirror them to make the bridge more stable. In order to build the bridge, we optimized it by having two connected reciprocal structures (making the bridge more stable and blocking the horizontal movement). The bridge deck is created by the space between them. It’s placed on wooden beams that transfer the loads to the structure. Each triangular element rests on the one before and the one after. This disposition generates an arch structure system that transfers loads through interconnected components. For the second bridge, the hyperbolic paraboloid presents a simplicity and a lightness in its geometric logic. The idea was to use this double curved geometry to create a bridge integrating both convex and concave curves. The final structure in fact is an asymmetric stretched hyperbolic paraboloid. In order to build it, we first thought of assembling the grid in plan, and then lifting up the edges, thus creating an arch. Each intersection would be bolted, allowing twisting of the beams during the process of the transforming it to its final shape. The bolts would afterwards be tightened. The structure was be kept in the final position by cables connecting the bottom extremities of the bridge and other cables blocking the deformation of the frames along the top curve. Finally for the DOMESTICAL WILDNESS, we conceived a bridge that reunites the similar characteristics of our initial bridges we designed in the first week: superposition, frame, and regularity. Our desire was to complexify the project, so we built up a frame that highlights irregularity though well thought out and structurally viable. The main load bearing elements of the bridge are two irregular trusses. The diagonals of each truss are composed of two groups of elements which lean towards each other. Their superposition offers a random appearance of the project. With the help of Karamba, we created a parametric algorithm to obtain a visually random model but with an optimal structure
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Triangle reciprocal structure
Hyperbolic paraboloid bridge
Domestical wildness 40
- thank you -
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