Portfolio cv ziras stefanos by stefanos ziras

Stefanos Ziras CV and

Selected Projects

Stefanos Ziras

Architect / Intermedia Artist

Thisseos 4 and Lydias, Chalandri, 15232, Athens, Greece 0030 6948036881 stefanos@stefanosziras.net stefanosziras@gmail.com stefanosziras.net

Short bio Stefanos Ziras is an Architect and Intermedia artist based in Athens, Greece making work on the aesthetics of Kitsch, the Post Digital Age, religion; and Mythogoly. He has collaborated with architects and artists from Greece, Canada, Italy, Turkey and the USA, he has participated in international architectural competitions and some of his projects have been presented at the twenty-fifth International Union of Architects World Congress (Durban 2014). His works have been awarded by the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) and have been presented in international publications and electronic journals (Magenta Magazine, Art in America, Superarchitects). He is a collaborator of the architectural firm X-Atelier and on the jury of the final presentations of the design workshop held at the new Benaki Museum. He has been project manager for international competitions for RMJM Global Architects. He is a collaborator and Exhibition Designer for the Contemporary Greek Art Institute (ISET) presenting exhibitions at the International Contemporary Art Fair, Art Athina and the Biennale of Athens. He is the Architect of the Greek Pavilion of the 56th Venice Biennale, presenting the work of Maria Papadimitriou ÂŤWhy look at AnimalsÂť AGRIMIKA. His latest exhibitions include Flesh Marble Leaf and Twig, Toronto,2015 (featured in Art in America) / Local History Room, AKA Artist Run Centre, Canada, 2015 / Open Archive-Omonoia, ISET, Athens Bienalle, Athens, 2015 / CoolGardens, Resting on a Hill waiting for a sunny day, Winnipeg, Canada, 2016. DOB: 14 February 1987 Athens , Greece

STEFANOS ZIRAS STEFANOS ZIRAS ARCHITECT / INTERMEDIA ARTIST

Competitions

ARCHITECT / INTERMEDIA ARTIST

Address: Thisseos 4 and Lidias, 15232, Athens, Greece Address: Thisseos 4 and Lidias, 15232, Athens, Greece email: stefanos@stefanosziras.net, stefanosziras@gmail.com email: stefanos@stefanosziras.net, stefanosziras@gmail.com Website: stefanosziras.net Website: stefanosziras.net 6948036881 Mobile: +30 +30 6943780079 Mobile: Landline:+30 +306943780079 2106813111 Landline: +30 14 2106813111 Date of Birth: February 1987, Athens, Greece Date of Birth: 14 February 1987, Athens, Greece

Education Education Postgraduate Specialization Diploma (PSD), in Architectural Design, UTH Postgraduate Specialization Diploma (PSD), in Architectural Design, UTH Postgraduate Diploma in Architecture (RIBA part 2) from the University Postgraduate in Architecture (RIBA part 2) from the University of East LondonDiploma Architecture Department, with Honors of East London Architecture Department, with Honors Bachelors in Architecture (BA HONS) from the University of Lincoln with Bachelors in Architecture (BA HONS) from the University of Lincoln with Honors (RIBA part 1) Honors (RIBA part 1) Graduation from the Moraitis Private School in Athens_Greece with Honors Graduation from the Moraitis Private School in Athens_Greece with Honors

201420142009-2011 2009-2011 2005-2008 2005-2008 2004 2004

Professional Experience Professional Experience Michaelidis and Partners, Architect, Visualizer, 3D Scan Specialist, 3D Animation Space Oddity Studio, Co-founder Space Oddity Studio, Co-founder RMJM Global Architects, Freelance Collaborator, Presentation Advisor. RMJM Global Architects, Freelance Collaborator, Presentation Advisor. Contemporary Greek Art Institute, Collaborating Architect, Exhibition Designer Contemporary Greek Art Institute, Collaborating Architect, Exhibition Designer Ministry of Culture, Greece, Architect of the Greek Pavilion for the 2015 Venice Biennale Ministry of Culture, Greece, Architect of the Greek Pavilion for the 2015 Venice Biennale X-Atelier, collaboration for the design of the Orizon Flagship Store X-Atelier, collaboration for the design of the Orizon Flagship Store RMJM Global Architects, Istanbul, Turkey RMJM Global Architects, Istanbul, Turkey Tsoulos Associates, Architect, project management, Athens_Greece Tsoulos Associates, Architect, project management, Athens_Greece

July 2016- April 2017 2014-today 2014-today 2015-2016 2015-2016 2015-2016 2015-2016 2015 2015 2015 2015 2013-2014 2013-2014 2008-2010 2008-2010

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Publications • • • • • • • • •

“Flesh Marble Leaf and Twig”, 8eleven Gallery publications (Toronto, London, Athens) “Συμβιώσεις”, Η αρχιτεκτονική στην εποχή των φυσικοπολιτισμών και της τεχνητής φύσης, Ζήσης Κοτιώνης, Γιώργος Τζιρτζιλάκης. MC Redux, “Virtual Temple” Art In America, November issue 2015, page 168 Magenta Magazine, November 2015 “AGRIMIKA Why look at Animals?”, Catalogue of the Greek pavilion for the 56th Venice Biennale, page 180-181 Εφημερίδα Ταχυδρόμος, 2015 Super Architects, superarchitects.com, Interview, 2014 Catalogue of the Greek Pavilion of the 2014 International Union of Architects World Congress, 2014

Awards / Grants The Awesome Foundation Grant, 2016 Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) Award for the Project ‘Depositorium’

Exhibitions / Festivals / Biennale Exhibitions / Festivals / Biennale Room 18, “Ever-Changing TV Room”, New Benaki Museum (Athens, Greece) Room 18, “Ever-Changing TV Room”, New Benaki Museum (Athens, Greece) “Flesh Marble Leaf and Twig”, Publication, Toronto Art Book Fair (Toronto, Canada) “Flesh Marble Leaf and Twig”, Publication, Toronto Art Book Fair (Toronto, Canada) “Towards a New...Something”, ARO Gallery (London, UK) “Towards a New...Something”, ARO Gallery (London, UK) “Post Digital Kitsch”, Athens Digital Arts Festival (Athens) “Post Digital Kitsch”, Athens Digital Arts Festival (Athens) “A Call to Arms”, Curated Space Babel, Outsider Art Fair (New York City, NY) “A Call to Arms”, Curated Space Babel, Outsider Art Fair (New York City, NY) “Local History Room”, AKA Artist Run Centre (Saskatoon, Canada) “Local History Room”, AKA Artist Run Centre (Saskatoon, Canada) “Flesh Marble Leaf and Twig”, 8eleven Gallery (Toronto, Canada) “Flesh Marble Leaf and Twig”, 8eleven Gallery (Toronto, Canada) “Virtual Temple”, MC Redux (Thessaloniki) “Virtual Temple”, MC Redux (Thessaloniki) Greek Pavilion for 56th Venice Biennale, ARIMIKA, 3d visualizations at the Pavilion (Venice, Italy) Greek Pavilion for 56th Venice Biennale, ARIMIKA, 3d visualizations at the Pavilion (Venice, Italy) “Babel Fragments”, Modes of Estrangement, video installation, TAF (Athens) “Babel Fragments”, Modes of Estrangement, video installation, TAF (Athens) Default Festival, “Modes of Estrangement”, video installation (Volos, Greece) Default Festival, “Modes of Estrangement”, video installation (Volos, Greece) “Open Archive”, Art Athina (Athens, Greece) “Open Archive”, Art Athina (Athens, Greece) “Slauterhouse Monument”, Light installation (Chania, Greece) “Slauterhouse Monument”, Light installation (Chania, Greece) “Depositorium”, Greek Pavilion, Architecture World Congress (Durban) “Depositorium”, Greek Pavilion, Architecture World Congress (Durban) “Copy Left Copy Right” Original Copies (Athens, Volos, Thessaloniki) “Copy Left Copy Right” Original Copies (Athens, Volos, Thessaloniki) “Novus Civis”, Percormance, Digital Instalation, (Volos, Athens) “Novus Civis”, Percormance, Digital Instalation, (Volos, Athens) “HANDS”, MON3Y.US | *MON3Y as an ERROR, curated by Vasily Zaitsev ( June, www) “HANDS”, MON3Y.US | *MON3Y as an ERROR, curated by Vasily Zaitsev ( June, www) “Urban Biotopologies”, X|A Sweet Architecture Workshop exhibition, New Benaki Museum “Urban Biotopologies”, X|A Sweet Architecture Workshop exhibition, New Benaki Museum

“Ever-Changing TV Room”, Room 18 competition, 33rd place(Shortlisted) “Room With A View”, LSH Competition “Of Hands and Nature”, Tapio Wirkkala – Rut Bryk Foundation, EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art Finland “I Dream of Caves”, Re-Ball Competition, Washington, DC “Reclaiming the Landscape”, Pennabilli, Italy (shortlisted) Tiny Homes, Chicago IL, USA_(shortlisted) CoolGardens, “Resting on a hill waiting for a sunny day”, Winnipeg, Canada (Shortlisted) Batikent International Competition, RMJM Architects, (Won) KÜÇÜKÇEKMECE Competition for MAR YAPI Balkaniki National Competition International Competition for the design proposal of a scyscraper facade in Tokyo Yerevan Hotel International competition.

Teaching Experience / Lectures 2016 2016 2016 2016 2016 2016 2016 2016 2016 2016 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2014 2014 2014 2014 20142015 20142015 2014 2014 2014-today 2014-today 2014-2015 2014-2015

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“Mapping the Flowers”, A survival Kit for a society in Crisis, Beton 7 Gallery, May 2016

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“Maker Movement and a 3D Printer”, @ the 3D printing Workshop, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, 2016

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“Post-Digital Kitsch”, X_Atelier Advanced Architectural Design Workshop, with Kostis Velonis, Georgia Mavragani, Iris Likourioti. 2015

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Invited lecturer and jury for X-Atelier workshops in Athens, the Νew Benaki Museum, 2014-today

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Teaching assistant, University of Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2014

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Teaching Assistant at the Sweet X|Architecture: Advanced Design Workshop at the New Benaki Museum instructed by X|Atelier (Erick Carcamo, Nefeli Chatzimina). 2014-2015

Software Skills Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, After Effects, Premiere Pro, (Adobe CC, CS6) Autocad, Vectorworks, Rhinoceros, Maya, Cinema 4D, Sketchup, Zbrush, Geomagic, Unity, Photoscan, Scene Vray, Maxwell, Mental Ray, Grasshopper

selected projects Below you will find examples of my work in no particular order Please visit stefanosziras.net to view more of my projects

Agrimiká. Why Look at Animals? Greek Pavillion, 56th Venice Biennale Artist: Maria Papadimitriou Curators: Gaby Scardi, Alexios Papazaxarias Architect, Digital Design: Stefanos Ziras

Maria Papadimitriou’s installation, Why Look at Animals ? AGRIMIKÁ is a shop, a vestige of the past that sells animal hides and leather, transferred from the central Greek city of Volos, where it operates. This presentation of the relationship of humans to animals sparks series of concerns ranging from politics and history to economics and traditions, ethics and aesthetics, fear of the foreign and the incomprehensible, and our profound anthropocentrism that allows us to define ourselves as non-wild, different from all other animals. The AGRIMIKÁ of Papadimitriou’s concern, along with the shop in Volos, are those animals that tenaciously resist domestication. They coexist with humans in a condition where the roles of prey and predator are constantly switching—but the human hunter usually prevails with the animal prey as a trophy. Nonetheless, these are the animals that feature in most foundational cosmologies and mythologies. The little shop in Volos is an “objet trouvé” resituated inside the Greek pavilion. The reality of the shop is the expression and documentation of the unique personality of its owner, who has witnessed a great part of the history of modern Greece and kept a critical attitude towards it. The AGRIMIKÁ shop appearing unchanged by time and place, is analogous to the surrounding space of the neoclassical pavilion, also left unaltered. The pavilion creates the context that charges and reveals this spatial “objet trouvé.”In the “ruined” landscape of the Greek pavilion, the non-domesticate-able animals—the agrimiká—become the vehicle for a contemporary allegory of the dispossesed, and attempts to galvanize our instinctive resistance to the decadence that surrounds us.

concept visualization

installation views

Plan / Level 1

Plan / Level 2

Construction drawings of the Pavillion

Laboratory Antigone Onassis Cultural Center, New York, 2016 Artist: Maria Papadimitriou Exhibition Design: Stefanos Ziras

Ever Changing TV Room Room 18 Competition Exhibited at the New Benaki Museum Shortlisted Stefanos Ziras, Eleni Papadimitriou

Room Elevation

Byzantine Monastery in Klokova Visualizations/drawings: Stefanos Ziras Comissioned by the Byzantine Museum

Of Nature and Hands

an alternative intro

c1 digital showcase c2 living room c3 light corridor c4 sacred room c5 storage c6 pipes c7 projections

The first Chamber, instead of giving direct information on Tapio and Rut’s work, presents a contemporary interpretation of their work by young digitartists through videos and gifs, in correspodance to their interest in and the ability to adapt to new technologies. At the same time we aim to engage youngsters highlighting the timeless design principles and aesthetics that their work carries by being open to reinventions. Forming a dialogue between Tapio and Rut’s work with the new generation of creators we want to investigate the transition of the design process from the 20th century to the 21st as the techniques, methodologies, technologies and aesthetics have completely changed. As the visitor approaches the main space he passes through a narrow entrance,a threshold that symbolizes the transition from the museum to the domestic environment.

c8 palette c9 studio c10 workshop c11 symposium c12 kitchen c13 amphitheatre c14 hearth

c9 c10

c11

“Living Room” The first Chamber is the Living Room, where the visitor finds himself in a cozy space. It’s the first introduction with the hosts (Tapio and Rut) ; Rut’s ceramics, Tapio’s chairs, a coffee table, lamps and bottles of Vodka. A big sofa invites him to sit down and take the time to have a closer look at the table’s details. From the myriads of objects they both made the particular items were selected as archetypes from different categories, aesthetics and typologies. The visitor has an overview of their work, noticing how great design responds to the same problems via different means, techniques and aesthetics. Wanting to add another layer, we overlay the complimentary furniture of the living room with a pattern found in a picture the couple took in Mexico that at the same time is a common pattern of Finnish rugs. We underpin thus the double (local and global) character of their work. They were inspired by things easily found in different places of the world or nature, inserted in everyone’s house all over Europe. The visitors explore the different style of each Chamber in a treasure hunting manner. What is more, an abudance of pots with plants from Finnish nature will make them feel like home. On the exterior of this Chamber, projections of images found on the internet will trigger a sense of familiarity by demonstrating how Tapio and Rut’s work is already part of the visitors’ daily lives. We engage the digital archive with the physical one. Additional projections of commercials reveal the connection of the artworks with the market.

c14

c13

c12 c7

Flesh Marble Leaf and Twig 8eleven gallery, Toronto, 2015

“Works by the duo Stefanos Ziras and Eleni Papadimitriou were shown next to sculptures by Toronto artist Derek Liddington, all of which sought the ephemeral amid the monumental. Ziras and Papadimitriou covered 8eleven’s walls with a collage of archival material concerning Athens’s gardens, squares and statues. There were a few texts, reproduced in their original Greek, but most of the documents were visual. An early 20th-century photograph of Syntagma Square was unlike any seen in recent news coverage; there wasn’t a single person on the parliament building’s steps. A monument to politician and poet Alexandros Panagoulis, who was tortured for defying the military junta that ruled Greece in the 1960s and ’70s, appeared at multiple stages of completion. The last image showed it beneath a plastic sheet that resembled both a swirling cape and a prisoner’s hood. On a shelf near photos of reconstructed ancient statues—a somber “Hermes resting” and a hesitant-looking wrestler—Ziras and Papadimitriou placed a nondescript chunk of marble. One imagines the artists sifting out bygone moments from the ossuary of Athens’s past, the traces that are buried beneath every landmark. Ziras and Papadimitriou also repurposed a couple of video fragments—one records the genesis of sculptor Costas Varotsos’s Dromeas, 1994, a 40-foot-tall running figure with uneven planes of glass and iron simulating the blur of rapid movement—but these pieces ended up in awkward parts of the gallery, serving mostly as brief distractions.” Art in America Magazine, November 2015

Original Copies Volos, Athens, Thessaloniki, 2014 Curated by: K&K Architects Exhibition Design: Stefanos Zras

Local History Room AKA Artist Run Saskatoon, 2015 Commisioned by AKA Artist Run Centre Stefanos Ziras, Eleni Papadimitriou, Derek Liddington

“Together Liddington, Papadimitriou & Ziras practices connect through the idea of the ‘monument’. Through his early research into his upcoming exhibition at AKA, It wasn’t until we closed our eyes that we could finally see what was there all along, Liddington sourced an early image from the Saskatoon Public Library of a protest against a public monument and incorporated this local history into his considerations of the meaning behind representation and the ambiguous nature of memory. Papadimitriou & Ziras’ images are looking to ‘connect’ and manipulate objects to create a new visual memory through the photograph (public) as well as a personal memory (private). Similarly, Liddington identifies a similarity in photos of a sculpture of his son created through memory. Together the artists explore personal memory and shared memory within a public space that is foreign to each of them. The objects depicted in Papadimitriou & Ziras’ images are part of a national narrative, not of the official, established construct, but items of a collective memory. They constitute monuments of everyday encounters, souvenirs of the state of things. The relation of the body and objects is seen through an ambiguous close up image, a detail of the two, in an effort to remove any mnemonic familiarity of the viewer towards the nature of the object or the topography of the body. The close up records untraceable parts merely agents of a now personal memory. In combination we see images depicting a sculpture Liddington created of his son from memory. The staid clay stands in what seems to be a contrast with images of the fleshy body, but in its subject matter reveals a similar personal, private and potentially vulnerable state. Papadimitriou & Ziras’ depictions of the body come under pressure – it ripples, twists, folds, stretches, connecting it to the malleable visual nature of clay in Liddington’s work.”

Local History Room, Billboard

Open Archive: Public Art From the Center of Athens Art Athina, 2015 Commisioned by ISET Curator: Panos Giannikopoulos Exhibition Design, Research: Stefanos Ziras, Eleni Papadimitriou “With the belief that an archive should not be a closed shelled preservation of the past, but a living organism that develops and participates towards the fermentation of the present, iset utilizes its archival material, organizing exhibitions, events, actions and open lectures in cooperation by artists, art historians and theorists. At the same time, the promotion, distribution and publication of relevant studies is supported. The digitized archival material of iset is in part accessible online from the Digital Platform of the Institute, while full access to the central database is possible from the reading hall. The exhibition “Open Archive: Public art paradigms from the center of Athens”, using the Institute archives as a starting point focuses on public art projects which were developed on the axis of Omonia-Panepistimiou-Sydagma. In addition to delineated monumental/sculptural works, the exhibition also presents ephemeral projects and performances, as well as actions in the public space not related to institutional interventions. One of the aims of the exhibition is to describe the historical context for the material of these actions, which usually disappears with the passage of time. Thus, the report seeks to map the creative process and the public debate around the installation of sculptures as well as the results of competitions aiming to alter the urban fabric. The installation of the material stays clear of stable narratives, while creating a pluralistic field of readings. It tries to showcase the complexity of the archive, to lift strict temporal and spatial boundaries and to reinstate it to the present day.”

Open Archive-Omonoia Athens Biennale, 2015 Commisioned by ISET Curator: Panos Giannikopoulos Exhibition Design, Research: Stefanos Ziras, Eleni Papadimitriou

“The Contemporary Greek Art Institute (iset) displayed an archive of artworks installed or proposed for the Omonoia district, along with Georgia Sagri’s video The New Kind (2003), documenting the artist struggling to move across the pavement with her hands and feet bound” Frieze Magazine

Tombs in Marathonas Drawings : Stefanos Ziras Commissioned by the municipality of Marathonas

MC Redux Virtual Temple Thessaloniki, 2014 Curated by: K&K Architects Exhibition Design: Stefanos Ziras

ANCIENT DOUBLE TOMB IN MESSOLOGI, GREECE VISUALIZATIONS AND DRAWINGS: STEFANOS ZIRAS Commisioned by the Archaeological department of Messologi

ΑΡΧΑΙΟ ΤΑΦΙΚΟ ΜΝΗΜΕΙΟ - ΔΙΠΛΟΣ ΤΑΦΟΣ ΡΗΓΑΙΙΚΑ ΜΕΣΟΛΟΓΓΙΟΥ Πέμπτη στρώση λίθων, καλυπτήριοι λίθοι Γραφική συμπλήρωση αρχαίου λίθου Θέση κατεστραμμένου αρχαίου λίθου

Τέταρτη στρώση λίθων (ύψους 42εκ)

Τρίτη στρώση λίθων (ύψους 48εκ)

Δεύτερη στρώση λίθων (ύψους 52εκ)

Πρώτη στρώση λίθων (ύψους 57εκ)

Λίθοι σφράγισης τάφου

1.00μ 1.0 0

0μ 1.0

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Σχέδιο T12: Αξονομετρική αναπαράσταση διπλού τάφου ανά στρώση λίθων

PRIMORDIAL Tiny Homes Competition Chicago IL, 2016 Stefanos Ziras, Eleni Papadimitriou

”Primordial” is a proposal for the creation of a small scale community that provides temporary, yet comfortable homes for the homeless youth of the city of Chicago. It is sanctuary for young adults that were forced to deal with the harsh side of life too early in their lives. The individual units are arranged on the site in a way so as to create a whole where the parts although identical and connected in terms of structure achieve differentiation, individuality and an effortless liveliness that provokes a sense of belonging. The adjoining units, some placed on small hills breaking the monotony of the flat landscape, create small neighborhoods with paved courtyards where inhabitants can gather. The primordial nature of this projects derives from the fundamental need to find shelter and be part of a community. The shape of the units is the shape children draw when wanting to depict home; it is archetypical, it is basically the symbol of home and therefore resonates in our memory. It gives comfort through its familiarity and stands for our need to have a safe, warm place to return to and a close knit community of friends to offer support. The materials underline this statement while creating an ambient, homey atmosphere bathed in diffused light. Although “Primordial” gravitates around a solid inner center, an inward movement to build a safe place the fine eye can notice the use of brick and the low wall annotating the openness towards the surrounding neighborhood and the heritage of the area.

Room With A View LSH Competition Syracuses, 2016 Stefanos Ziras, Eleni Papadimitriou

Renovation and small scale extension @ house in Chalandri, Athens

STEFANOS ZIRAS thisseos 4 and lidias, chalandri, athens

stefanosziras.net stefanos@stefanosziras.net +306943780079

ΙΣΟΓΕΙΟ ΚΛΙΜΑΚΑ ΣΧΕΔΙΟΥ 1/50

Ενοποίηση αποθήκης µε κουζίνα-σαλόνι

Επέκταση τουαλέτας

construction in progress

1.06 2.35

Επέκταση τουαλέτας

0.80 2.20

0.75 2.20

Σκάλα προς όροφο Α / ∆ιαµέρισµα Β

Ισόγειο /∆ιαµέρισµα Α 140,4 ΤΜ

1.00 2.20

Ισόγειο /∆ιαµέρισµα Β 69,6 ΤΜ

Επέκταση δωµατίου

Ενοποίηση γραφείου µε διαµέρισµα Β

STEFANOS ZIRAS thisseos 4 and lidias, chalandri, athens stefanosziras.net stefanos@stefanosziras.net +306943780079

ΟΡΟΦΟΣ Α ΚΛΙΜΑΚΑ ΣΧΕΔΙΟΥ 1/50 Eπέκταση WC

Πρόταση Επέκτασης τουαλέτας

1.45 2.12

Ηχοµόνωση µε διπλή γυψοσανίδα η άλλο ηχοµονωτικό υλικό (10cm) Επέκταση τουαλέτας

0.70 2.12

1.10 2.10

0.90 2.12

0.72 2.35

0.80 2.12

0.85 2. 12

Οροφος Α /∆ιαµέρισµα Α 121,4 ΤΜ

1.05 2.30

0.85 2. 12

2. 12

1.45 2.12

Οροφος Α /∆ιαµέρισµα Β 69,2 ΤΜ

1. 65 2. 30

1. 50 2. 30

0 2 . 1 12 2.

Επέκταση διαµερίσµατος Β 23,5 TM

Σκάλα προς όροφο Α / ∆ιαµέρισµα Β

le chat a sautĂŠ dans le jardin

Resting on a hill waiting for a sunny day Winnipeg, Canada, 2016 Garden Installation

Stefanos Ziras, Eleni Papadimitriou Construction will begin on June 2016 “Resting on a hill waiting for a sunny day” intends to give the local community a fun and playful leisure place, reminiscent of those summer days spent laying on the ground under the shade of a tree with the cool summer breeze. It is an ode to idleness and the simple pleasures of life. The industrial past of the area dictates the use of simple materials like the ones already found on site, used in an elegant and efficient way. Gravel, wood, fabrics and plants are used to redefine the landscape. Plain forms are enriched by vibrant colours, small “islands” emerging from the ground and pots with aromatic plants while the wind gently rotates the shading devices giving motion to the fabric. Everyone is invited to rest on the hills, lay down and stare at the sky, read a book or draw the curtain to take a nap.

Batikent RMJM

Depositorium The Heterotopic Oscillation of a City Volos, 2013 Exhibited at the Greek pavilion of the 2014 International Union of Architects World Congress, Architecture Otherwhere

“In this New Age, cities are expanding and slowly devouring the landscape that surrounds them. The need for further development and expansion seems to be a given in today’s society, however we must propose a new system which might be a great design solution to these environmental, social, and urban issues. If we want to protect our landscape, we must set an [outer] boundary for the new city · In this scenario the boundary itself becomes a building, a city, a society, that encapsulates the existing and reforms it by limiting it. The “Depositorium” is one such boundary that has topological significance for the city of Volos. It surrounds the city with an ever-expanding structural network on which one can deposit his identity by creating space in which to live, or by contributing to the society that is born there. Deriving from memories and history, the “Depositorium” becomes a metaphorical center of labor, industry, culture and progress. For years, Volos had a prospering naval industry and it is on this industry that the “Deposritorium” is based on. By creating a shipyard on land we strive to give life back to an otherwise forgotten history. This landmark has an expanding capacity of 50,000 residents many of which work on the shipyard while others contribute to the society in other ways. At one point during an endless cycle of labor and rebirth, the ship becomes the symbol of the society’s achievements in industry and culture. Once a ship is completed and begins its journey, it will take with it memories and parts of the culture that created it, in an effort to spread those ideals to other parts of the world. First and foremost, the “Depositorium” is a new society and a new way of imagining the city of tomorrow, a heterotopian vision of a new model of habitation and social structure.” Superarchitects.com

was an International competition for the design and construction of a multi-use building complex consisting of 60% residential and 40% retail and office spaces. With a total of 1.5 million square meters, the batikent project is an example of the large scale urban interventions that the future is demanding. Inspired by the hills of Ankara the design is respectfull of the site’s topography and creates a new topological identity for the area

VARIATIONS OF LANSCAPE STRATEGY (RELATED TO USE)

ROTATING THE LANDSCAPE (RETAIL)

FLIPING OF THE LANDSCAPE (TOWER/OFFICES)

LIFTING THE LANDSCAPE (RESIDENTIAL)

I DREAM OF CAVES Washington DC, 2016 Books like Journey to the center of the earth have been exciting our imaginations for decades, describing fantastical scenes of underground worlds, adventures and unique experiences that we all would like to have as kids and even as adults. This installation is an attempt to create such a scene in the center of Washington D.C just a few feet below ground level. Taking inspiration from natural formations seen in caves the installation embraces the unique nature of the site in the DuPont underground. Thousands of the translucent, soft balls, which are the star of the show, are strung and hung from the ceiling of the underground passage creating shapes reminiscent of stalactites which are constantly swinging and moving ever so slightly. This movement is caused by the wind coming from the entrances or the people themselves who are coming in contact with the installation. Colored lights positioned on the walls of the passage and behind the vertically hanging balls enhance the otherworldly feel of the space, the light is diffused by the translucent balls and scattered in unexpected ways around the walls, floor and the installation itself. It is not just a passage way, it is a place to sit, rest, play and relax before you return to the ground level. A sound system hidden behind the installation will further enhance the experience offered to the visitors by capturing the sounds they produce and playing them back altered as if they were in a cave. The people that are brave enough to stray from the main installation area will be rewarded by discovering hidden swings and seats which they can safely use since they are safely attached to the ceiling with steel wires and covered with hundreds of soft balls. Although the proposed installation does not use the entire number of available balls or the entirety of the site, it is designed in such a way that it can be easily expanded with minimal extra cost.

KÜÇÜKÇEKMECE RMJM

Depositorium The Heterotopic Oscillation of a City Volos, 2013 Exhibited at the Greek pavilion of the 2014 International Union of Architects World Congress, Architecture Otherwhere

Towards a New Eroticism of Space Volos, 2013 Stefanos Ziras and Anait Karaoglanian

“The issue, really, is the absence of erotic space. It forces us to ask: what do our spaces reflect about our treatment of sexuality and what does this say about our society? French philosopher, Michel Foucault, used the term Heterotopia to describe spaces of otherness, spaces that are neither here nor there, spaces that are simultaneously physical and mental, where according to Foucault, the imaginary obtains a material quality and while borrowing the three-dimensional public space for its embodiment, essentially it is realized elsewhere . Foucault speaks of several types of heterotopias but a basic characteristic of a Heterotopia is that, with the passing of time it preserves unaltered its dynamic function, even if it changes form. Organized societies, although trying to avoid Heterotopias for fear that their explicit, defined structures may be shaken, succeed only in transmuting their form. Foucault characteristically states that the anguish of our times is more about space than about time. In the heterotopian reality of an erotic space, a public orgy, time would triumph over space through its relativity during the act of sex, the pleasure and ecstasy that come with it taking the role of a shaping force. In the Heterotopian universe of sexual exploration and liberation, the venues that entertain it are not recognized by organized society and its institutions, although they are its product and, ironically enough, constitute a fundamental ingredient of its normal function. They are seen as inimical and placed outside its basic urban planning, they are ethically condemned by its majority, even though the latter never ceases to interact with the sexual Heterotopia, directly or indirectly, openly or secretly, over ground or und erground, literally or in fancy.

In the venues that host the Heterotopia of sex we meet the human content of a confinement imposed by the hypocrisy of the society upon some of its members, regarded as carcinomas in its supposedly healthy body. Modern heterotopian sites relate more to enclosing some form of deviation rather than marking a stage in life. Oscillating on that which civilization ostracizes, one seeks to rebuild and reinvent the Heterotopia of deviation, readable only as it happens in a particular place and time, with an explicit and absolute priority of “want” over “must”. There, the condemned sexuality is simultaneously protected and concealed on the one hand, free and imprisoned on the other. The absence of colors, a signified of film noir style sexual atmosphere, combined with dreamy lighting, accentuate a Heterotopia haunted by fancy. These images compose a suggestion of self-forming, an active and dynamic resistance to any attempt of imposing pre-determined prejudices and stereotypes, as well as a ticket to the journey down the inward abyss, where dwells the Minotaur of each one of us. It remains to behold him and to recognize him, so that even if we decide to kill him within us - since we have seen his tragic face - we can accept him, in understanding and mercy to those who need to keep him alive. We evoke the ambiguity of this place, its pleasures and secrets: ‘the ephemeral, the ghostly landscape of damnable pleasures. We playfully open up the dividing walls as diverse laboratories of sensations against what we see as respectable, inoffensive bourgeoisie sensibilities. The spiraling ramp becomes a ‘method’ for loosening inhibitions, revealing both the shadowy and bright secrets that can be found behind the doors ”

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Man-Air Offices

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Yerevan Competition

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Oxygen Bar

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Strair City Volos, 2013 Student Housing

Urban Biotopologies The New Benaki Museum Athens, 2013 Presented as part of the 2013 XA Architecture summer workshop.

Slaughterhouse Monument Chania, Crete 2014 Public light Installation

Installation View

concept visualization