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The possibility of being part of the MSA community seems to me as a unique opportunity to be part of an innovative, collaborative and interdisciplinary learning approach. MSA’s focus on sustainability and urban regeneration aligns with my passion for creating designs that integrate nature into the structure and embrace society’s gradual return to the shelter as a contemporary structure for living. With MSA being located in Manchester, a historic city that underwent rapid urban growth similar to Athens, I am eager to study how this transformation was translated into architecture and explore the contrasts and parallels between Manchester’s urban development and the urbanisation of my home town, Athens.
During a recent visit to the ‘Prosfygika’, a refugee housing complex located in Alexandras Street, I was struck by its architectural and historical significance. Alexandras street, one of the main Athenian avenues, horizontally connects the two major perpendicular routes, Kifisias and Patision, and has borne witness to sociopolitical changes clearly visible on its buildings. This ever-developing material documentation is architecturally embodied by the ‘Prosfygika’. The linear repetition of the facade surfaces is enhanced by the protruding balconies that serve as semi-private spaces, engendering a sense of jagged continuity. In this context, the Athenian ‘Polykatoikia’, becomes for me a point of departure and a material spectrum spanning from the rough textures of the aging concrete and marble to the weathered fabric of the awnings.
Throughout the years, I have been fascinated by both biomorphic architectural approaches and vernacular systems of shelter, inspiring me to work with natural materials and morphology. Through this process, Javier Senosiain’s work is a point of departure, as I appreciate the use of curvilinear, continuous lines that mimic the organic beauty yet also offer an almost post-apocalyptic essence which appears as earthly extensions of the natural environment.
Eileen Gray’s villa ‘E-1027’ in the French Riviera is an architectural work that I would love to experience in person. My fascination with this work derives from the fact that it is made by a female architect. This plays a pivotal role in the historical progression of events and the final appearance of the building, which bears witness to a personal narrative that extends to a gender power game involving a leading male figure of architecture, Le Corbusier. In this context, villa ‘E-1027’ reflects the tight entanglement of social and intimate events, highlighting that the personal is always political. In continuation to the powerful aspect, it is a great example of modernist architecture which I structurally find intriguing especially due to its semi-covered terrace, as it creates a hybrid transitional space that blurs the boundary between the indoor and outdoor, creating a portal to the Mediterranean landscape.
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| Echoes of awnings, 2024, Digital collage |
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| Reimagined Balcony, 2023, Colour pencils on paper, 24x30cm |
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A series of awnings, 2024, watercolour on paper, 14x8cm each |
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Balcony (booklet), 2024, Graphite and markers on paper and tracing paper, clay, metal wire, acrylic nature fibres, 18x12x4cm |
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| The Paper Sculpture, 2023, Cardboard paper, gloss paper, recycled paper, 36x20x22cm |
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| Drawing of an ephemeral structure I made out of sea turtle bones and a bucket, 2023, Graphite on paper, 42x29cm |
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| A series of cave paintings, 2025, Acrylic on paper, 15x21cm each |
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The Dichotomy of Architecture, 2024, Palm tree leaves, marble, aluminium, wood, metal fixings, plastic mesh, stone, 35x20x25cm  Left: Immaterial mesh, 2024, Found plastic parts from old chair, acrylic strips, metal fixings, plywood board, 35x10x25cm Right: The Bridge, 2024, Digital Collage of ‘Immaterial mesh’ and sourced images  Interlace Bridge, 2024, Palm tree leaves, resin, aluminium, plastic , 20x15x17cm  Shadow weave, 2024, Leaves, wood, plastic, metal fixings, 110x70x3cm |
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