Imprints of British architecture and education in Greece, 1967-1996

01 PANAYOTIS TSAKOPOULOS GREEK POSTWAR ARCHITECTURE E S S A Y S & M O N O G R A P H S ESSAY_06-1 Imprints of British architecture and education in Greece, 1967-1996 ENGLISH EDITION REFLECTIONS ARCHITECTS’ FILES 2024 02 Cover photo: Kalliope Kontozoglou, ”The menagerie”, Architecture and Continuity, Architectural Association London, Themes 1, 1982, p. 71 03 PANAYOTIS TSAKOPOULOS GREEK POSTWAR ARCHITECTURE E S S A Y S & M O N O G R A P H S ESSAY_06-1 Imprints of British architecture and education in Greece, 1967-1996 ENGLISH EDITION REFLECTIONS ARCHITECTS’ FILES 2024 04 The infiltration of British architectural thought in Greece and in the Greek architectural press during the thirtyyear period from 1967 to 1996 is mainly associated with the two most important periodical publications of the era: Orestes Doumanis' Architecture in Greece and the magazine Tefchos by Koumbis, Papoulias, Simaioforidis, and Tzirtzilakis. Its mathematical curve is not straight, but shows peaks at different periods, often linked to the relationships of the publishers of the two magazines with Greek architects active in the educational and professional architectural scene of the United Kingdom. The first such peak corresponds to the period 19661973 and concerns the establishment of Panos Koulermos in Athens and the creation in 1966 of the office Kalogeras – Amourgis - Koulermos and the Workshop of Environmental Design Athens Greece (WEDAG), as well as the relationship developed by the three architects with Orestes Doumanis. The second is marked by the close collaboration of Dimitris Porphyrios with Architecture in Greece between 1977-1982. The third and least traceable of the three corresponds to the period 1980-1987 and relates to the founding of the Greek branch of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Athens in 1980 by Elias Zenghelis and his students at the Architectural Association school in London, Elias Veneris and Stavros Aliferis. Finally, the fourth peak, corresponding to the period 1989-1996, is associated with the activities of George Simaioforidis and the founding in 1989 of the magazine Tefchos in Athens. The Spectrum of the British Architectural Scene in the magazine Architecture in Greece The focal points of contact between Greek architects and the British architectural scene in the mid1960s were the Architectural Association school and the Douglas Stephen and Partners office in London. During this decade, a network of relationships formed between Greek architects graduating from London schools, working, or teaching in England, and younger or older British architects and theorists who would play significant roles in the British and international architectural scene in the following years. At the AA, where Koulermos taught for a period between 1960-1963, and at the Douglas Stephen office, where both worked during the same period, Koulermos (1933-1999) met his younger colleague (born 1937), Spyros Amourgis. At Stephen's office, a true center of architectural discourse in post-war reconstruction London, they interacted with prominent figures of the British scene such as Colin Rowe, James Stirling, Alan Colquhoun, and Bob Maxwell, and formed close relationships with Elias Zenghelis (born 1937), Koulermos' student at the AA, and Kenneth Frampton (born 1930), who were also collaborators at Stephen's office. Together with Frampton, Amourgis traveled to the Netherlands to see the works of Rietveld and Van den Broek and Bakema, while he visited Le Corbusier's works in France with Elias Zenghelis. Additionally, Koulermos' acquaintance with Frampton was evidenced by the latter's invitation to Koulermos to curate the March 1963 special issue of the London magazine Architectural Design (AD) – where Frampton was the editor at the time – dedicated to Terragni and Lingeri. In the mid-1960s, Amourgis introduced Koulermos (who left London and, after a year in Milan, decided to settle in Athens) to his childhood friend Nikos Kalogeras (born 1935). In 1966, they founded the Kalogeras – Amourgis - Koulermos office and the Workshop of Environmental Design 05 Athens Greece (WEDAG) in Athens. Through these three, Frampton was introduced to Orestes Doumanis (1929-2013), initiating a long-term relationship between the British critic and Architecture in Greece. Frampton, who reviewed the first issue of Architecture in Greece for the English audience in the July 1967 edition of Architectural Design, saw his texts frequently published in Architecture in Greece over the next decade. Koulermos also became a key collaborator of Architecture in Greece from its early issues. In 1971, he curated the special feature "Man and Artificial Environment," which included texts by himself, Kalogeras, and Frampton. The strong relationship between Koulermos and Orestes Doumanis was reaffirmed in 1983 with an extensive feature in Architecture in Greece dedicated to Koulermos' recent work. Kalogeras, a close friend of Doumanis, was a long-time member of the editorial committee of Doumanis' publications, where he regularly published his writings. FIG. 01. Presentation of student projects from the "Archaeology of Design" workshop directed by Demetri Porphyrios at the School of Environmental Design of the Royal College of Art, Architecture in Greece, 13/1979 A few years after Koulermos left Greece, Dimitris Porphyrios (born 1949), a Princeton graduate teaching at architectural schools in London (Polytechnic of Central London, Royal College of Art), emerged as a key mediator of the British architectural scene's intermediate post-war period (19751990) in Greece. Porphyrios, a regular contributor to AD during the 1980s and a key figure in shaping the magazine's new orientation, became a major personality in international architectural theory and criticism. With the two consecutive presentations he curated in Architecture in Greece in 1977 (issue 11) and 1979 (issue 13) on "International Architectural Avant-Garde," which included the works of many contemporary British architects, and with his article "Introduction to Post- 06 Functionalist Architecture" (Architecture in Greece 12/1978), Porphyrios introduced the various aspects of postmodern movements to Greece in the most authoritative way. Simultaneously, he curated the presentation of student projects from the "Archaeology of Design" workshop he directed at the School of Environmental Design of the Royal College of Art in London (Architecture in Greece 13/1979). Three years later, in 1982, Frosso Poimenidou, his student at the Polytechnic of Central London, presented in Architecture in Greece three lecture series on architectural theory and history that he organized at the school in May and June 1981, focusing particularly in her article on the lectures of Dalibor Vesely (professor at the Architectural Association of London), Joseph Rykwert, and Manfredo Tafuri. Despite this rather regular engagement with British architecture, the stance of Architecture in Greece towards the activities of the Athens branch of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), founded in 1980 by Elias Zenghelis, Elias Veneris, and Stavros Aliferis, his students at the AA, remains inexplicable. Doumanis' publications overlooked the highly interesting projects of the office in Greece during the period 1980-87. This includes the tourism redevelopment studies in Kefalonia, which remained unknown to the Greek public for many years. The only exception to this lack of publicity for the work of OMA's branch in Athens was the publication of the Chalkiades villa in Mytilene (1978-84), which was extensively featured in the magazine Tefchos in 1990. FIG. 02. The first page of the special feature "Four English Architects," curated by Socrates Georgiadis, Architecture in Greece, 22/1988 FIG. 03. The first page of the special feature "Seven Contemporary British Architects," curated by George Fatseas, Architecture in Greece, 33/1999 07 From the early 1980s, with Koulermos and Frampton now in the USA, British imprints in Architecture in Greece became increasingly rare. I identify two notable instances where Doumanis' review focused on contemporary British architecture. In the first instance, in 1988, with the special feature "Four English Architects," curated by Socrates Georgiadis, a historian and theorist who, intriguingly, studied and resided in Central Europe rather than England. This feature included works and texts by Richard Rogers, Norman Foster, and others, as well as an article by Royston Landau, then Director of the postgraduate department at the Architectural Association. As noted by the curator, Landau's article highlighted "the unique role of this school in the field of architectural education." The second instance, ten years later, was the special feature "Seven Contemporary British Architects" (Architecture in Greece, 33/1999), curated by George Fatseas, an architect and researcher with postgraduate studies at University College London (1984-89). This feature documented the presence in Athens of five British architects (Peter Cook, Nicholas Grimshaw, Michael Hopkins, William Alsop, Ian Ritchie), who had been invited to give lectures at the School of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens by Nikos Kalogeras, then Dean of the School. Kalogeras' special relationship with the British architectural scene dates to the late 1960s and his collaboration with Panos Koulermos and Spyros Amourgis. This feature also included works by David Chipperfield, Norman Foster, and Richard Rogers, though it did not anthologize Peter Cook. The Uncertain Trace of British Architectural Education A first extensive recording of British architectural thought on education was made in Architecture in Greece in 1973, within the special feature "The Education of Architects" in issue 7, curated by Aristides Romanos (born 1937), an architect with studies at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and University College London. Romanos, who was already teaching at the Architectural Association school at that time, decided to include almost exclusively texts by British architects and theorists, most of whom were teaching at the AA (!), including Michael Lloyd, the director of the school from 1966-70, Robert Maxwell, and of course, Kenneth Frampton. If, until the early 1970s, the number of Greek students in British universities was rather limited, the period of the metapolitefsi (the restoration of democracy in Greece) between 1974 and 1996 appears to have seen the highest postwar percentage of Greek architecture students in the United Kingdom, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. However, this dense presence is barely reflected in the Greek architectural press until at least the late 1980s. For example, the publication of diploma or postgraduate projects from British architectural schools in Architecture in Greece was rare throughout this period. Similarly, it was uncommon for Greek architects returning from the UK or staying there as lecturers in architectural schools to publish their theoretical texts based on their postgraduate research in Architecture in Greece. Notably, George Simaioforidis had been collaborating with Doumanis' reviews since 1981, and Elias Constantopoulos, a Bartlett graduate, had been contributing systematically since 1987. Additionally, Andreas Kourkoulas and John Peponis occasionally contributed to the publication. 08 FIG. 04. Andreas Zannas, "The New Municipal Market of Athens. Public Building of the City and Bazaar," diploma project at the Royal College of Art in London under the supervision of George Simaioforidis, 1982-83, Architecture in Greece, 17/1983, pp. 50-51 FIG. 05. Stavros Gyftopoulos and Katerina Filippa, "Theatrical Space in Metaxourgio," entry in the international student architectural competition by RIBA “Theatre, a place for all,” as part of the M.Arch. studies at the School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, 1990, Architecture in Greece, 27/1993 09 The graduates of British architectural schools, most of whom return to Greece and some of whom join the architectural schools of Athens and Thessaloniki, do not form a network (despite occasional collaborations among them). They remain individual units, maintaining friendly relations with each other, but they do not manage to intervene collectively or influence either architectural education or (primarily) architectural practice in Greece. I could further argue that, with a few exceptions, they remain isolated, and their positions find it difficult to break through, whether in the professional or academic environment. FIG. 06. Giorgos Fatseas, Sofia Psarra, "The Intellectual Wanderers: The Poetics of Ephemeral Presence," awarded entry in Europan 3, Architecture in Greece, 29/1995, p. 28 FIG. 07. Stavros Aliferis, Elias Veneris, Complex of Indoor and Outdoor Olympic Swimming Pools in Kalogreza, Athens, architectural competition entry, 5th prize, 1987, Architecture in Greece, 21/1987, p. 48 In the architectural project pages of Orestis Doumanis' publications, the presence of architects with education from the United Kingdom does not seem particularly dense in the last two decades of the century. I will only highlight the participation of Stavros Aliferis and Elias Veneris in the competition for the Sports complex at Phaliro, Athens (5th prize), published in the 21st issue of Architecture in Greece in 1987, a proposal that reflects the style of OMA, and in issue 29/1995, the award-winning entry in Europan 3 by two architects who studied for their master's degrees at Bartlett in the late 1980s, Giorgos Fatseas and Sofia Psarra. We have to wait until the early years of the new millennium, in 2004, to see in Architecture in Greece (where Panos Dragonas is now the editor) a feature on the work of Maria Kokkinou and Andreas Kourkoulas (issue 38, Monographs XVI), with an introductory text by their friend, John Peponis, who, like them, was a student of Bill Hillier at Bartlett, and who conveys the essence of their English education: "It was taken for granted that architectural form should never be considered only as an image, no matter how meaningful, 010 nor as a problem of visual space, but rather as the composition of spatial relations that become perceptible and understandable as we move through them." "[...] Since architectural design is not an isolated, individual action but requires the interrelation of actions, reactions, and interactions within a defined cultural context, where the actions of historians and critics coexist with the interpretations, preferences, descriptions, perceptions... of architectural events." S. Dostoglu, A. Monti, G. Simaiophoridis, "Hydra '83 or What Happened at an International Architectural Symposium" At the end of the 1970s, after studying in Rome and Florence, Giorgos Simaiophoridis (1955-2002) found himself at the Architectural Association school, where from 1981 to 1984 he would teach in the postgraduate History and Theory program. With his initiative, the AA's postgraduate department and an "initiative group" from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki organized the International Architectural Symposia in Hydra in 1981 and 1983. The 1983 symposium, themed "A Framework for Architectural Culture," was organized by Dimitris Fatouros and Royston Landau (1927-2001, Director of the AA’s postgraduate department) and visual artist and architect Micha Bandini. Participants included Kenneth Frampton, Giorgos Simaiophoridis, Jean-Louis Cohen, Dimitris and Souzana Antonakakis, and Elias Zenghelis. A presentation of the proceedings was hosted by the Association of Architects’ Bulletin (Deltio Syllogou Architectonon), thanks to Simaiophoridis’ initiative. This marked the beginning of the Architectural Association’s presence in Greece, which, through the organization of summer workshops, continues to this day. It also marked the beginning of Simaiophoridis’ collaboration with the Association of Architects’ magazine, which would become a steady platform for him (more freely, perhaps, than Architecture in Greece, with which he had also started collaborating in the 1980s), until the publication of the magazine Tefchos in 1989. For approximately six years, he would attempt to realize his vision for a new form of printed critical discourse on architecture. Simaiophoridis would also take on the task of giving the Association of Architects’ magazine a new, modernized form, and a new title – Architects – taking over, after his departure from the editorial board of the Tefchos in early 1995, the coordination of its publication. 011 The Network of Tefchos magazine "Architecture, as an expression of Existence, must be One, as an expression of Being – in – the – World, it can be Infinite. As for Architects, the only thing we can be is One, even / especially in these days of stifling solitude. Everything else is mere prattle and the grunting of insatiable Fear." Thanassis Spanomaridis, Giannis Zachariadis (1990) FIG. 08. Publication of the entry by Thanassis Spanomaridis, Yannis Zachariades, Kalliope Kontozoglou, Aris Zampikos, Frosso Poimenidi, and Dalibor Vesely in the competition for the New Acropolis Museum (1990), Tefchos 5/1991 The magazine Tefchos, published by Takis Koumbis, Christos Papoulias, Giorgos Simaiophoridis, and Giorgos Tzirtzilakis, will emerge during its relatively brief period of circulation (1989-1995) as the primary platform where the shared concerns of Greek architects, shaped by British education, are reflected as the 1980s come to a close ("in these days of stifling solitude"). This includes those who have pursued international careers or returned to Greece from the United Kingdom during this time. The magazine will frequently showcase, through presentations, texts, and interviews, the work of Panos Koulermos,EIias Zenghelis and Eleni Tsigante, the office of "Mimnermou 2" (Yannis Zachariades and Thanassis Spanomaridis), and Maria Kokkinou - Andreas Kourkoulas, as "exemplary—certainly not the only—cases of a still-exploring map of architecture in Greece," and as "wanderings through 'spots' we believe have something to offer." These architects are primarily associated with the dominant "positions" on architecture and architectural education in the 1970s and 1980s, which are expressed through the two most prominent schools in London: initially the Architectural Association (described by Simaiophoridis as "this experimental breeding ground of architecture" and a "transit station for ideas and people between Europe and America") and later the Bartlett School of Architecture - UCL. The close relationships Giorgos Simaiophoridis develops with the AA and its director Alvin Boyarsky during this period partly explain these choices. 012 FIG. 09. Pages from the feature on Thanassis Spanomaridis and Yannis Zachariades, Tefchos Issue 3/1990 FIG. 10. Contributions by Panos Koulermos, Elias Zenghelis, and Mimnermou 2 office to the exhibition "18 Ideas for the Greek Pavilion", Source: http://www.sadas-pea.gr/i-istoria-tisbiennale-architektonikis-tis-venetias-diethnisekthesi-ke-elliniki-simmetochiarchitektones/ 013 Texts by Giorgos Simaiophoridis and Dalibor Vesely (“their professor and mentor during the critical years of their final studies”) accompany the extensive feature in Tefchos on the unique poetic language of Yannis Zachariades and Thanassis Spanomaridis, two AA students from the turn of the 1970s, published in the magazine's 3rd issue in 1990. The duo from "Mimnermou 2" office, along with Eleni Kokkinou and Andreas Kourkoulas (postgraduate students at Bartlett and the AA – the latter for the second), will be among the few offices highlighted in the feature "Young Greek Architects" in the penultimate issue 14-45/1995 of Tefchos. Both offices will also be among those invited to participate in the exhibition "18 Ideas for the Greek Pavilion," presented by Tefchos at the 5th Venice Architecture Biennale in 1991. Indeed, seven of the 18 architectural teams participating in the exhibition are related in one way or another to the London schools. The Reverse Footprint The footprint of Greek students, researchers, and professors in British architectural schools in the United Kingdom can initially be traced through publications in British journals. Specifically, regarding the Architectural Association, it can be seen in the pages of its magazine, AA Files, which has been published since the early 1980s, as well as in a series of autonomous publications that present the diploma projects of its students. FIG. 11-12. Designs by Yannis Zachariades and Kalliope Kontozoglou from the publication Architecture and Continuity, 1982 Particularly interesting for our discussion here is a 1982 exhibition catalog, which presents the student works produced within the framework of Diploma Unit 1 during the period 1978-81, under the guidance of Dalibor Vesely and Mohsen Mostafavi. This catalog vividly captures the distinctive design direction of Unit 1 and Vesely himself. The individual diploma projects are part of an overall redevelopment project for the Kentish Town area of London, titled “Architecture and Continuity.” The publication features drawings, among others, by Yannis Zachariades, Thanassis Spanomaridis, Kalliope Kontozoglou, Vassos Veneris, Dimitris Varangis, and Dimitris Anifadakis. 014 FIG. 13. Student projects by Dimitra Katsota and Vali Loizidis as part of the Intermediate Unit 3: Objects in the Landscape, AA Files, 25/Summer 1993 FIG. 14. The cover of the issue of 9H dedicated to Nicos Valsamakis, 1984 Between 1986 and 2000, the Greek presence in the AA Files appears rather limited, except for the activity of Simos Yannas (b. 1947), a professor at the AA since 1976, where he continues to direct the field of Sustainable Environmental Design at the school and has presented a rich corpus of written and research work. A notable case is that of 9H, a magazine which has been published since 1980 by students of the Bartlett School of Architecture, with Elias Constantopoulos, who was studying at the school at the time, participating in the editorial team from the beginning. As noted by Ros Diamond, a member of the editorial team, 9H was published during a period when the Bartlett, although less creative in the design studios, had a strong history and theory department led by Reyner Banham and Bill Hillier. Under their influence, 9H attempted to differentiate itself from trends that aimed to associate contemporary British architecture exclusively with high-tech, something that could be considered "a schism in the architectural (or cultural) position of the country"! At the same time, the communication of contemporary Greek architecture in the United Kingdom cannot be independent of the presence and activity of Greek architecture students and educators in British universities. The successive exhibitions organized by the Architectural Association for the work of the Atelier 66 of Dimitris and Suzana Antonakakis (1982), of Nicos Valsamakis (1984), curated by Elias Constantopoulos, and of Dimitris Pikionis (1989), curated by the school's director Alvin Boyarsky, the latter initiated by Giorgos Simaioforidis, fall within this context, as does the issue of 9H dedicated to Nicos Valsamakis in 1984. 015 FIG. 15-16. The covers of Architectural Monographs No 25 (1993) and No 35 (1994), dedicated to Dimitris Porphyrios and Panos Koulermos. Notables are of course the cases of Elias Zenghelis, Panos Koulermos, and Dimitris Porphyrios, three architects with international recognition and influence, closely linked to architectural education in London (especially the first two at the Architectural Association), yet with a peculiar and short-lived relationship with the Greek architectural landscape. What I will note here, which aligns with the network connecting individuals and publications of the Greek-British architectural scene from 1967-1996—a logic I aimed to highlight in this text—are the two significant international publications on Koulermos's work. The first is a monograph in the series of Architectural Monographs by Academy Editions, published by Nikos Papadakis in 1994, and the second, posthumously, by the Accademia di architettura of Mendrisio, curated by Kenneth Frampton in 2004. Academy Editions had already published a monograph dedicated to Dimitris Porphyrios in 1993. 016 NOTES 1. The period is symbolically defined between the year of the first publication of Architecture in Greece and the year of the publication of Tefchos’ last issue. 2. The Greek Cypriot architect Panos Koulermos is closely connected to the English architectural scene, both as an associate of the Douglas Stephen office and through his teaching at the AA. He maintained this relationship even after leaving London in 1965, and in 1994, his recent work was the subject of a monograph in the Architectural Monographs series of AD magazine and Academy Editions (Panos Koulermos, Foreword by Carlo Aymonino, Architectural Monographs No 35, AD, Academy Editions, 1994). 3. Spyros Amourgis returned to the AA as a visiting professor during the 1967-68 academic year. 4. Elias Zenghelis graduated from the AA in 1961 and taught at the school from 1963. He was an associate at Douglas Stephen and Partners between 1961–71. 5. Kenneth Frampton, a graduate of the Guildford School of Art and the Architectural Association, worked at Douglas Stephen and Partners between 1961–66 and taught at the Royal College of Art (1961–64) and the AA (1961–63). He was the Technical Editor of Architectural Design (AD) magazine between 1962–65. After 1966, he moved to New York, initially teaching at Princeton (1966-71) and later at Columbia University. 6. Spyros Amourgis provides interesting information about the architectural environment of London in the early 1960s in his article, "Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Interwar Architecture," Architecture in Greece, 40/2006, pp. 98-99. 7. Testimony of Spyros Amourgis, conversation with the author, 2010. 8. Regarding the multidimensional and pioneering collaborative work of the three architects, see Panayotis Tsakopoulos, Reflections on Greek Postwar Architecture, Athens: Kaleidoscope, 2014, "Social Aspect of Architecture and Brutalist Mannerism / Technology as a 'Topos'" and "Nikos Kalogeras, Spyros Amourgis, Panos Koulermos. The Greek Face of the Architectural Avant-garde," pp. 114-116 and 310-333, respectively. 9. The article was published in translation in issue 47/2013 of Architecture in Greece, which turned out to be the last, as shortly after its publication, Orestis Doumanis passed away. See Kenneth Frampton, "The Greek Consciousness" [Architectural Design, 7/1967], Architecture in Greece, 47/2013, p. 70. 10. I highlight the following collaborations: "Work, Product, and Architecture," in the special issue "Man and Artificial Environment" (ed. Panos Koulermos), Architecture in Greece, 5/1971, p. 118, "An Adaptive Theory of Architecture," in the special issue "The Education of Architects" (ed. Aristidis Romanos), Architecture in Greece, 7/1973, p. 62, "The Evolution of Housing Ideas 18701970," Architecture in Greece, 8/1974, p. 115, "The Transformations of Ideology," Architecture in Greece, 10/1976, p. 58. 11. Also, Kenneth Frampton's text, "Notes on the Architecture of Panos Koulermos," Architecture in Greece, 17/1983, pp. 142-143. Frampton later edited the publication of Koulermos' complete works after his death by the Accademia di Architettura of Mendrisio, in 2004. 12. Nikos Kalogeras also found himself in England as an independent researcher at the IAAS (Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies) of the University of York, in 1970–71. 13. A proponent of New Brutalism since 1953, under the direction of Theo Crosby, the magazine Architectural Design became the platform for the new avant-garde (team Archigram, etc.), after Kenneth Frampton took over as editor-in-chief in 1964. The direction changed in 1975 when AD was taken over by the American publisher Academy Editions, with Andreas Papadakis as editor, and became the main outlet for the theorists of Postmodernism (Charles Jencks, Demetri Porphyrios) and later of Deconstruction, until the early 1990s. See Steve Parnell, "Architectural 017 Magazines: Spaces of Education and Fields of Contention in Architectural Culture," Architecture in Greece, 47/2013, pp. 68-69. 14. Frosso Pimenidou, "A Series of Lectures on Architectural Theory and History at the Polytechnic of Central London, May-June 1981," Architecture in Greece, 16/1982, pp. 32-34. 15. Elias Veneris (born 1953) studied architecture at the Architectural Association in London (1973-78), where he attended Unit 9, with professors Rem Koolhaas and Elias Zenghelis. He completed his diploma thesis in the Chair of History and Theory of Architecture under the supervision of Demetri Porphyrios (1978). 16. An exception is the publication of the office's participation in the architectural competition for the Swimming complex of Athens’ Olympic Center (5th prize, 1986), signed by Veneris and Aliferis, as part of the publication of the awarded entries of the competition in Architecture in Greece, 21/1987, pp. 48-49. 17. Regarding the work of the OMA office in Athens and specifically the studies of Kefalonia, see Panayotis Tsakopoulos, "The New Extroversion of Greek Architecture" and "Elias Veneris: Stereometric Syntax," in Reflections on Greek Postwar Architecture, Athens: Kaleidoscope, 2014, pp. 172-178 and 524-537, respectively. 18. "At Small and Large Scales: A House and a Hotel by Eleni Tsigante and Elias Zenghelis," Tefchos 4/1990, pp. 10-17. 19. See Sokratis Georgiadis (ed.), "Four English Architects," Architecture in Greece, 22/1988, pp. 103-110. 20. See R. Landau, "Searching for a Critical Proposal for Architectural Research," op. cit., pp. 111-112. 21. Nikos Kalogeras contributes to the special issue with his brief text, "The Relationship between Architecture and Technology in Recent British Architecture," Architecture in Greece, 33/1999, p. 143. 22. Also, by Martin Pawley, David J. Warren Piper, and Michael Shoul. See Aristidis Romanos (ed.), "The Education of Architects," Architecture in Greece, 7/1973. 23. I found only two thesis works: A. Zannas, "The New Municipal Market of Athens: Public Building of the City and Bazaar," Royal College of Art, London, advisor Giorgos Simaioforidis, 198283, Architecture in Greece, 17/1983, pp. 50-51; Yannis D. Petropoulos, "Development of the Market Area in Pyrgos, Ilia," University of Manchester School of Architecture, professor R. Dearden, 1984, Architecture in Greece, 22/1988, p. 102. Also, only two postgraduate projects: G.F. Tzovaris, "Designing a City with the Pattern Method," M.Sc. Urban Design thesis, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, 1983, Architecture in Greece, 19/1985, p. 64; and Stavros Gyftopoulos and Katerina Filippa, "Theater Space in Metaxourgeio," entry in the RIBA international student architectural competition "Theatre, a Place for All," part of their M.Arch. studies at the University of Sheffield School of Architecture, 1990, Architecture in Greece, 27/1993, p. 41. 24. I found only the publications by Frosso Pimenidou, "The Ideal City in Medieval Theatre," summary of a thesis for the Diploma in Architecture, at the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic of Central London (PCL), 1978, Architecture in Greece, 14/1980, pp. 64-75, and Elias Veneris, "Eclectic Buildings in Athens," summary of a thesis at the AA, Design in Greece, 11/1980, pp. 57-58. 25. See his texts, "Introduction to the 'Mythical Past' of Architectural History," Architecture in Greece, 14/1981, pp. 21-23, and "Discovering the Murderer or Genealogy of Postwar Architecture in Greece," Architecture in Greece, 20/1986, pp. 75-80. Simaioforidis co-edited, along with Giorgos Tzirtzilakis, the special issue "Le Corbusier and Greece," Architecture in Greece, 21/1987. 26. See, for example, Elias Constantopoulos, "Greek Architecture in the 1980s," Architecture in Greece, 23/1989, pp. 63-69. Constantopoulos also edited the monographs on Nicos Valsamakis ("Monographs I: Nicos Valsamakis," Architecture in Greece, 26/1992) and Dimitris and Suzana Antonakakis ("Monographs IV: Dimitris and Suzana Antonakakis," Design in Greece, 25/1994). 018 27. See Andreas Kourkoulas, "Iconology or the Postmodern Invocation of Memory," in the special issue "Trends in Contemporary Greek Architecture," Architecture in Greece, 23/1989, pp. 6062. 28. See, John Peponis, "For a Modern Devotion to Architectural Form," Architecture in Greece, 30/1996, pp. 127-130. 29. A characteristic example in this context is the collaboration of four graduates from the AA (Thanassis Spanomaridis, Yannis Zachariades, Kalliope Kontozoglou, Aris Zambikos) and a graduate from the Polytechnic of Central London (Frosso Poimenidou), as well as their professor at the AA, Dalibor Vesely, in the international competition for the New Acropolis Museum in 1990, published in Tefchos, 5/1991, pp. 28-31. 30. For example, I would point out the absence of their contributions from the magazine of the Architects Association during its different periods (as the Bulletin of the Architects Association or as the magazine Architects), at least until the coordination of its publication was undertaken by George Simaioforidis, something that is evidenced by the indexing of the issues from the years 1980-1995. An exception to the rule is some articles by George Simaioforidis. 31. See, Architecture in Greece, 21/1987, pp. 48-49. 32. "The Intellectual Wanderers. The Poetics of Ephemeral Presence," a proposal for Berlin, Architecture in Greece, 29/1995, p. 38. 33. Monographs XVI: "Maria Kokkinou, Andreas Kourkoulas," Architecture in Greece, 38/2004, pp. 62-117. 34. John Peponis, "Spatial Intentions," Architecture in Greece, 38/2004, pp. 66-67, 66. 35. See, S. Dostoglu, A. Monti, G. Simaioforidis, "Hydra '83 or What Happened at an International Architectural Symposium," Bulletin of the Architects Association, 5-6/1983, pp. 13-15, 13. 36. Referred to in the related publication as the "Architectural School of the Architectural Association of London," see S. Dostoglu, p. 13. 37. Micha Bandini, an architect and visual artist, taught at the AA and was a collaborator with Landau for 23 years. 38. S. Dostoglu, et al., op. cit. 39. In the summer of 1995, the AA organized an International Architectural Workshop in Athens and the Cyclades, themed "Landscape and Mobility," with participation from faculty members of the first and second post-war generations of the school, including Elias Zenghelis, Panos Koulermos, Kenneth Frampton, Nikos Kalogeras, Herman Hertzberger, and Dalibor Vesely, along with Eleni Tsigante, Thanassis Spanomaridis, George Simaioforidis, Yannis Zachariades (see invitation to participate in the Workshop, in the magazine Architects, 1/Series A/1995, p. 10). It should also be noted that AA Visiting Schools have been regularly organized in Athens in recent years (see, http://greece.aaschool.ac.uk/). 40. Thanassis Spanomaridis, Yannis Zachariadis, "The Origin of Geometry," Tefchos 3/1990, pp. 33-47, 47. 41. "Building the Landscape. A Discussion with Panos Koulermos," where the three university complexes in Crete are presented, Tefchos 4/1990, pp. 25-40. Koulermos, who has lived in Italy and the United States since 1973, developed a close relationship with the editorial team of Tefchos. The magazine, in collaboration with the DESTE Foundation, organized the first exhibition of his recent works in Athens at the House of Cyprus in 1990, themed "Place, Memory + Form." On the occasion of the exhibition, a bilingual catalog was published, featuring the architect's studies and works, with texts by Francesco Dal Co, John Hejduk, and others. 42. Residence in Mytilene (with Elias Veneris) and Hotel in Argostoli, Kefalonia, see, "On a Small and Large Scale. A Residence and a Hotel by Eleni Tsigante and Elias Zenghelis," Tefchos 4/1990.. 43. Tefchos 14-15/1995. 44. G. Simaioforidis, "Between 'Dream' and 'Ecstasy': The Architecture of Thanassis Spanomaridis and Yannis Zachariades," Tefchos 3/1990, pp. 31-32, 31. 019 45. The magazine Tefchos dedicated two articles to Boyarsky after his sudden death, the first by George Simaioforidis ("For Alvin," Tefchos 4/1990, pp. …...) and the second by Eleni Tsigante ("Alvin Boyarsky," Tefchos 6/1991. 46. G. Simaioforidis, "Between 'Dream' and 'Ecstasy' …”, op.cit. 47. Dalibor Vesely, "Representation and Creativity," op. cit., pp. 48-50. 48. Where the text by Thanassis Spanomaridis, Yannis Zachariadis, "The Origin of Geometry," pp. 33-47, is also included. 49. These are the proposals by K. Diakomides – G. Fatseas – N. Charitou – S. Psarra, E. Tsigante – E. Zenghelis, P. Koulermos, M. Kokkinou – A. Kourkoulas, Th. Spanomaridis – Y. Zachariades, M. Papanikolaou – R. Sakellaridou, and Lois Papadopoulos. See, Tefchos 6/1991, pp. 10-20. 50 See, Architecture and Continuity, Architectural Association Themes-1, London: Architectural Association, 1982, with an introductory text by Alvin Boyarsky. Among the approximately 40 students who participated in Unit 1 but whose designs are not included in the anthology, we find the names of Anastassia Dimitrakopoulou and Kostis Skroumbelos. In the "Acknowledgements" section of the volume, the "experimental incubator of architecture" and "transit station for ideas and people" that the AA represented during Boyarsky's era are vividly portrayed, with mentions of names such as Alan Colquhoun, Peter Cook, Jeremy Dixon, Peter Eisenman, Kenneth Frampton, Bob Maxwell, Charles Moore, Richard Rogers, Colin Rowe, Joseph Rykwert, James Stirling, and Elias Zenghelis, who served as external critics and examiners of the work. 51 I was unable to consult the first 10 issues of the publication, up until the fall of 1985. Between 1986 and 2000, in the AA Files, the columns on AA Diploma Honours record the diploma projects of Vali Loizides (Diploma Unit 4 in the Urban Studio with Ben van Berkel and Michael Hensel, 1996-97, AA Files, 34/1997, pp. 98-99) and Stephan Buerger (“Establishing a process [topos]”, 1997-98, AA Files, 37/1998, pp. 69-71), as well as published articles, such as those by Kalliope Kontozoglou (AA Files 12/Summer 1986) and Maria Theodorou, “Space and Experience: Chore / Choros”, a text based on her ongoing doctoral dissertation focusing on the experience of spatial relationships in Homeric texts (AA Files, 34/1997, pp. 45-55). It is also noted that in the presentation in AA Files 22/Autumn 1991 of the exhibition of works by AA students dedicated to Alvin Boyarsky (“Alvin Boyarsky Memorial Exhibition: AA Student Work 1972-1990”), no diploma projects of Greek students are anthologized. 52 Regarding the activities and the research and writing work of Simos Yannas, see details in http://phd.aaschool.ac.uk/faculty/simos-yannas/ and the posts, http://sed.aaschool.ac.uk/staff/teaching-staff/simos-yannas/. 53 Between 1980 and 1995, a total of 10 issues of the magazine were published. 54 As characteristically mentioned under the title of the magazine, “[...] Exploring and proposing means and ways to move forward [...] But at the same time, covering the poetry of architecture, of light, and walls ... ambiguities and contradictions that we accept because they exist independently of us [...] because that is the only way.” See, R. Diamond, “Tracing 9H: a history of 9H and its effects,” Architectural Research Quarterly, 9/2007, pp. 3-4. 55 On the occasion of the exhibition, Constantopoulos also curated the special issue of 9H dedicated to Nicos Valsamakis. See, Elias Constantopoulos (ed.), Nicos Valsamakis 1950-83, London: 9H Publications, 1984. 56 "Dimitris Pikionis 1887-1968. A Sentimental Topography." The catalog of the same title included Helene Binet's photographic essay on the pathways of the Acropolis and texts by K. Frampton, A. and P. Smithson, D. Antonakakis, S. Kontaratou, and Agni Pikioni (Dimitris Pikionis, Architect 1887-1968. A Sentimental Topography, London: Architectural Association, 1989). "Continuing the humanitarian and aesthetic approach also from the English side of TEAM 10, the exhibition placed more emphasis on the topographic exploration and symbolic writing of the architect, examining certain works, particularly the layout of the archaeological site of the hills of the Acropolis and Philopappos" (see the note "Dimitris Pikionis," Tefchos 2/1989). For more on the exhibition, see also the text by G. S[imaioforidis], "For Alvin," Tefchos 4/1990). 020 57 In 2001, Elias Zenghelis was awarded the RIBA's Annie Spink Award for Excellence in Education. As George Simaioforidis mentions in a related publication in the magazine Architektones, 25/B/Jan.-Feb. 2001, Zenghelis acknowledges the significance of his experience in the 1960s at the AA, learning from teachers such as Robert Maxwell, Peter Smithson, and Arthur Korn. For Zaha Hadid, Zenghelis "is one of the few who has the ability and inspiration to convey concepts, themes, and practical ideas, who has the skill to unlock a world of architectural experimentation and possibilities for students, as he did for me, a quality rarely encountered in others" (Architektones, 25/B/Jan.-Feb. 2001). 58 It is notable that while the activities of the Athens office of OMA, in which Zenghelis participated, went almost unnoticed during the period 1980-87, Zenghelis was appointed as the National Commissioner for Greece at the 7th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2000. This was during a period of "extroversion" in Greek architecture, following a long, introspective post-dictatorship period and preceding the austerity measures of the 2010s. Zenghelis invited 26 young architects to present their work, including A. Zambikos, A. Spanomaridis - Y. Zachariades, A. Kourkoulas - M. Kokkinou, and P. Charalambidou. 59 Panos Koulermos, Architectural Monographs No 35, London: Academy Editions, 1994. 60 Kenneth Frampton, (ed.), Panos Koulermos Opera Completa, Mendrisio: Fondazione Archivio del Moderno, Accademia di architettura, 2004. 61 Demetri Porphyrios. Selected Buildings and Writings, Architectural Monographs No 25, London: Academy Editions, 1993.