Ever since the platform of archstudies.gr was established in 2011, one of the goals was the organisation of architectural competitions as well as exhibitions, with the aim of contributing to the diffusion of architecture beyond the relatively narrow circle of architecture students, to the public. This desire has been repeatedly expressed before through the participation of the group in numerous events by designing installations. However, it was in 2015 when it came to full bloom, when we were given the chance to organize the competition and the exhibition , in collaboration with Arcisearch within the framework of Design Lab Athens Show 2015.
Competition's theme
The theme of the competition was 'Tourism' as an axis of architecture production, space development and identity of places as well. The subject of tourism was treated with a general and maybe ill-defined way, so that it embraced a wider sum of spaces that seduce the visitor, either as public spaces or interventions in organized beaches, museums, residences or even spaces of commerce.
A review of the European experience of the competition and exhibition
In the first phase of the competition we received 60 submissions, from schools all over Greece but also Italy, UK, Netherlands, even Romania, all from Greek students. The jury, consisting of architect Konstantinos Poulopoulos (BIG, SQ1), AUTH professor Anastasios Tellios, Stavros Martinos (Editor in Chief of Archisearch) and one delegate from Archstudies team, chose 25 proposals that would take part in the next phase and the exhibition in Technopolis of the city of Athens, during Design Lab Show 2015. Finally, all 25 chosen projects expressed in the best possible way the wide variety of architectural production as seen today under the influence of new technologies (digital fabrication modelling like 3dprinting, laser cutting, etc) but also of new social and financial parameters.The whole project was an attempt to record all trends formed today in the architecture and design. For the first time in Greece, architecture students were given the opportunity to contact the materials sector and manufacturers to develop a prototype of their design project in 1:1 or 1:5 scale. The jury members and the organizers along with some of participants talk about this attempt and experience and make some very interesting points about how a design thesis takes into consideration the material issues.
has been Archstudies Team first opportunity to organize and design from scratch in real-time condition a competition and an architectural exhibition taking into consideration all limitations and parameters that occur in such scale projects. The expo lasted only 3 days, and had to be set up and dismantled in half a day. Our experience from participating in previous events in the School of Architecture (AUTH) has been decisive in matters of coordination and organization, in both the processes of the competition and the setting of the exhibition, given the limited time, funds and means.
