Aris Konstantinidis Within and Without Greece
Aris Konstantinidis, Hotel ‘Triton’ on Andros (1958).
Photograph Credit: : Aris Konstantinidis, © Aris Konstantinidis’s private archive
A talk by Dr. Stelios Giamarelos
Presented in collaboration with the Hellenic Centre, London
19.00-21.00 on 2nd October 2025
at the Hellenic Centre 16-18 Paddington Street, Marylebone, London W1U 5AS
Tickets for attendance in person for Docomomo members and non-members cost £5/£4 and are available here.
There will be no online attendance, but the talk will be recorded.
Join us for a presentation on the Greek architect Aris Konstantinidis (1913–1993) – one of the most significant figures in modern Greek architecture – by Dr Stelios Giamarelos. Drawing on Dr Giamarelos’ recently published monograph, this talk will explore the often-overlooked aspects of Konstantinidis’s life, work and teaching beyond the borders of Greece. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session.
Aris Konstantinidis (1913–1993) is one of the few Greek architects to have gained international recognition without building a single project outside his native country. Consequently, his work has often been viewed either through the inward-looking lens of 'Greekness' or as a distinctive fusion of modernism and local cultural identity. However, this focus has tended to obscure the outward-facing aspects of his publishing and teaching activities beyond Greece.
This talk will contrast the introspective self-image presented in Konstantinidis’s autobiography and later writings in Greece with the more outward-looking perspectives found in his earlier contributions to European architectural journals. These two personas – the domestic recluse and the internationally engaged intellectual – frequently stood in tension. While he may have appeared isolated within Greece, he found like-minded peers when publishing, lecturing, or exhibiting his work abroad.
Meanwhile, the lack of comprehensive publications in English – in contrast to his prolific output in Greek – has long posed a linguistic barrier, limiting broader international engagement with his alternative approach to critical regionalism.
This talk is a collaboration with Hellenic Centre and follows on from his lecture last year on Suzana Antonakaki.
Dr. Stylianos (Stelios) Giamarelos is Associate Professor at The Bartlett School of Architecture, with a decade-long career in architectural publishing and a multi-disciplinary background in architecture engineering, architectural history and theory, and history and philosophy of science and technology. He is the author of Resisting Postmodern Architecture: Critical Regionalism before Globalisation (London: UCL Press, 2022; A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books’ ‘Favourite Book of 2023’) and the editor of Suzana Antonakaki, Architectural Poetics: Texts 1959-2019 (Heraklion: Crete University Press, 2023; Hartis magazine ‘Essay Award 2023’). He currently serves as the ‘Architecture’ series editor for Crete University Press. In 2008, he co-curated ATHENS by SOUND, the National Participation of Greece in the 11th Biennale of Architecture in Venice.