Aris Konstantinidis
Encyclopedia
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
- 1993 in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, was a notable Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
architect of modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
Aris Konstantinidis was born in Athens and studied architecture in the Technical University of Munich
Technical University of Munich
The Technische Universität München is a research university with campuses in Munich, Garching, and Weihenstephan...
from 1931 to 1936, where he came into contact with the architectural concept of the Modern Movement. He returned to Greece in 1936 and worked for the Town Planning Department of the city of Athens and for the Ministry of Public Works. He was appointed to the head of the Workers Housing Organisation from 1955 to 1975 and t as of head of the Technical Service of the Greek National Tourism Organisation
Greek National Tourism Organisation
The Greek National Tourism Organization , often appreviated as GNTO is the governmental department for the promotion tourism in the country of Greece. It functions under the supervision of the Hellenic Republic Ministry for Culture and Tourism....
from 1957 to 1967, where he planned and oversaw the construction of a series of workers' houses and Xenia hotels
Xenia (Hotel)
The Xenia was a nation-wide hotel construction program initiated by the Hellenic Tourism Organisation to improve the country's tourism infrastructure in the 1960s and 1970s...
. At the same time, Konstantinidis planned and realised several private projects.
He studied extensively the anonymous architecture of Greece and published three books, from 1947 to 1953, in which he examined particular examples of this type of architecture. In 1975 he published a comprehensive book concerning the anonymous architecture of Greece, entitled "Elements of Self-knowledge-Towards a true architecture". It is there that one can see how much Aris Konstantinidis was influenced by the architectural tradition of his homeland and how he drew lessons from the past to develop an architecture for his time. In his last book, entitled "Theoktista" ("God-built"), the architect once again underlined his belief that anonymous architecture as well as the landscape of Greece itself, constituted the foundations on which modern architectural practice could and should be grounded.
He taught at the Zurich Polytechnic as a visiting professor. In 1978 he received an honorary doctorate at the University of Thessaloniki. He was appointed a corresponding member of the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich
The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich was founded 1808 by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria in Munich as the "Royal Academy of Fine Arts" and is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany...
.
Through his work, Aris Konstantinidis created architectural solutions unique in Greece, which gave birth to a modern Greek architecture.
Notable works
- Ioannina Archaeological Museum
- Xenia Hotel in Kalambaka
- Xenia Hotel in Mykonos
- KomotiniKomotiniKomotini is a city in Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace and of the Rhodope regional unit. It is also the administrative center of the Rhodope-Evros super-prefecture. The city is home to the Democritus University of Thrace, founded in 1973...
Archaeological Museum - Xenia Motel in OlympiaOlympia, GreeceOlympia , a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. Both games were held every Olympiad , the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC...
- Low-income housing in AthensAthensAthens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
- Low-income housing in Irakleio
- Low-income housing in SerresSerresSerres is a city in Greece, seat of the Serres prefecture.Serres may also refer to:Places:* Serres, Germany, a part of Wiernsheim in Baden-WürttembergIn France:* Serres, Aude in the Aude département...
- Low-income housing in PyrgosPyrgos, ElisPyrgos is the capital of the Elis peripheral unit in Greece. It is named after a local tower. The city is located in the western part of the Peloponnese, in the middle of a plain near the Ionian Sea. It is 96 km away from Patras via Greek National Road 9, 320 km from Athens, and...
Written works
- 1947- Two "Villages" from Mykonos (Δυο "Χωριά" από τη Μύκονο)
- 1950 - Old Athenian Houses (Τα παλιά Αθηναϊκά σπίτια)
- 1953 - Country churches of Mykonos (Ξωκλήσια της Μυκόνου)
- 1972 - Vessels for Life or The problem of a genuine architecture (Δοχεία Ζωής ή το πρόβλημα για μια αληθινή αρχιτεκτονική)
- 1975- Elements for self-knowledge - towards a true architecture (Στοιχεία αυτογνωσίας - Για μιαν αληθινή αρχιτεκτονική)
- 1978 - True contemporary architecture (Σύγχρονη Αληθινή Αρχιτεκτονική)
- 1987 - On architecture (Για την Αρχιτεκτονική)
- 1987 - Sinners and thieves or The take-off of architecture (Αμαρτωλοί και κλέφτες ή Η απογείωση της αρχιτεκτονικής)
- 1989 - Forwards from forth-coming books (Τα προλεγόμενα / από τα βιβλία που βρίσκονται στα σκαριά)
- 1991 - Wretched timeliness - The golden Olympics - The Acropolis Museum (Η άθλια επικαιρότητα - Η χρυσή ολυμπιάδα - Το μουσείο της ακρόπολης)
- 1992 - Experiences and facts - an autobiographical narrative (Εμπειρίες και περιστατικά - μια αυτοβιογραφική διήγηση)
- 1992 - The architecture of architecture - Notes from a Journal (Η Αρχιτεκτονική της Αρχιτεκτονικής- Ημερολογιακά σημειώματα)
- 1992 - Aris Konstandinidis - Projects & Buildings (Αρης Κωνσταντινίδης: Μελέτες και κατασκευές')
- 1992 - "God-Built" ("Θεόκτιστα")