ADD Architecture Studio

Both of us –Argyris and Dionysios- are architects. We studied together at the Faculty of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens and have been collaborating ever since our University years, but have known each other for a lot longer. Our families have played a hugely influential role in our becoming designers, our fathers being a civil engineer and an architect respectively. Yet, these were not the only facts that led to a design-oriented life. We both felt the need to be able to combine knowledge from various disciplines so as to create something new, something personal. Our acceptance to the Faculty of Architecture triggered the beginning of an era of constant research and inspiration from our surroundings. The more we studied, the more we felt this was the place for us. Since then, not a single day has passed without producing at least a single sketch. A sketch will always mark the beginning of the exploration of an unknown territory. We guess that our innerself had always wanted to be a designer,thus it all just came naturally and felt right.

ADD Architecture Studio was formed by us -Argyris Chronopoulos and Dionysios Koutsioumaris- after our MA graduation from the Faculty of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens in 2016. Our graduation was marked by our Diploma Project getting awarded an Honorable Mention at the 2016 European Architectural Medal Awards-Best Diploma Projects- and getting nominated for the 2016 EU Mies van der Rohe Young Talent Architecture Awards. We were also selected as representatives of the Technical Chamber of Greece for the UIA 2017 Seoul Congress. Since our graduation, we have continued our collaboration as ADD –a collaboration spanning through all of our University years, and a longer friendship. We already have numerous built projects and publications in architectural and design sites and magazines as well as projects in progress.

Sometimes people tend to treat “design” as a rather “taboo” word. This happens a lot when designers try to view themselves as rather an autonomous community. Yet for us, this is not the case. We believe that “design” can be found everywhere and inside everything. “Design” is both tangible and intangible. “Design” is a drawing, a plan, a sketch, an industrial product but also a piece of music, a way to talk, a way to walk, a way to have sex. Good “design” makes our lives better, bad “design” makes us sad and might also prove to be dangerous. We sincerely believe that “design” is an innate quality of human nature. The ability to combine different disciplines, to think out of the box, to produce something originally benefiting. If there is something that our architectural background has taught us is that most pioneers in our discipline never drew their inspiration from any kind of academic “design” environment. Instead, they lived and thrilled by life they designed. That is the reason why our motto is that simple: “We design”.

Just everything! We design everything we can get our hands on. Whole buildings from scratch, interiors, industrial products, expressive pieces of art, anything that combines a multidisciplinary approach and hidden possibilities. Since we believe that “design” is both tangible and intangible, we also “design” music. Yes, that’s right, we also design music, we do not write music.

We both adore Villa dall’ Ava by Rem Koolhaas. It is a private-commissioned house in Paris. It is a work that has had a great influence in our work, since it incorporates the seminal theorems that can be found in the later work of OMA, which we adore. Villa dall’ Ava serves as a great lesson on themes such as analogies, references to constructivism and surrealism, games of perspective and most of all: how to make a work of art pass as a camouflaged expression of personality whilst respecting the mission of design-a mission surpassing our immediate needs.

Our first commission as ADD Architectural Studio was for the interior design of two sibling stores in Arachova, Greece. The former concerned the turning of an abandoned storage space into a boutique-concept store. The latter revolved around offering a new and strong identity to an existing clothing store. The effort was driven by the desire to form a common architectural dictionary shared between the two spaces, thus creating a kind of an open dialogue while satisfying the unique programmatic needs of each space. The proximity of the two stores along Arachova’s central promenade axis favors the aforementioned strategy. Visitors and by-passers conceive the two spaces as consecutive stops along a single walk through the stores of Arachova. The similarity of the design imprint creates the desire to visit both. The design concept of each store is complementary to each other. The use of steel as the key material of the design concept marks the identity shared by the two stores. The similar light patterns create a distinctive atmosphere through the surgical use of LED tapes. Finally, the carefully designed movement routes reveal a dipolic case study: the former store favoring the customers’ linear stroll whilst the latter enclosing the visitor into a nautilus-like wandering. They were both realized with an interval of one year and have been published in architectural design sites. More on the projects can be found in our site.

We try not to treat materials discriminately. However, looking back at our projects-both realized and not- we would surely admit a favoring tendency towards steel, marble and polycarbonate. We also prefer the convenience of LED tapes, but use them surgically and with great caution so as not to disrupt the overall design

Creativity might ring our door as we are working on a project our on our way to work. However we do know that when you hit a dead-end, the solution could as well be hidden in a stroll and coffee in the sunlight or a night drink. One thing is for sure: we feel the most creative when we work under the knowledge that our customer has open ears towards what we have to propose and also when we are on site, where one of our projects is being realized.

Since we have been educated as architects, we feel lucky that we design on a multi-scale basis since the very start of a project. We like to examine how ideas work on both scales, small and big, both on a conceptual and a construction level. However, we believe that practicality, usefulness, originality and visual aesthetic are the key elements to a good design. The element of pleasant surprise is also a key factor in our effort, which can only be realized under the persistent focus on detailing which we have implemented in our work since day one.

It is a strange mix of enthusiasm, happiness, anxiety and self-doubt. Yet, after a number of “trial and error” attempts, doubt turns into confidence and you know you are on your way, the way towards the realization of your ideas.

Relief! It is the moment when all the amount of stress, agony and hard effort gives its place to happiness and satisfaction. At first it is hard to believe. Especially when it is about an architectural design project that has to do with people’s everyday lives. After that, you slowly realize that the design has started to live a life of its own.

It has to do with the Japanese notion of “ikigai”. “Ikigai” is the intersecting point of “what you are good at”, “what the world needs”, “what you love” and “what you can be paid for”. This does not only apply to human beings –designers- but also to inanimate objects or notions like a design. A successful design evokes love at first sight. It is not necessary to be fully conscious love –you do not have to realize that you love a piece of design-. It is sufficient to say that a design is successful when you cannot easily or immediately think of an alternative to it upon asked. It just feels right, even to the educated eye. In that case, the success of any original design always sets the foundation for the birth of a new idea.

The power of design to communicate its purpose without the designers having to argue on its virtue.

A designer should not make the mistake to consider him/her self part of an autonomous community. What we design, from the smallest to the largest scale project does affect people’s lives. It seldom mediates interpersonal relationships and can even add to the overall formation of our psychology. A design also affects the environment, having a great impact on natural resources. Being society-caring and environmental-sustainable is not a matter of new-age trend. It really is a responsibility, not just for designers, but for everyone. We have the power to suggest solutions towards social or environmental problems : for example use materials with a small CO2 imprint, imagine and create spaces that promote openness and equality through their design and so on. We don’t have to be loud about it, we just have to incorporate this logic into our everyday design-lives.

We believe that the “design field” is greatly being influenced by the appearance of open-resource programs. Nowadays, knowledge and expertise is easily and more-equally (unfortunately not all-equally) distributed. This means that the basic resources needed to produce and distribute are spreading freely across the globe. Thus, in a few years –if not already- it might even be futile to name a person a “designer”. This is not a danger for contemporary designers. It is a promise for the long held “designer/ not-a-designer” societal gap to disappear once and for all. We expect a great deal of groundbreaking designs to emerge from people who, in another time, might not even have the chance to study in that field.

Our last exhibition was in Athens, Greece, during the 9th Biennale of Greek Young Architects, where our design “Meuble a habiter” for a private residence in Ekali, Athens, was chosen to exhibited at the Benaki Museum. We would very much like to hold a personal exhibition given the right time and opportunity.

Our inspiration emanates from architecture, industrial design, music-especially techno-, arts, theatre, cinema and everyday life. Sometimes we like to experiment with the surrealist paranoid-critical method introduced by Dali and see how our minds’ “museum of inspirations” might reorganize everything we have read and seen, even if we didn’t do it on purpose.

We try to avoid the term “style” and the connotations it implies. We prefer not to judge a design by its “style”, as the notion of “style” might actually lead to division between designers.

We both grew up and live in Athens, Greece with everything this decision comes with. Of course the cultural heritage is enormous and great, but so are the difficulties. We try to use our country’s cultural heritage as inspiration. Since a great deal of it is based and formed by the Mediterranean life, the sun, the water, the earth, the air, we constantly try to think how we can use these primitive notions as starting points and see where the design process will lead. The end result is not necessarily demonstrating the starting point as an one-to-one analogy. And then come the difficulties. It might sound cliché, but the crisis in Greece is more than an economic one. A “crisis” in ancient Greek was the term used to describe a moment of serious and mature evaluation before taking a big decision. Unfortunately, what is left of that notion in the modern era, is just remnants of the ancient meaning. What prevails, unfortunately, is a negative inclination towards anything new, design included. Yet, there is always a light of hope, as newer generations adopt a more collective way of thinking and of exposition.

We haven’t had the opportunity to work on a commission by a company yet. However, as architects, we like team work and always try to find the optimal solution working in favor of everyone’s interests.

The selection criteria might differ greatly, so we are not sure if there is a good answer to how a company can select a good designer. Careful look into one’s portfolio is definitely a must. However, after the selection is done, we would suggest to the company to be open to what a designer has to suggest. This is the job of a designer. Why hire anyone to do a job if you already know what and how to do it?

It usually all starts with an idea or a new approach towards an older idea. It might be a practical idea, or a more philosophical one. If it is just a practical one, we like to see if there are indeed any philosophical extensions to it. This is not just a mind game. It is about trying to form a kind of filter through which ideas are characterized as realizable or “having potential”. Then, a lot of sketches and 3d models or even physical ones follow. They all swindle and wander around in our heads until the moment comes when they just fall into place. We know this moment has arrived when we cannot add neither remove anything without spoiling its basic virtue.

All days start with us meeting and deciding which matters are more pressing and important and have to be dealt with. The day will go on with us working or overseeing a project that is under construction. Around midday we have our lunch break and continue to work until 8 or 9 pm. Most of the times during the week we get back home and get a good nigth’s rest or go for a drink when there’s some energy left in us.

Work hard every day and never leave unfinished projects behind you, try to finish everything you start and of course dream big!! That’s all you need to have in mind, hard effort and your dreams.

Positives: It is super rare to get bored in everyday life, you are able combine all that is you and inspire you (music, art, cinema etc) into your art and create something of your own. Every day and every moment is filled with creativity as you search for your personal interpretation and improve your design method. Negatives: The long working hours as well as the fact that sometimes people don’t fully grasp what you are doing –since design is not yet considered to be a formal discipline, we don’t enjoy the respect we would expect financially and socially.

We believe that the most important and at the same time most underrated skills are the communication skills. A designer might be very talented, however if he/she cannot express and communicate his/her ideas, it is most likely that he or she will not be able to fulfill our cause which is to improve people’s lives. This does not mean of course that this designer as a failed designer. Howeve,r it certainly deprives him/her of a lot of opportunities.

We like to sketch a lot at the beginning of any project, so as not to limit our possibilities. Books, philosophy, movies and music are also a valuable way of communication between us, a way to convey the desired atmosphere. Then, as soon as things become more concrete, we test our approach through 2d plans, sections, physical models and a lot of 3d modelling and renderings in order to make sure that our design stands in three-dimensional space the way we had imagined it.

Architecture school has definitely lured us into long working hours. However, while time goes by and our design seems to be refusing to find its way, we know the bell has rung for us to stop. We usually take a couple of days off the design, trying not to let it overpower us. It might sound crazy and more time consuming, but it does work. When you take your mind off what has kept it stuck you are able to come back to it through a different point of view and eventually come up with the solution you have been looking for since the beginning. You need to remember to let your mind decompress. Getting into the habit of brute-force problem solving without any break can prove to be much more time consuming as fatigue gradually kicks in. Of course this is the ideal scenario, which you can rarely implement as deadlines never stop.

It depends on the complexity of the object, as well as on whether it is a commission with a strict deadline or part of our personal experimentation. For example, our Silver A’ Design Award awarded “Reverse Pickup Table Lamp”, started with an abstract sketch in Athens in January 2017 and was completed in early May 2017 as a concept design.

We both worked for a very prestigious Greek architecture office for 3 years, while still studying at the Faculty of Architecture. This proved to be an invaluable experience, since we had the chance to work also as project architects for a number of projects and competitions, some of which are on their way to realization. The time we spent at the office was priceless since we really got to understand that design is something to be taken seriously. A line on a paper implies time, money, weight, space, labor, light and shadow. All lines must find themselves under a general umbrella in the end which is called harmonious balance.

You can access this info at our website, we refer to all our clients.

We enjoy all kind of design works, since each one is a different challenge. We design.

Our future plans mainly involve the construction of the table lamps we have designed!

We usually work as a team. On the rare occasion that a design does not start like this due to reasons of time and place, we definitely take it to a team level afterwards. We also like to propose to each other what would be fun, interesting and meaningful to occupy ourselves with.

We prefer to keep it a secret until it is all ready and done, not because we are secretive as personalities, but because we don't like to talk about works in progress, we prefer to keep a small circle informed and ourselves totally focused.

You can always contact us via the “Contact” layout in our website www.addarchstudio.com or through email at addarchistudio@gmail.com

Both of us –Argyris and Dionysios- are architects. We studied together at the Faculty of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens and have been collaborating ever since our University years, but have been knowing each other for a lot longer. We worked for Kokkinou-Kourkoulas architecture office during our student years, a prestigious Greek architecture office. ADD Architectural Studio was formed by us -Argyris Chronopoulos and Dionysios Koutsioumaris- after our MA graduation from the Faculty of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens in 2016. Our graduation was marked by our Diploma Project getting awarded an Honorable Mention at the 2016 European Architectural Medal Awards-Best Diploma Projects- and getting nominated for the 2016 EU Mies van der Rohe Young Talent Architecture Awards. We were also selected as representatives of the Technical Chamber of Greece for the UIA 2017 Seoul Congress. Since our graduation, we officially formed our collaboration as ADD . We already have numerous built projects and publications in architectural and design sites and magazines as well as projects in progress.

Our families have had a huge influential role in our becoming designers, our fathers being a civil engineer and an architect respectively. But it was not only this that led to a design-oriented life. We both felt the need to be able to combine knowledge from various disciplines so as to create something new. Something personal. When we entered the University we would constantly look around us and be thrilled by the new world presenting itself before us. The more we studied, the more we felt this was the place for us. Since then, not a day passes without at least a sketch. A sketch can be relieving some times. We guess that our innermost selves had always wanted to be a designer, it all just came naturally and felt right.

Since we have been educated as architects, we feel confident about designing on a multi-scale basis since the very start of a project. We like to investigate how ideas work on both a big and a small scale, both on a conceptual and a construction level. However, we believe that practicality, usefulness and visual aesthetic are the key elements to a good design. On top of it all we should also add originality and the element of pleasant surprise as elements that keep any design concept from being monotonous. We love to sketch a lot at the beginning of any project, so as not to prison our ideas into anything concrete. Books, philosophy, movies and music are also a valuable way of communication between us, a way to convey the desired atmosphere. Then, as soon as things become more concrete, we test our approach through 2d plans, sections, physical models and a lot of 3d modelling and renderings in order to make sure that our design stands in three-dimensional space the way we had imagined it.

During design process there is a strange mix of enthusiasm, happiness, and self-doubt. But after a number of tries, the doubt turns into confidence and you know you are on the correct way. And then, at last, relief! Your design is done, and if you are lucky, your project has just been realized. At first it is hard to believe. Especially when it is about an architectural design project, a place where people live. After that, you slowly realise that the design has started to live a life of its own. And then, back again, a new project, and everything starts again. However the design journey might be completely different, the basic instincts of fear and enthusiasm remain the same.

As we mentioned before our families played a huge role into our becoming designers. Yet, what we think really shaped our design aspect is the close observation of architecture around us, of industrial design, of music-especially techno-, arts, theatre, cinema and everyday life. We always felt the desire to participate in this creative process that touches other people’s minds and feelings and eventually shapes and forms a mass psychology and mentality. Sometimes we like to experiment with the surrealist paranoid-critical method introduced by Dali and see how our minds’ “museum of inspiration” might reorganize everything we have read and seen, even if we don’t do it on purpose.

We could actually say that our growth path was not so well planned or carefully thought before it actually happened. We like to be part or design projects spanning from small scaled ones, to big ones-from industrial design objects, to spaces and buildings. We believe that this interdisciplinary tendency is also responsible for our growth so far. We would like to be remembered as the designers who almost tried to design everything, yet we have already realized that we may need two lives for that to happen!! Yet, most of all, we aspire to formalize our lamps, the “Reverse Pickup Table Lamp” and the “Reverse Sunclock Wall Lamp”, if we only had to refer to our immediate future plans.

Be patient and energetic, be after your dreams every day! Never quit, even after you are disappointed with something. You become better after your failures and no successful designer has reached the top without failing. You should also try to finish every project you get your hands on, personal or professional because this process of completing things is your source of growth and understanding who you really are!

The best yet most simple insight we could give to a designer, through our small experience of the world so far, is that he or she should be open to everything, from suggestions to project proposals and even to new life experiences. You never know what may come handy for you, what might make you evolve as a person or designer or what may even make you famous! All roads eventually lead to where you want to go, since you are the one who chose them.

All days start with us meeting and deciding which matters are more pressing and important and have to be dealt with. The day will go on with us working or overseeing a project that is under construction. Around midday we have our lunch break and continue to work until 8 or 9 pm. Most of the times during the week we get back home and get a good night’s rest or go for a drink when there’s some energy left in us. It is the little and not so significant things that give us joy during the day, such as a good joke, a fancy and fresh idea, us meeting with an interesting partner or person etc.

We always follow design trends, in an attempt to be up to date about the latest interesting projects around the globe which also keeps us up to date on new materials, interesting design approaches and ideas, technological advancements and so on. On the other hand, we strongly believe in timelessness, a notion that is above current hips and trends. What is almost surrealistic about design is that anything that has been born only through some kind of trend or hip “ages” quickly, it is a golden rule that governs design like a curse. Thus, we have always tried to form our design style based on our mentality, preferences and our own unique eye towards the world.

Sometimes people tend to treat “design” as a rather “taboo” word. This happens a lot when designers try to separate themselves as an autonomous community. But for us, this is not the case. We believe that “design” is everywhere and everything. “Design” is both tangible and intangible. “Design” is a drawing, a plan, a sketch, an industrial product but also a piece of music, a way to talk, a way to walk, a way to have sex. Good “design” makes our lives better, bad “design” makes us sad and might also be dangerous. We just feel happy and blessed because we have been given the chance to be part of the process of design. We sincerely believe that “design” is an innate quality of human nature. The ability to combine different disciplines, to think out of the box, to produce something originally benefiting. If there is something that our architectural background has taught us is that the best architects never received any kind of official “design” education. But they lived. And hence, they designed. This is why our motto is just that simple: “We design”. But what makes a design successful? It has to do with the Japanese notion of “ikigai”. “Ikigai” is the intersecting point of “what you are good at”, “what the world needs”, “what you love” and “what you can be paid for”. This does not only apply to human beings –designers- but also on designs. A successful design is a design which is love at first sight. It is not necessary to be fully conscious love –you do not have to realise that you love a piece of design. It is sufficient to say that a design is successful when you can’t easily think an alternative to it upon asked, unless the alternative answer is even better. In this case, the success of the original design is the birth of a new idea.

A successful design evokes love at first sight. It is not necessary to be fully conscious love –you do not have to realize that you love a piece of design-. It is sufficient to say that a design is successful and ready when you cannot easily or immediately think of an alternative to it upon asked. It just feels right, even to the uneducated eye. In that case, the success of any original design always sets the foundation for the birth of a new idea. It goes without saying that any design is never fully complete, there is always room for improvement. We just reach a point when time and deadlines decide what the final form of any project is and will be. You just have to make your inner peace with that otherwise you risk staying behind and one of the most important things to keep in mind in this business is progress.

Our biggest project so far is the design of the headquarters of a Greek fashion brand called “Devotion Twins” which included the design for the production spaces, a dedicated showroom and their offices. We faced many difficulties and challenges during this project which kept us busy for over six months. We used the concept of movement and light throughout the design process and we think that the final result justifies the amount of our effort and time we dedicated for it. You should check it out in our website and social media!

Rem Koolhaas! We both adore Villa dall’ Ava by Rem Koolhaas. It is a private-commissioned house in Paris. It is a work that has had a great influence on our work, since it incorporates the seminal theorems to be found on the later work of OMA, which we love. Villa dall’ Ava is a great lesson on themes such as analogies, references to constructivism and surrealism, games of perspective and most of all: how to make a work of art a camouflaged personal expression whilst respecting the design’s mission-a mission surpassing our immediate needs.

We both grew up and live in Athens, Greece with everything this decision comes with. Of course the cultural heritage is enormous and great, but so are the difficulties. We try to use our country’s cultural heritage as inspiration. Since a great deal of it is based and formed by the Mediterranean life, the sun, the water, the earth, the air, we constantly try to think how we can use these primitive notions as starting points and see where the design process will lead. The end result is not necessarily demonstrating the starting point as an one-to-one analogy. And then come the difficulties. It might sound cliché, but the crisis in Greece is more than an economic one. A “crisis” in ancient Greek was the term used to describe a moment of serious and mature evaluation before taking a big decision. Unfortunately, what is left of that notion in the modern era, is just remnants of the ancient meaning. What prevails, unfortunately, is a negative inclination towards anything new, design included. Yet, there is always a light of hope, as newer generations adopt a more collective way of thinking and of exposition. Good design is an investment towards progress and well being and we think that the north of Europe is more understanding of this notion and has implemented it in their everyday professional and personal lives. The south, having maybe less resources, is somehow behind and trying to keep up with the north.

Our work culture and business philosophy revolves around the phrase “hard work and effort”. We always look for people who adopt this notion in their work and life too. We also believe that decency and honesty are two traits that are hard to find in our business world and are truly appreciated by us when we see them in a person or a company. The above are the main ingredients for a successful partnership or team effort and when having such people or partners around you then everything becomes easy and effortless. It is a true challenge these days to be able to communicate well with people, clients and partners for numerous reasons so the least we can do is be honest towards our fellow designers and try for the best.

A designer should not make the mistake to consider him/her self part of an autonomous community. What we design, from the smallest to the largest scale project does affect people’s lives. It seldom mediates interpersonal relationships and can even add to the overall formation of our psychology. A design also affects the environment, having a great impact on natural resources. Being society-caring and environmental-sustainable is not a matter of new-age trend. It really is a responsibility, not just for designers, but for everyone.

We have always believed that competitions offer room for experimentation to us designers. They provide us with the necessary freedom to produce new ideas, since that is exactly the objective of any competition. That being said, competitions are the necessary wheel towards progress, improvement (self and mass) and innovation. Apart from pushing designers to improve their presentation and design skills, competitions also push society to accept new models of life or work or coexistence and that is crucial for the growth of our business and society in general. We feel blessed to be part of this process and also hugely honored to be featured as Designers of the day!

Both of us –Argyris and Dionysios- are architects. We studied together at the Faculty of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens and have been collaborating ever since our University years, but have been knowing each other for a lot longer time. ADD Architectural Studio was formed by us after our MA graduation from the Faculty of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens in 2016. Our graduation was marked by our Diploma Project getting awarded an Honorable Mention at the 2016 European Architectural Medal Awards-Best Diploma Projects- and getting nominated for the 2016 EU Mies van der Rohe Young Talent Architecture Awards. We were also selected as representatives of the Technical Chamber of Greece for the UIA 2017 Seoul Congress. Since our graduation, we have continued our collaboration as ADD –a collaboration spanning through all of our University years, and a longer friendship. We already have numerous built projects and publications in architectural and design sites and magazines as well as projects in progress.

A designer should not make the mistake to consider him/her self part of an autonomous community. What we design, from the smallest to the largest scale project does affect people’s lives. It seldom mediates interpersonal relationships and can even add to the overall formation of our psychology. A design also affects the environment, having a great impact on natural resources. Being society-caring and environmental-sustainable is not a matter of new-age trend. It really is a responsibility, not just for designers, but for everyone.

Our families have had a huge influential role in our becoming designers, our fathers being a civil engineer and an architect respectively. But it was not only this that led to a design-oriented life. We both felt the need to be able to combine knowledge from various disciplines so as to create something new. Something personal. When we entered the University we would constantly look around us and be thrilled by the new world presenting itself before us. The more we studied, the more we felt this was the place for us. Since then, not a day passes without at least a sketch. A sketch can be relieving some times. We guess that our innermost selves had always wanted to be a designer, it all just came naturally and felt right.

Just everything! We design everything we can get our hands on. Whole buildings from scratch, interiors, industrial products, expressive pieces of art, anything that combines a multidisciplinary approach and expression possibilities. And since we believe that “design” is both tangible and intangible, we also design music. Yes, that’s right, we also design music, we do not write music.

A good designer is someone who works in a disciplined way, and usually a lot. A great designer is someone who knows exactly how much emotional and time investment is required each time. Both might eventually produce a successful design. However it is not always about the final product, but it is also about what this product bears in its innermost essence.

A good design is a design which has the power to communicate its purpose without the designers having to argue on its virtues. However the success of a really good design has to do with the Japanese notion of “ikigai”. “Ikigai” is the intersecting point of “what you are good at”, “what the world needs”, “what you love” and “what you can be paid for”. And this does not only applies to human beings –designers- but also on designs. A successful design is a design which is love at the first sight. It is not necessary to be a fully conscious love –you do not have to realise that you love a piece of design-. It is sufficient to say that a design is successful when you can not easily think an alternative to it upon asked, unless the alternative answer is even better. On this case, the successfulness of the original design is the birth of a new idea.

Design shapes the world we live in. It defines the form of our surroundings with all the influences this implies. Good design is not necessarily expensive nor reserved for the wealthy. But it is indispensable. Investing (psychologically, time, money etc) in good design is indicating that we care and respect the world we live in. A good design has a lot to do with environmental sustainability.

Rem Koolhaas and OMA for their interdisciplinary approach spanning their whole design process.

We both adore Villa dall’ Ava by Rem Koolhaas. It is a private-commissioned house in Paris. It is a work that has had a great influence on our work, since it incorporates the seminal theorems to be found on the later work of OMA, which we love. Villa dall’ Ava is a great lesson on themes such as analogies, references to constructivism and surrealism, games of perspective and most of all: how to make a work of art a camouflaged personal expression whilst respecting the design’s mission-a mission surpassing our immediate needs.

Always practice. Find a topic which interests you and be ready to sacrifice a night drink or a holiday for it to become your knowledge. Spend time with yourself during the process but reach out for others’ feedback when you have something concrete to show.

Most likely Argyris would have become a Techno music producer and Dionysios would be a screenwriter and cinema director.

Sometimes people tend to treat “design” as a rather “taboo” word. This happens a lot when designers try to separate themselves as an autonomous community. But for us, this is not the case. We believe that “design” is everywhere and everything. “Design” is both tangible and intangible. “Design” is a drawing, a plan, a sketch, an industrial product but also a piece of music, a way to talk, a way to walk, a way to have sex. Good “design” makes our lives better, bad “design” makes us sad and might also be dangerous. We sincerely believe that “design” is an innate quality of human nature. The ability to combine different disciplines, to think out of the box, to produce something originally benefiting. If there is something that our architectural background has taught us is that the best architects never received any kind of official “design” education. But they lived. And hence, they designed. This is why our motto is just that simple: “We design”.

Our teachers and Diploma thesis supervisors, namely Joahn Zachariades and Andreas Kourkoulas.