The 41 projects of GREAT 2013 exhibition "THEIR FIRST BUILDINGS"

20.5 - 9.6 2013
AT MEGARON ATHENS

THEIR FIRST
BUILDINGS

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Kyriakou Kyriakos, Sofia Krimizi

Supermodelcity, Massive Void

2009

Postgraduate

Columbia University, GSAPP, New York, USA

Professor(s): Keith Kaseman

This project investigates the interrelations between the extreme precision promised by the digital software landscape and the unavoidable material imprecisions and imperfections of any attempted translations to a physical model.Oscillating between High-tech digital procedures and hand-made rough operations we create a potential flanerie in a 3D map of Nolli. We build, we carve, we cast, trying to identify the gray zones out of black and white, through the errors of precision.We are looking for the absolute condition of urbanity, a system that negates any interior space and illustrates the maximum exterior. Thinking the city as an absolute condition of mass and void we imagine of an inhabited vacant mass, an infinite borrow carved through a single solid. The huge exterior space is in reality an enormous interior, trapped into a hollow mass. Only the void can be perceived. The solid does not exist. It only defines the space. The system has no shape. The dwellers of this construct can only go where the tunnels lead them unless they create new ones.
The need for light, water and air produces a demand for an enormous infrastructure. A perplexed network of pipes runs through the mass increasing the amount of holes while condensing the space. The pipes program the space, defining functions. As the system grows, the degree of porosity increases until the holes become very small. A new state emerges. It is a gray zone between the absolute black or white. We witness the fragmentation of intermediate spaces into undefined zones. The system is repeating itself carving what is already carved in a recursive pattern. A series of crypts and poches emerge on the walls. Hints of interiors appear in the mass. The hypertrofic void forces the system to fail.

CV

Sofia Krimizi studied architecture at the National Technical University of Athens graduating with honors in 2008 and the Ecole National Superieure de Paris la Villete (Master I- Erasmus). She earned a post-graduate degree at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation of Columbia University in New York (Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design) having scholarships from the Fulbright Foundation, the Foundation for Education and European Culture and the Goulandris Foundation. Sofia has worked for various offices including Steven Holl Architects in New York, Ateliers Jean Nouvel in Paris and Grafeio 405 Aris Zambikos in Athens before founding ksestudio with Kyriakos Kyriakou in Brooklyn-NY. She is currently teaching design studios as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute and the University of Pennsylvania. She recently received a research grant from NYSCA (New York State Council of the Arts) and the Storefront for Art and Architecture the American Condominum Metabolism project with ksestudio. She has received numerous awards and mentions in international competitions and exhibited her work at the Museum of the City of New York, the Storefront for Art and Architecture and the Benaki Museum, amongst other places.

Kyriakos Kyriakou studied architecture at the National Technical University of Athens graduating in 2008 and the Ecole National Superieurede Paris la Villete (Master I - Erasmus). He earned a post-graduate degree at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation of Columbia University in New York (Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design) as a Themistocles Varangis scholar while winning the Kinne traveling fellowship. Kyriakos has worked for various offices including Ateliers SOA in Paris and ODA (Office for Design and Architecture) in New York as a project architect for the 100 Norfolk high rise. In 2009 he founded ksestudio in collaboration with Sofia Krimizi in Brooklyn-NY. He recently received a research grant from NYSCA (New York State Council of the Arts) and the Storefront for Art and Architecture the American Condominum Metabolism project with ksestudio. He has received numerous awards and mentions in international competitions and exhibited her work at the Museum of the City of New York, the Storefront for Art and Architecture and the Benaki Museum, amongst other places.

Massive voide