Konstantinos Tsiambaos
Visiting Fellow, Fall 2019
Affiliation
National Technical University of Athens
Research Project
Animals in Modern Greek Architecture
Kostas Tsiambaos is Assistant Professor in History & Theory of Architecture at the School of Architecture of the National Technical University in Athens (NTUA). He is Chair of do.co.mo.mo. Greece. He studied in Athens (NTUA) and New York (GSAPP Columbia University). His research has been published in international journals (The Journal of Architecture, Architectural Research Quarterly, Architectural Histories) and collective volumes. His research interests focus on the promotion and use of concepts and interpretative tools borrowed from philosophy, political theory and psychoanalysis in the history and theory of modern and contemporary architecture. His books include From Doxiadis' Theory to Pikionis' Work: Reflections of Antiquity in Modern Architecture (London & New York: Routledge, 2018) and Ambivalent Modernity: 9+1 texts on Modern Architecture in Greece (Epikentro, 2017). He recently co-edited the exhibition catalogue The Future as a Project: Doxiadis in Skopje (Hellenic Institute of Architecture, 2018).
About the Research Project
Animals in Modern Greek Architecture
During his appointment as Visiting Research Fellow, Konstantinos Tsiambaos investigated the references to and representations of animals in modern Greek architecture. In particular, his research aimed at launching a discourse on the uses and meanings of animals in the architecture of the 20th century through a historical documentation and theorization that highlighted the animal as a vital symbol/signifier/qualifier for the human, as an object which expands, completes or even mirrors the notion of the human in its cultural framework. Animals were re-conceptualized and re-contextualized, reviving as models, paradigms, and metaphors attempting to critically question the identities, definitions and boundaries of modern Greek architecture and its various disjunctions. Working on a totally unexplored research area, Tsiambaos greatly benefited from Seeger Center’s multidisciplinary environment. His research in libraries (Firestone, Marquand, Architecture) and archives (Xydis, Vakalo, and Papadaki papers) resulted in a few paper drafts, one of which was presented at the School of Architecture with the support of Princeton-Mellon Initiative in Architecture, Urbanism & the Humanities. Currently, Tsiambaos is working towards the development of a network of scholars that will contribute to an edited volume on ‘Animals in Architecture after 1900’.