As part of the blog series “Looking into the architectural offices of young Greek Architects”, Giorgos Triantafyllou visits the office – studio of Giannis Giannoutsos.

 “I had every now and then heard professors of the N.T.U.A Architecture Department speaking favourably of Giannis Giannoutsos. I had also seen his senior thesis on the Kapralos Museum during the exhibition ‘GREAT’ back in 2013 hosted in the Megaron Mousikis of Athens.

In the 8th Biennial organized by the Hellenic Institute of Architecture, I had singled out his study of a projected chapel, Asproklissia, which was to be built in the vicinity of an older small church.

I eventually came to meet him in the DOMES award ceremony which was held in the Benaki Museum where he received two further distinctions for his work: one for his entry in the Architectural Contest for the construction of a thematic museum for the city of Piraeus under the title ‘Expectant City’, which he completed in collaboration with Chrysovalantis Bassoukos, (Award in the category ‘Best Study for the years 2011-2015’) and yet another for the conversion of a former dance school to an Architectural Office – Studio in Athens (Honorary Mention in the Category ‘Best First Work of a New Architect for the years 2011-2015’).

I was intrigued by all these distinctions but first and foremost by the fact that he had completed his graduate and postgraduate studies in the Architecture Department of N.T.U.A. while at the same time he had also attended and graduated from the Athens School of Fine Arts (A.S.F.A.). Through his first publications and the sketches and models accompanying the presentations of his projects I was already aware of his two capacities. Therefore as part of the series “Looking into the architectural offices of young Greek Architects” in this blog, I found myself in his “office” on Tuesday the 8th of March 2016.

I was confronted with a studio filled with architectural and art projects and on this special occasion Giannis Giannoutsos chose to rearrange it. He changed the usual everyday layout transforming a studio dedicated to creativity to a space reminiscent of an exhibition space by placing his architectural projects in the ground floor and his visual creations in the lower office level. It is a soothing and flexible space adaptable to different moods and readily adjustable for different occasions.

During our conversation I tried to explore the past of Giannis Giannoutsos and the influences that shaped his outlook on Art and Architecture. My goal was to understand how and why he chose two separate directions in his studies, both of which he seems to have pursued successfully as attested by his awards and distinctions.”

Read more in: http://triantafylloug.blogspot.gr/2016/03/3.html