40.22 ARCHITECTS

“We sense architecture as a seductive process of creation. This design process is a laborious experimentation, with particularities, that demands discipline and devotion, coordination and planning. The design process path, from the beginning to its end, is not linear. Constantly nourished by stimuli, branching out and looping, it takes us back and then forth again. We understand this path as an acrobatic adventure which overwhelms us and urges us to cross it again and again, push the boundaries further and further.“

 

40.22.Architects is an architectural studio based in Thessaloniki, Greece [40°37′54″n/22°56′53″e] founded by Anastasia Papadopoulou and Vanessa Tsakalidou in 2009. ‘40.22.’ is an intentional indicator for ‘coordinated architecture’, which refers to the unique definition of a place in space (geographical and mathematical), as well as the coordinating process of an architectural narration, a story to be told. 

 

Sharing the belief that each project is designed in a specific place, for a specific purpose, for a specific client, in a specific period of time, 40.22.architects attempt to respond to the problem that rises from these simple facts with a unified, precise and critical way of thinking. Using a wide range of tools and techniques (both traditional and computational), 40.22. search for the simple unified concept, which transforms the problem into a virtue.

 

Each narration –ranging in scale or complexity and swaying through the fields of architecture, design, landscape and art, begins by ‘reading’ the context, by comprehending and bringing out its uniqueness.

Place, time, program and people are interlaced in an open field of experimentation, generating dynamic, osmotic, hybrid, but at the same time, familiar, sustainable, functional and adaptive scapes. The holistic approach which combines innovation with socio-economic, perceptual and ecologic aspects, the quest of meaning in each project, as well as the persistence which lies beneath the implementation of the concept, forms their overall identity.

 

40.22.’s work -ranging from public spaces, private and public buildings, to interior, exhibition design and art installations- has received several awards, including Iconic Award 2013, in the category ‘concept-urban planning’ by the German Design Council, 1st prize in the architectural competition ‘Redesigning the Balkan Square’, honourable mention in the architectural competition ‘Municipal Market in Larnaca’, etc. Their research in theory and practice has been presented in numerous conferences and exhibitions (Hellenic Institute of Architecture, 3rd-7th Biennale of Young Greek Architects, Greek Architecture Panorama–DOMES, Europan5 award exhibition, 4th-5th Greek Exhibition of Architectural Work, ‘Thessaloniki 1912-2012’-100 years of architecture).

 

 

BIO

 

Anastasia graduated from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. She holds a PhD and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is teaching at the ‘Joint Postgraduate Programme Studies in Landscape Architecture, AUTh’ urban landscape design and detailing and landscape restoration since 2005. Parallel to her professional practice, she is also completing her studies at the School of Applied & Fine Arts, AUTh.

 

Vanessa graduated from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with honours, having attended 6 months at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura-Venezia.  She holds a PhD in architectural design from AUTh and a Masters in architectural design from The Bartlett, UCL. Her PhD thesis was supported by EU research scholarship ‘Heraclitus’. She is adjunct lecturer at the School of Architecture AUTh, teaching architectural design and theory since 2006. She has been senior editor of annual review ‘KTIRIO_Architecture+Design’, guest editor for international review ‘Architecture in Greece’ and co-author in ‘Modernism and architectural education’, do_co.mo.mo_03. Since 2009, she is the National Selector for Greece, for the International Piranesi Award, organized by ‘Piran Days of Architecture’ in Slovenia.