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Rena Sakellaridou
Jury Member


Rena Sakellaridou, Dipl. Arch. AUTh., M.Arch UBC, Ph.D UCL, Professor AUTh.

Biography

Rena Sakellaridou studied architecture in Thessaloniki, (Dipl. Arch AUTh), in Vancouver (MArch UBC) and in London (PH. D Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning UCL). She is Professor of Architectural Design at the School of Architecture AUTh. She practices architecture with emphasis on large scale complex projects, writes about architectural composition, studies creativity and teaches design. Her books: Mario Botta. Architectural Poetics, Thames and Hudson, London (2001 in english) / Rizzoli (2000 in italian). 
Sea Voyage. Photography Erieta Attali, Hatje Cantz, Berlin (2019), 
(https://www.hatjecantz.de/agemar-7672-1.html?article_id=7672&clang=1).

Rena is founding partner of SPARCH (www.sparch.gr). In the last years she is leading her independent office RS SPARCH (Rena Sakellaridou SPARCH pc) (http://sakellaridou.sparch.gr), an award winning architectural office based in Athens.  She focuses on innovative architectural design on different scales and has a strong interest in the poetics of space, the power of the concept, materiality, and light as the creative forces that allow architectural poetics to emerge into design. The first building, a Townhall, extensively published and acclaimed, led to a large number of realized complex buildings, many international and national awards and to a number of major buildings such as the Extension of AUTh Library, the National Bank of Greece New Headquarters (Megaron Karatza), the National Insurance Company Headquarters, two NBG New Buildings, the Astir Palace Gate and Canopy, as well as the design for the Academy of Athens New Building. She has recently completed Angelicoussis Group Headquarters (Agemar), the largest building to be completed during 2016 – 2018 in Athens. 

Awards

One of the most highly acclaimed architectural offices in Greece, the only architectural office to have received three distinctions by the Hellenic Institute of Architecture, they have received international recognition and are extensively published. The curator for the Cyprus Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2006, they have received more than 26 prizes in architectural competitions, among which 13 first ones, and have been exhibited in 37 exhibitions, such as at the Venice Biennale, Milan Triennale, DAM Frankfurt, NAi Rotterdam, RIBA London, as well as in Paris, Montreal, Tokyo, Barcelona and Moscow among others. 

Awarded more than 20 international and national design awards. Among them: Shortlisted in the World Architecture Festival Award 2019, Commendation by the AR MIPIM Future Project Awards 2017, High Commendation by the World Architecture Festival 2008, 2000 Award for Best Public Building, as well as 2008 and 2013 Special Mentions by the Hellenic Institute of Architecture, Aris Konstantinidis 2005 Award, two 2013 and one 2019 Iconic Building Awards by the German Design Council, and Domes 2017 (Hon. Mention) and 2019 “Best Project 2014-2018” Award. They have also been nominated for the 2003, 2009 and 2019 Mies van der Rohe Award as well as for the arcVision Prize for Women in Architecture 2016.