Alexandros Kitriniaris

LEGENDARY INTERVIEW

Design Legends ("DL") had the distinct honour to interview legendary designer Alexandros Kitriniaris ("AK") for their original perspective and innovative approach to design as well as their creative lifestyle, we are very pleased to share our interview with our distinguished readers.

DL: Could you please tell us a bit about your design background and education?

AK : I am a registered architect engineer with a degree from the National Technical University of Athens. I earned an additional Master’s degree with honors from the same University. I am a PhD researcher and a scholarship awardee, investigating the link between architecture, ecology, and human physiology through leading technological advances to ensure an enduring positive impact on communities and on the environment. After graduating and registering as an architect, I established KAAF Architects, envisioning a firm that specializes in sustainable architecture by integrating innovative construction technologies with traditional building design methods.

DL: What do you design, what type of designs do you wish to design more of?

AK : Our firm undertakes the licensing and authorisation of infrastructure, landscape and urban planning projects as well as of residential, hotel, office, commercial, leisure, sport, and healthcare complexes.

DL: What should young designers do to become a design legend like you?

AK : Every young designer should have a vision and set long-term goals. They will need to formulate a ten-year plan, including a clear vision of what they want to achieve within 10 years, where they want to live and work, what other professions they want to collaborate with and who they want their future clients to be.

DL: What distinguishes between a good designer and a great designer?

AK : There is a subtle, but important difference; the emotion that a design can evoke when it is shown to the public.

DL: What is the dream project you haven’t yet had time to realize?

AK : To create a channel of communication with distant regions which need information and awareness to improve living conditions and quality of life.

DL: Who are some other design masters and legends you get inspired from?

AK : Studio Mumbai is focused on creating a "fragile" or "weak" architecture, and ultimately, this is our starting point.

DL: How could people improve themselves to be better designers, what did you do?

AK : The secret is to combine multiple, diverse scientific fields to produce a unique architectural experience. For a design to be considered successful, it has to fulfill the balanced achievement of economic development, environmental performance, and social advancement throughout its entire lifecycle. We research the steps needed to reach these goals, and focus on a sensible use and management of natural resources throughout the project’s lifecycle, while simultaneously promoting an economy of means by avoiding the wasteful consumption of materials and resources, and the formation of socially viable environments.

DL: How do you define design, what is design for you?

AK : Design is for me the integration of sustainable construction technology with traditional building design methods. To be more specific, it is the application of two basic, interdependent foci. The first, which is more practical, focuses on the inventive programming strategies in terms of use, multiplicity of functions, short-term flexibility and long-term adaptability of the project to existing natural and built environments. The second, which is more conceptual, focuses on a ritual process of initiating the designer into the project production process within a framework of ecological ethos, mythical integration, poetic prospect and sensorial experience.

DL: Who helped you to reach these heights, who was your biggest supporter?

AK : My generation grew up during a time when education and the ability to connect with role-models of our time was almost impossible. Today that connection has begun to be bridged. I work with the 100mentors, as a Lead mentor in the discipline of Architecture, with the aim of passing on knowledge, as well as academic and professional experience by matching mentees with mentors at schools, universities, and companies around the world.

DL: What’s your next design project, what should we expect from you in future?

AK : Οur main focus is to evaluate and improve our environmental controls, organize our health and safety procedures during construction, as well as to push the envelope of practice into new disciplinary frontiers by demonstrating innovative approaches regarding the sound integration of materials and design methods to produce sustainable buildings and landscapes.

DL: What’s your ultimate goal as a designer?

AK : To establish a link between architecture ecology and human physiology through leading technological advances to ensure an enduring positive impact on communities and on the environment.

DL: When you have a new design project, where do you start?

AK : Our aim is always to produce a high standard of architectural quality, which we see as a prevalent form of cultural expression that contributes positively to the physical, human and cultural environment. Our firm undertakes concept, preliminary, final and detailed design studies through which our clients receive a completed model that conforms to the principles of economic efficiency, environmental performance and social responsibility.

DL: What is your life motto as a designer?

AK : In my opinion, the future of design is the integration of sustainable construction technologies with traditional building design methods.

DL: Who is your ideal design partner? Do you believe in co-design?

AK : Our firm works with a multidisciplinary team of architects, structural and environmental engineers, landscapers, urbanists, interior designers as well as branding agencies and marketing professionals to produce sustainable buildings and landscapes.

DL: Which books you read had the most effect on your design?

AK : The most recent book that I read, which defined my current perception and thought on design, is an epic project in both size and purview, Peter Sloterdijk’s three-volume, 2,500-page Spheres. It can be seen as the late-twentieth-century bookend to Heidegger’s Being and Time.

DL: How did you develop your skills as a master designer?

AK : Most of the time I try to sketch and improve the ways in which I can produce a design for an idea that is consistent with the initial expectations as well as with the functional demands of a project.

DL: Irrelative of time and space, who you would want to meet, talk and discuss with?

AK : I would like to meet and explore the expressive and poetic language of my favourite British architecture and art critic, John Ruskin.

DL: What do you think about future; what do you see will happen in thousand years from now?

AK : Our cities will be experienced in a completely different way than they are today. Perhaps in less than 10 years, never mind 1000, we will be using flying transportation that won’t need a driver, will be automatically programmed to perform short-haul flights, and will be entirely safe. So how will we experience the city from the atmosphere? How much will true experience be reduced since space will be experienced from a distance? How much will true experience be reduced since space will be experienced from a distance?