Pieris Architects

Pieris.Architects is an award-winning architectural practice based in Athens, founded by Constantinos Pieris in 1974. In 2004, after completing their studies in London, Stella and Pieros Pieris joined the team, bringing an interdisciplinary and outward-looking character. Since then, they have participated in architectural competitions, earning important distinctions. The studio’s built work in Greece, Cyprus, and the United Kingdom spans various scales and typologies, yet always remains attuned to its urban, natural, and cultural context. Their projects are consistently developed with a focus on sustainability, centered on the concept of “eco-emotional intelligence,” where architecture is conceived as an intellectual, emotional, sensory, and bodily experience, ultimately acting as a force of holistic regeneration.

S.M.: Your architecture focuses on the interaction between nature, technology, and emotion. How do you integrate this approach into your everyday architectural practice, and how does it affect the user’s experience of space?

Pieros Pieris: The interaction of nature, technology, and emotion shapes a living dialogue between space and the user. For us, architectural design is not a static process but a dynamic act that evolves and converses with both the environment and people. The natural landscape is not a decorative element but the very soul of our design. Technology -whether as a tool for modeling and analyzing parameters such as light and wind, or as an innovation in construction- enhances both sustainability and the user experience. Our aim is for spaces to be not only functional but alive, emotionally familiar, and human. We strive for every project, every line, every texture, every shadow to have purpose. The spaces we create should not be static but should evoke sensations, memories, and moments that inspire, educate, and encourage a more sustainable and meaningful way of life.

S.M.: What does the concept of “eco-emotional intelligence” include?

P.P.: Architectural design has the power to shape people’s emotional state, influencing how they feel, think, and interact with space. This term, which we coined, is based on the belief that architecture can provide calm, inspiration, a sense of safety, and belonging. It is achieved through a delicate balance between light and shadow, fullness and emptiness, the natural and the artificial. In our projects, we highlight the imperfections of nature and design spaces with soul. For us, architecture is not just walls—it is the sensation a space leaves behind, the connection that emerges between people and their environment, transforming the built landscape into a lived experience.

S.M.: How do you combine local traditions with contemporary architectural features in your projects?

C.P.: Architecture must have roots -especially in Greece, where both the urban landscape and the countryside are deeply intertwined with history and traditions. We believe that every place has its own identity, its own history, and its own materiality. Our mission is to highlight them, to breathe new life into them through contemporary design. For us, tradition is not something that belongs solely to the past; it is alive and in constant dialogue with the present. We focus on authentic local materials -stone that grows out of the earth, wood that bears the marks of time, techniques that preserve the wisdom of master builders. It is not necessary to reproduce the past, but to transmute it into a contemporary narrative that respects memory while looking forward. After all, architecture should not impose itself but serve as a dialogue between past and future, a bridge that connects history with the present, people with their place.

Read the full interview in ek issue 295 | March 2025.