Less than a year ago the Embassies and Insitutes of the Nordic countries were invited by the Hellenic Institute of Architecture to join this venture titled "Nordic Defractions of European Architecture", and today we are proud to have on this programme leading architects from all countries and three exhibitions, all taking place at the Benaki Museum on Piraeus Street from October 2009 to October 2010.
A series of lectures held by prominent architects from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden began on the 14th October at the Benaki Museum on Pireos str. and for the next months the Greek public will have the opportunity to explore the contemporary architecture of the region through presentations and exhibitions of some ot its key present-day protagonists.
The aim of this programme is the more systematic study of Scandinavian architecture, as well as its presentation as a unity, so that the Greek audience will have the chance of more actual knowledge of this architectural reality. Besides, characteristic issues of architecture in Scandinavia, such as the turndown of the formalism, the growth of the small scale, the question of the regionalism, the relation to the environment, preoccupy the Greek architects as well. Scandinavian architecture is not widely known in Greece, apart from the distinguished international names of the 20th century.
The programme of lectures will build new bridges of communication between these two European regions, the North and the South, in the field of architecture.
Lectures:
14 October 2009: Bolle Tham & Martin Videgård Hansson, Sweden
25 November 2009: Kimmo Kuismanen, Finland
15 December 2009: Ketil Thorsen (Snøhetta), Norway
13 January 2010: Pekka Helin, Finland
10 February 2010: Gert Wingårdh, Sweden
10 March 2010: Arne Henriksen, Norway
21 April 2010: BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, Denmark
19 May 2010: Lundgaard & Tanberg, Denmark
All lectures are open to the public and will be held at 19.30
Exhibitions:
15/12/2009 – 10/01/2010 Contemporary Norwegian Architecture 2000 -2005 (this exhibition will be first be at the National Archeological Museum in Thessaloniki from 18/11 – 06/12)
15/12/2009 – 10/01/2010 The Opera of Oslo
16/09/2010 – 30/10/2010 Building Sustainable Communities- Denmark