It’s not by chance the title “Antithesis Architecture” for the practice of Costas Nicolaidis and Caroline Edwards. Their architectural approach is young and unexpected, incorporating creative elements which initially appear disparate and contradictory. The significant fact is that this approach is applied even in cases, usually dominated by conservative choices or current commercial vogue.

            The projects presented here are characteristic.  Conventional spaces of  typical industrial buildings, stores and offices, are transformed into hospitable and open work spaces, accommodating new uses without overstepping the basic economy of construction. Dynamic exteriors, asymmetrical openings, imaginative level changes with intermediate spaces, undulating ceilings, light partitions and constructions are some of the elements of the new architectural layouts.

            Of particular interests in their architectural approach is the unconventional and prototype result which emerges not so much from the general organization but from the combination and use of materials in light, almost boundless constructions. The unexpected image of the whole emerges from the creative exploitation of simple everyday industrial materials like galvanized pipes, metallic joints and tensioners, plywood, and OSB, and corrugated and perforated metal sheet. These so called poor materials play a protagonist role, enriching with their roughness the texture of the whole.

            This contemporary view maintains an obvious relationship with parallel conjectural approaches i.e. arte povera. but furthermore an  unexpected relationship with  vernacular  and contemporary unlicensed constructions, that are based on  economy and use of at-hand materials, although the sensitivity and the architectural combination of  the constructions refine the final result.

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Nikos Kalogirou

Architect, Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki