Andromachi Damala
Practice: Damala Architects
Established: 1993
City: Athens
Country: Greece
www.damala-architects.gr
[email protected]
Andromachi Damala was born in Greece in 1955. She qualified as an architect at the National Technical University of Athens in 1978. She was a founding member of the BAUHAOS architectural team (1983-93). Since 1993 she has been working as a freelance architect.
Her projects include public spaces (town halls, offices and banks), private spaces (houses and apartments), interior design (shops, offices), landscape design and restoration of historic buildings and monuments. She has taken part in architectural competitions, winning prizes and awards.
She has collaborated with other Greek architecture practices, especially with Anamorphosis Architects, being involved in important projects and competitions for public buildings and installations.
Her projects have been widely published and her work has featured in the first Rotterdam Biennale (2003), the RIBA's women exhibition (2004) and architecture exhibitions in Greece.
Damala Architects
Athinon Avenue, Athens
Urban proposal for the Western entrance to the city of Athens (2003), in collaboration with Anamorphosis Architects. The project concerns the architectural upgrading of Athinon Avenue and belongs to a series of projects introduced by the Greek State for the 2004 Olympic Games. Two major installations are introduced on two key points of the avenue. Three kinetic urban elements inspired by the leaf-form are placed in groups, in selected areas along the road area.
| How does diversity of people reveal itself at work? | The diversity among the members of my team is directly expressed in the design proposals of my architectural studio. My aim is that this diversity becomes a benefit for the quality of my built work and for my clients. |
| Do you think our profession is diverse enough? | The architect's work is always under the public's experiential criticism. Diversity in our profession is something we think with, rather than something we think of. Diversity is the context rather than the scope of the architectural condition. |
| Who are your role models who inspire you? | I respect traditional architecture, but at the same time I am open to any kind of new ideas, leading to innovative design. |
| If you could change one thing in our profession, what would it be? | There are two main problems that I encounter all the time in my professional experience. The first problem has to do with the difficulty of communicating architectural design ideas to clients and gaining their trust as the designer of their home. The second is the lack of meritocracy in the commissioning of public projects. |
| What do you find most rewarding in your area of work? | Acknowledgment in the comments of the user and the positive critique of fellow architects whose work I respect. |
| How have your clients and projects benefited from your involvement? | I think that I have influenced my clients in a positive way, by changing their ideas about the way they use their everyday space and their preconceptions about the way space is created. |