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A
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Reporting from Berlin
Current
2020
list Article list

Reporting from Berlin

From the moment I received the email inviting me to the World Architecture Festival following my winning submission to the Architecture Drawing Prize, I was very excited and looked forward to travelling to Berlin!

Meeting the other two winners, Christopher Wijatno and Jerome Ng Xin Hao, as well as the competition jurors and organisers was a more than warm welcome to the city and particularly to the festival.

It was a huge and pleasant shock for me to be in between all these great people and architecture icons, watching them present their projects, discuss their ideas and debate the future of architecture.

During my interview with Make Architects representatives Kyly Bird and Liz Glassford, I remember Kyly asking me what I thought about the future of drawing. Though I’m not sure of my answer at that time, which I gave in front of a camera, I’ve been thinking of her question a lot since then.

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Dimitris Grozopoulos being interviewed by Make

Trying to address this question now, I would like to reference the following story presented in AD magazine:
After his first meeting with Zaha Hadid at her studio in 1984, Lebbeus Woods described her drawing process as ‘a wringing of the extraordinary out of the mundane.’ He continued by saying that ‘Hadid has used drawing, to an unusual degree, as a means of visualising her architectural ideas.’

Especially in our post-digital age, when there is a huge variety of means and drawing techniques, one should always remember that no matter the new possibilities technological media offers, drawing should always be about radical ideas and concepts for an alternative approach to the world.

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Reanimate modern ruins – Venice Architecture Biennale 2016 – Greek Pavilion by Dimitris Grozopoulos and Effie Kasimati

Events like WAF – with such a strong character, significant history, diverse programme and participation from all over the world – are the best opportunity for architects to not only promote their projects and schemes but also question and challenge their design approach every single year.

A huge thank you to the World Architecture Festival, Make Architects, Sir John Soane’s Museum and everyone involved. I hope to see you all in Amsterdam next year!

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Berlin sketch diary pages (2017) by Dimitris Grozopoulos
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Berlin winter colours

This post forms part of our series on The Architecture Drawing Prize: an open drawing competition curated by Make, WAF and Sir John Soane’s Museum to highlight the importance of drawing in architecture. The winning and shortlisted drawings will be exhibited at Sir John Soane’s Museum 21 February – 14 April 2018.