From ECOWEEK in Agios Nikolaos.
Born and raised in Singapore, Chris Doray began his architectural career at a young age of eighteen, as an architectural apprentice. Nine years later he pursued his formal architectural education in the UK and completed his Graduate Studies at the Bartlett School under the professorship of Sir Peter Cook. Winning international competitions early in his career launched him into the global arena earning him commissions in Asia, Middle East, Europe and the Americas. In the past decade, teaching has become a passionate endeavor and has been the perfect venue for mentoring and nurturing the next generation of designers and architects. He has participated as guest critic, presented at conferences, and sat in jury panels on international competitions. Chris is a Chartered Member of the Royal institute of British Architects.
Chris Doray Studio was established in 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. A new era of collaborative work began notably in Asia, where there are many opportunities for experimental designs which have real development possibilities. This boutique multi-disciplinary design studio celebrates the realm of fashioning the aesthetic in the built-environment by embracing ‘change’ with a passion that is both thought-provoking + stimulating. The studio operates as a melting pot and engages readily with 3D visualization technics and the new sciences from concept to completion.
Chris was invited to participate at the ECOWEEK Workshop in Krakow in 2013. He initiated the Wild Card category and took on a controversial topic of converting an abandoned skyscraper into an ecological apparatus. It was a vertical urban experiment that empowered a growing consciousness that a building could be a device that performs primarily as an environmental regulator. After a seven day think-tank, his team of instructors and his students invented a new vertical parasite that behaved like a monumental eco-catalytic convertor for atmospheric harvesting. His project foresaw technological advancements in particle-capturing technologies garnering pollutants to digest, store, dilute and harvest them into safe minerals and ultimately celebrating clean air!
Again in ECOWEEK 2014 in London, he again took on yet another provocative topic that was a constant threat in the City of London. He began with a proclamation that terrorism was a tangible reality in the everyday lives of Londoners. He then set a stage for a catastrophic theme which called for counter-terrorists measures in the realm of sustainable and ecological remedies for unprecedented environmental fallout in the year 2020. His workshop tackled issues of risk assessment and management and directed its exploratory efforts towards attaining design solutions that would have otherwise crippled this world capital city to the mercy of its political and economic predators!
In 2016, Chris returns to ECOWEEK but this time to Crete where he and his team will take on a section of the shoreline in the City of Agios Nikolaos and rejuvenate the connections between the city, the ocean and its shoreline. This being his first trip to Greece allows him to tackle a local situation neither without any prejudice nor with any preconceptions. He wishes to take a fresh look at the urban condition and make a bold proposal that would revitalize approximately 1km of waterfront for both the local inhabitants and the tourist visiting this waterfront resort. He anticipates an intervention that could become an exemplary ‘land-art generator’ acting as a sustainable infrastructure that would utilize wind, solar and other technologies for renewable energy. While embracing this idea, he emphasizes that the time has arrived to proactively address the influence of these artfully designed ‘transformers’ in the built environment while envisioning a future in which clean energy technologies will purposefully and seamlessly be incorporated into well-planned communities.
Chris is joined by his senior designer, Puya Khalili and together they hope that there will be a long term plan for the local Municipality to re-engage the ECOWEEK Team to provide guidance and consultation to further advance the ideas and innovations that would emerge from this short but intense workshop this summer. Chris Doray Studio truly believes that ECOWEEK has a proven portfolio to act as a catalyst for these forms of collaborative efforts between professionals, students and the city.
For further information as to how to get involved in this exciting international event that is about to take place in the beautiful city of Agios Nikolaos, please check the following website: