ECOWEEK events in Kosovo 2016 & in Thessaloniki 2015
Meet our Team
Elias Messinas
Founding Chairman & Coordinator
ECOAMA & ECOWEEK (Greece) architect and environmental consultant, educator and social entrepreneur, member of the American Institute of Architects, graduate of Yale School of Architecture, Environmental Design Dept. of Bezalel Academy, and holds a doctorate from the National Technical University of Athens. He attended the M.Sc. program on Environment and Development at NTUA. Elias teaches sustainable design and is the author of numerous articles, two books, and the editor of several catalogues and the first upcoming ECOWEEK publication ECOWEEK The Book#1: 50 Voices for Sustainability. (link www.ecoama.com)
Despoina Kouinoglou
Head Organiser & Coordinator
Despoina is a candidate at Postgraduate Programm of Studies in Landscape Architecture, AUTh. She is a graduate of the Department of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with focus on Horticulture and Viticulture and main specialization in Floriculture and Landscape Architecture. Her thesis examined the streams and rivers in urban and suburban environment, technical flood control projects, while her applied research focused on sustainable design in the landscape of the regional canal in Thessaloniki. She was an intern at the Aristotle University Farm, and the Appiculture Cooperative of Lesvos. She participated in many conferences and workshops, including ECOWEEK in London, Thessaloniki, Prishtina, Crete and was an active member of the ECOWEEK GREENHOUSE in Thessaloniki in 2012. Since 2015 Despoina is the head organizer and coordinator of ECOWEEK in Thessaloniki and the coordinator of a series of ECOWEEK events including ECOWEEK 92Y Genius in Thessaloniki, ECOWEEK day of lectures at Infacoma while she supports the ECOWEEK organizations in different countries.
Antonis Semertsidis
Organiser & Administrator
Antonis was born and raised up in Thessaloniki. He studied Architecture (MEng, AUTh) and Landscape Architecture (MLA, AUTh). Having worked as a designer, consultant and supervisor in a series of public and private projects, now he holds an A2 class contractor certificate. In 2014 he founded epmforward.gr, company which is also involved in the housing development. In the past he has worked as professor and lecturer at seminars of the Department of Applied Arts of I.I.E.K Xinis. Antonis speaks excellent English and good German and since 2007 he is a member of Technical Chamber of Greece (T.E.E).
Dimitrios Nanos
Organiser, Workshop Logistics Coordinator & Administrator
Dimitris holds a Masters Degree in Architecture from University of Portsmouth and a Bachelor’s Degree - BA(Hons) - from Plymouth University,. Has worked in small to medium scale housing projects for private clients while did his internship in Thessaloniki under the guidance of Nikiforidis and Cuomo Architects. In 2013 he started participating in international workshops and since 2015 is part of ECOWEEK’s organizing team; where he is coordinating and assisting ECOWEEK events.
Natali Nanou
Organiser & Volunteer Coordinator
Natali is a chartered architect graduate of Polytechnic School, Department of Architectural Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace. She has been involved, as a freelance Architect, in a variety of commercial and residential projects. Through her professional development, she became increasingly aware of the importance of sustainable urban design and decided to extend her knowledge and capabilities. With participations in a series of activities and workshops, and a graduate from a Higher Educational Lifelong Learning Programme in Urban Planning and Green Development, she considers the human and his environment as one and undividable notion. Since 2015, Natali is active in supporting the organization of ECOWEEK in Thessaloniki.
Eleni Vasiliki Alexi
Organiser & Website Coordinator
Eleni was born and raised up in Larissa, Greece. From 2014, she is an undergraduate Architecture Student at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is very interested in environmental issues and sustainability that's why she was part of Environment and Renewable Energy Committee in Euroscola Day, February 2013 in European Parliament in Strasbourg. Eleni joined ECOWEEK last year as a participant and volunteer in "W7: Homelessness" . With the same team , they decided to develop the project and participated in ECOWEEK 92Y Genius. This year, she is a member of the organisation team and will help voluntarily the workshops. She enjoys travelling , meeting new people and exploring different cultures.
Efthymia Stamatopoulou
Organiser & Press Coordinator
Efthymia was born in Athens (1990), graduated from the School of Architecture A.U.Th. (MEng) in 2014. She worked for HafenCity University of Hamburg (2013) for the dissertation project “Integrated Stormwater Management in Large-scale Planning” with a scholarship from DAAD. Her thesis projects focused on landscape rehabilitation and Water Sensitive urban design based on an extended interest in the resilience of the modern cities. She worked one year in Hamburg, Germany, for Rabe Landschaften, a landscape architecture office with focus on urban ecology (2015) and now she is on a Joint Master Programme in Landscape Architecture A.U.Th. (MLA). Her interest in social and environmental procedures of the cityscapes and landscape is canalized in architecture giving tools for researching, designing and extending these fields. She speaks fluent English, German and Spanish.
Lina-Luna Kapeta
Organiser & Social Media Coordinator
Lina-Luna is a Landscape Architect, graduated from Eastern Macedonia & Thrace Institute of Technology, in parallel, with University of Applied Science Weihenstephan - Triesdorf (HSWT, Germany). She is a holder of MSc in Energy Building Design from International Hellenic University (I.H.U). In addition, as a Computer Designer/Developer, she is relating her fields with modern technologies and applying multiple experimental methods to combine environmental studies, Landscape Architecture & Energy Efficient Building Design, as well as to initiate the best of both worlds. Among participating in conferences, seminars and occasionally taking place in architectural competitions, her activity spreads in research & publishing academic articles. Embracing her role, Lina worked as a designer, co-consultant and supervisor in a series of projects at Pylaias-Chortiatis Municipality, including Thessaloniki district, focusing on providing innovative environmental solutions in the areas. Lina is passionate about being introduced in different eco-causes, cultures & languages, as for she speaks excellent English & German and sufficient Spanish, French, Russian that aim to assist accomplish her goals.
Anna Argiriadou
Volunteer
Anna is an undergraduate student in Architecture School at AUTH. In her six years studies she has worked with projects of many fields, like architecture design, landscape design, preservation and restoration, urban design. While studying, she had the opportunity to do her internship as an assistant engineer, that seemed to be really helpful for her involvement in engineering. Moreover, she has joined with her fellow students in architectural workshops, as well as in an architectural competition of preservation and restoration of a cultural center, where they detached a praise. She is interested in architecture corresponding to daily needs and human senses.
Grammatiki Dasopoulou
Volunteer
Grammatiki was born in Thessaloniki in May 22, 1992. She studied Architecture in the Department of Architecture in the Polytechnic Faculty of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (A.U.TH). She is a hard-working, multitasker, dynamic and ambitious person, interested and experienced in a big variety of scales, sites and contexts of architectural projects. She is also environmentally conscious so this is why she is participating in ECOWEEK for second time in a row.
Artemis Kyriakou
Volunteer
Artemis is a fifth-year Architecture Student at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is interested in participating in various Architectural Workshops all over the world, meeting new people, volunteering and creating networks. She loves travelling, exploring and learning foreign languages. Her future plans, after graduating, is to follow an Internship program in Europe and propably continue her studies by taking a Master Degree in Computational Architecture Department. She was a participant in the last-year Ecoweek Design Workshop in Thessaloniki, and this year she is back as a volunteer, ready to help, organise and guide all the new participants in this unique and fun Architectural Design experience!
Eleni Oikonomaki
Volunteer
Eleni was born in Heraklion and having recently completed her architectural studies at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with her dissertation on digital applications as a tool for participatory processes and social innovation. Working for her diploma project, she grew an interest in urban planning through participation as she believes in people’s creativity and cooperation.This tendency was powered during an Educational Trip at MIT, which also led to her being involved in the organization of the program as well as in university teams and many events in Thessaloniki. She worked as a web designer intern at IT Center of AUTH for more than a year, developing a personalized application for university’s students, but also had the chance to know different educational systems and architectural approaches during her Erasmus in Lisbon. Hopeless dreamer and in chase of her creativity, she speaks 5 languages and is currently planning her internship in the architecture office OHLAB in Mallorca.
Vasiliki Panagiotidou
Volunteer
Vasiliki is an AUTH architecture student. She was born in Thessaloniki, in 1994 and started being creative from an early age. She loves being a volunteer and constant-learner, therefore she has participated in several actions and workshops, one of them being Thessaloniki’s ecoweek 2015. She is interested in architecture, arts and coming in touch with new people and ideas.
Sofia Passia
Volunteer
Sofia was born and raised up in Thessaloniki. She adores every inch of her city, from people to buildings. She studies architecture and her friends know how much of an organization psycho she is. Travels a lot (best destination Marrakesh) and adores speaking French. Used to live in Bruxelles for 5 years with her family and her three sisters. She lived in Lyon as an Erasmus student and returns back ever since. Often works voluntarily and believes highly in interacting with one another, because "together we stand /divided we fall".
Stella Salta
Volunteer
Stella is currently studying Architecture Engineering in A.U.T.H. Her approach inclines towards a more experiential kind of Architecture, which concerns various scales, from urban planning and scenarios about the cities of tomorrow, up to fabrication techniques and upcoming materialities. She enjoys photography, illustration, video composition and retro things.
Angelos Shiamaris
Volunteer
Angelos was born in Limassol,Cyprus in 1994. He is studying architecture ( 3rd year) at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Angelos joined ecoweek last year as a volunteer and as a participant in -W2 Public School-and is since then an active member of the Thessaloniki team and the organization in general. He likes to travel and he cycles around the city.
Pavlos Symianakis
Volunteer
Architecture Engineering student. He was born in 1996 in Crete. Pavlos started study architecture in faculty of engineering in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2014. He is interested in sustainable and ecological development and he has participate in plenty of workshop about it.His vision is a brighter and “greener” future with smart citizens and smart cities.
Mariliza Stefanidou
Volunteer
Mariliza was born in Thessaloniki, Greece in June 1992. She currently studies Architectural Engineering in the Polytechnic Faculty of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She has participated in voluntary and architectural activities, organized by the Municipality of Thessaloniki as well as the Open House events. Moreover, she has been actively involved in several workshops, conferences and sessions, that reflect her interests, which include architecture, design, sustainable development and management.
Chara Symeonidou
Volunteer
Chara was born and raised in Athens. In 2010 she moved to Thessaloniki in order to study Architecture at Aristotle University. That's where she first developed an interest in eco-friendly practices and sustainable design. Whenever possible, she likes to volunteer for organizations and workshops related to architecture. Music and literature fuel her creativity on a daily basis.
Eleni Mantika
Volunteer
Eleni was born in Thessaloniki and is an undergraduate student of Architecture at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Apart from her studies, she is a radio producer and a Dj in Thessaloniki. She adores to travel and never miss a chance to visit a new place, meet new people, food and cultures. She has been a part of many workshops and volunteers actions such as Open House, Enhancements, High School Engineering, European Youth Capital in 2014 etc.. In 2015, she participated in an educational workshop to New York where she visited worldwide known universities and important global Architectural Offices such as COOKFOX and Thornton Tomasetti. According to her experience so far and personal sensitivity, sustainable design and eco-friendly materials are the future of architecture for the years to come.
Apostolia Michalou
Organiser & Press Coordinator
Apostolia is a student at the School of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. She has participated in competitions and workshops (architectural and others), including FES European Autumn Academy: Progressive Outlook on Structural Change of the Energy Sector through Youth Empowerment (Leipzig 2015). She is particularly interested in bioclimatic architecture, green building materials and sustainable development. Apostolia was a volunteer and participant in ECOWEEK in Thessaloniki in 2015 and supports the activity of ECOWEEK in Greece. In this year’s Ecoweek in Thessaloniki she is in charge of the media sponsorships and the promotion of the event. (https://gr.linkedin.com/in/michalouapostolia)