After graduating from the School of Architecture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, you went on to pursue postgraduate studies at the Bartlett School of UCL in London, where you subsequently obtained your PhD with a scholarship from the Greek National Fund for Economic and Social Development (IKY) in the field of Cognitive Perception of Spatial Formations in Virtual Environments. Tell me about this specialization of yours.
The direction I chose for my doctoral research stems from an innate strong disposition for two things: one, to always seek to understand how the human mind works and the second, my love for the philosophical implications of new technologies, artificial intelligence and virtual environments.
This led me to combine my initial studies in architecture with the field of cognitive studies and virtual reality. Cognitive sciences examine how we perceive the world, not just through our senses, but how our mind perceives it with what it “carries”, with our way of thinking, with our values, our beliefs, our experiences, our language.
Among other things, these also affect the way our mind perceives space, the environment, in which we live and move. This knowledge plays a major role in the analysis of space and ultimately in the design process, architectural and urban. In other words, if we understand the way our mind perceives space, we can use this knowledge to feed the design.
In addition, another area in which this knowledge helps is in the creation of artificial intelligence. If we understand the human mind, then we can use this knowledge in the creation of artificial intelligence, reproducing mental processes.
You can’t live without…
Without ideas, people and situations that stimulate my mind and my emotions, without creativity, inspiration, changes, stimuli.
Where do you spend your money?
To a large extent on travel, I believe that it broadens our minds. I also like to spend money on interesting shows, nice meals and nice gatherings with friends.
What is your worst habit?
To be very direct and direct, to speak openly and frankly. Maybe sometimes a little more “diplomatic” is needed.
What is the habit that you hate in others?
I don’t like people who are not honest, who are not “pure”, who are two-faced, who pretend, who are not real.
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
Give your feelings permission (refers to any emotion). Life-saving advice!
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Love… Both overrated and misunderstood. The problem is that while love is not a feeling, it is an action, many people consider it a feeling. We invoke it very easily while many things we call love are not. Love means dedication, it means dedicating time, energy, effort. Many other virtues have been sacrificed in the name of love.
And in the end we all end up loving each other but ultimately not being able to coexist. Not being able to give anything other than an “I love you”. I can’t support you, I can’t sympathize with you, I don’t help you, I don’t respect you, I can’t share with you, I don’t spend time with you… but I still love you. It’s absurd. Love is either the most overrated or the most misunderstood virtue.
What do you do to relax?
On a daily basis, exercise, yoga and reading relax me a lot. When I have more time, I relax by escaping into nature, to the mountains and the sea.
What would you change in Thessaloniki?
I would like the city’s relationship with the sea to improve, not only the seafront, that is, the old beach and the port, but also the lack of “liveliness” in the sea. We live in a “lake” and we have no idea what is across the street, in the river deltas. We have a beautiful building volume and open outdoor space in the harbor that remains unused.
I would change the space between the courthouse and Frangon Street, which is abandoned and has been turned into a huge public parking lot.
I would change the XANTH park, which, while a huge asset to the city center, is poorly designed and not utilized as much as it should be.
I would change all the sidewalks that are poorly constructed and non-existent in many places.
I would change all the visual pollution caused by the messy and uneven facades of the stores where everyone does whatever they want.
I can write a lot…
What is your motto in life?
“Know-Grow-Glow”
To seek knowledge daily, to ask to learn constantly.
To grow, to surpass your previous self every day, not to be afraid to change, to revise, to improve.
To shine, from joy, from love, from romance, from gratitude, to show the shine on the outside