Rena Sakellaridou

Rena Sakellaridou studied architecture in Thessaloniki, (Dipl. Arch AUTh), in Vancouver (MArch UBC) and in London (PH.D Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning UCL). She is Professor of Architectural Design at the School of Architecture AUTh. She practices architecture, writes about architectural composition, studies creativity and teaches design. She has written “Mario Botta. Architectural Poetics”, (Thames and Hudson 2001, Rizzoli 2000 in Italian).

Rena Sakellaridou is, together with architect Morpho Papanikolaou, founding partner of SPARCH (www.sparch.gr), with offices in Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece. Rena Sakellaridou SPARCH PC is her independent architectural office based in Athens. Among her more recent personal projects is the Anangel Maritime Headquarters (currently under construction).

SPARCH focuses on innovative architectural and urban design on different scales. Their first building, a Townhall, extensively published and acclaimed, led to a large number of realized public and corporate buildings, many awards in design and to the design of major buildings such as the Extension of AUTh Library, the National Bank of Greece New Headquarters, the National Insurance Company Headquarters, NBG New Buildings, the Astir Palace Gate and Canopy, and Academy of Athens New Building.

One of the most highly acclaimed architectural offices in Greece, SPARCH has received international recognition and has been extensively published. It has been the curator for the Cyprus Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2006 and has received more than 25 prizes in architectural competitions, among which 13 first ones. It has been exhibited in 37 exhibitions, such as at the Venice Biennale, Milan Triennale, DAM Frankfurt, NAi Rotterdam, RIBA London, as well as in Paris, Montreal, Tokyo, Barcelona and Moscow.

SPARCH has been awarded 15 international and national design awards. Among them: Commendation by the AR MIPIM Future Project Awards 2017, High Commendation by the World Architecture Festival 2008, 2000 Award for Best Public Building, as well as two Special Mentions (2008 and 2013) by the Hellenic Institute of Architecture, Aris Konstantinidis Award (2005), two Iconic Buildings Awards for “Concept: Urban Planning” as well as for “Concept: Visionary Architecture” by the German Design Council (2013) and Honorable Mention by the DOMES Awards 2017. It has also been twice nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award (European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture) in 2003 and 2009, and also for the arcVision Prize for Women in Architecture (2016).

SPARCH is the only architectural office in Greece to receive three distinctions (the first ever Award for Best Public Building as well as two Special Mentions) by the Hellenic Institute of Architecture.