Demetri Porphyrios

Three Brindleyplace inBrindleyplace, Birmingham, England(completed 1998).

Ann's Court,Selwyn College, Cambridge(completed 2003).

Demetri Porphyrios(Greek:Δημήτρης Πορφυρίου;born 1949) is aGreekarchitect and author who practices architecture inLondonas principal of the firm Porphyrios Associates. In addition to his architectural practice and writing, Porphyrios has held a number of teaching positions in the United States, the United Kingdom and Greece. He is currently a visiting professor at theYale School of Architecture.

While Porphyrios is considered to be an exponent ofNew Classicalarchitecture, he has designed buildings in both theGothicandclassicalidioms. Moreover, he has designed occasional buildings in a more modernist style, notably the glass curtain-walled office block One Forbury Square (2003) inReading,Berkshire, England.

Education

Porphyrios studied atPrinceton Universitywhere he earned a M.Arch. (Master of Architecture), and a Ph.D. in the history and theory of architecture. He wrote his Ph.D. thesis on the Finnish architectAlvar Aalto,in which he described the themes he believed had generated Aalto's work (typology, urbanism and nature), while arguing that Aalto's work was the end of the line formodernist architecture.Published later asSources of Modern Eclecticism(London: Academy Editions, 1982), the book was presented as astructuralistanalysis of Aalto's architecture; its author described as having been influenced by the philosophersMichel FoucaultandLouis Althusser.

In his writing, Porphyrios has advocated a "classicism without style" (which he called "Doricism" ), similar to theNordic Classicismthat prevailed in early 20th-centuryScandinaviain the work of architects such asKay FiskerinDenmark,Gunnar AsplundinSweden,and in the early work ofAlvar AaltoinFinland.

Whitman College, Princeton University,Princeton,USA (completed 2007).

Career

In the 1980s, Porphyrios regularly contributed to the journalArchitectural Design,advocatingthe classicalandvernacularas rational architectural languages. In 2002,Princeton Universitycommissioned him to design a residential college (Whitman College) in theCollegiate Gothicstyle, which was completed in 2007. Following Princeton, Porphyrios began work onSelwyn College, CambridgeandMagdalen College, Oxford,adding his neoclassical style to the two ancient British universities.

Notable buildings

• The Pavilion,The Battery,New York, USA (1992).
• Pitiousa town,Spetses,Greece (1993)
• Three Brindleyplace Office Building,Birmingham,UK (1998)
• The Grove Buildings,Magdalene College,Oxford, UK (1999)
• Duncan Galleries, Nebraska, USA (2002)
• Interamerican Headquarters Office Building,Athens,Greece (2002)
• Ann's Court, Selwyn College,Cambridge,UK (2003)
• One Forbury Square, Reading, Berkshire, UK (2003)
• Seven Brindley Place Office Building,Birmingham,UK (2004)
• Whitman College,Princeton University, USA (2007)

Bibliography

Books by Demetri Porphyrios

• Demetri Porphyrios.Sources of Modern Eclecticism: studies on Alvar Aalto(London: Academy Editions; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1982).
• Demetri Porphyrios and A. Papadakes.Classicism is not a style(London and New York: St. Martin's Press, 1982).
• Demetri Porphyrios.Selected buildings and writings(London: Academy Editions, Architectural Monographs, No. 25, 1993).
• Demetri Porphyrios (editor).Building and rational architecture(London: Academy Editions, 1995).
• Demetri Porphyrios.Classical architecture(London: Andreas Papadakis Publishers, 1998).
• Demetri Porphyrios.Porphyrios Associates: the allure of the classical(New York: Rizzoli, 2016).

External links

• Princeton Weekly Bulletinarticle on Whitman College
• Porphyrios Associates
• Yale School of Architecture