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Off the record: Point Supreme

With its Proust-like Q&A, AA questions architects about their profession, their projects, their vision of the future. Today, we meet Konstantinos Pantazis and Marianna Rentzou from the Point Supreme office, founded in 2008 and based in Athens. Member of the winning team of the “Institut Méditerranéen de la ville et des territoires” competition, with NP2F, Marion Bernard and Jacques Lucan in 2017, the office promotes projects imbued with vernacular architecture, strewn with references to history of Greek art and graphic design.

Petralona House, 2016, Athènes © Point Supreme
Petralona House, 2016, Athènes © Point Supreme

Being an architect means…
Konstantinos Pantazis: To design the world.
Marianna Rentzou: To be able to influence the experience of the city.

Your best architectural memory
KP: Visiting Santorini island as an architecture student.
MR: Winning the Faliro Pier competition in Athens.

Your perfect commission would be…
KP: To design a square in Athens or a church on an island.
MR: To design a school and a playground.

The project you would have loved to sign
KP
: So many. Maybe Ronchamp?
MR: Everything in SESC Pompeia (including the signs, uniforms etc.)

The project you are the most proud of
KP
: All of them. Maybe most of all the Petralona House, and Nadja.
MR: Petralona house and Totems.

Ilioupoli Apartment, Athens ©Point Suprême
Ilioupoli Apartment, Athens © Point Supreme

Your reference in architecture
KP
: Too many. Greek islands, Japan, Italy, Brazil, Scandinavia.
MR: Bo Bardi, Pouillon, Girard, Koolhaas, Aalto, Atelier 66, Le Corbusier etc.

Your job in 20 years
KP
: More varied programs, more public spaces, hopefully.
MR: More experimental in terms of materials and elaborated craftsmanship, denser in the experience of space.

The other profession you would have liked to practice
KP: Designer at Disney.
MR: To find old things and transform them into something new.

Architects’ main challenges nowadays
KP: To work with no budget and with what is already there. We need to adopt our pedagogical systems to this.
MR: To be radical-contextual.

The next subject or program you would like to explore
KP
: School.
MR: Materials.

House B, Kimolos Island © Point Suprême
House B, Kimolos Island © Point Suprême

The advice you’d give to a young architect
KP: Be realistic but use your imagination.
MR: To learn more about the history of architecture and classical architects.

What you want to transmit to your co-workers
KP: Optimism.
MR: That every little detail matters.

The architect everyone should follow
KP: Many. Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier.
MR: The first works of OMA.

An inspiring place
KP
: Greece.
MR: The Cycladian islands.

The city where you feel the best
KP: Athens.
MR: I like specifically the area in Athens where we live, Petralona.

Your bedside book
KP: How to talk to your children.
MR: Apartamento magazine.

An object or a work of art you particularly love
KP: So many. Anything by Warhol, Fornasetti.
MR: The collection of objects of Alexander Girard.

nstitut mediterraneen de la ville et des territoires, Marseille with NP2F, Marion Bernard, Odile Seyler & Jacques Lucan, Atelier Roberta
Méditerranéen Intitute de la ville et des territoires, Marseille © NP2F, Marion Bernard, Odile Seyler & Jacques Lucan, Atelier Roberta

Discover Point Supreme’s projects on their website.

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