BIENNIAL PROJECT
Totems (2016) and History Wall (2017)
The Petralona House in Athens was developed by Point Supreme from an existing 1955 bungalow over a period of five years, completed in 2016. The house is represented here by two project ciphers: Totems and History Wall. The totems are constituted from material samples that function as vertical lists of things: built up from elements collected over time, most hand-made, found in local markets, donated, or sponsored by shops and companies. This accumulated approach is a form of design, a bricolage, providing a way to overcome the limitations of building during the financial crisis. The diversity of materials on the totem attests to a qualitative selection outside of the traditional categories of material value; for instance, on the same totem one finds things that are artificial and market-produced, natural and handmade, new or reclaimed, original or copies, Greek or imported, traditional or provocative, valuable or insignificant, designed or accidental, whole or modular, or processed in ways both traditional and experimental. The totems correspond to three areas of the Petralona House: the exterior, ground, and top. They form an alternative representation of the house and how it incorporates various histories and traditions. History Wall is a collaboration with artist Nikos Magouliotis, made for the Chicago Architecture Biennial, that mediates our understanding of both Totems and their other, the Petralona House.
BIO
Point Supreme was founded by Greeks Konstantinos Pantazis and Marianna Rentzou, after they studied and worked in Athens, London, Rotterdam, Brussels, and Tokyo. Their urban projects have been exhibited at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale. The office has won the first prize at Europan 10 for a social housing and masterplan in Trondheim, Norway, and they recently built a public space in Tel Aviv.
In 2012, Point Supreme was included by LIFO newspaper among the 20 most influential personalities in Greece.
