Playgrounds: ΠΧΑΘΗΝΑ

Buerger Katsota Architects are committed to a research-based approach that includes teaching and writing on architecture and the city. The practice has achieved recognition from national and international publications and exhibitions, winning and shortlisted entries in competitions and awards. Their work has been featured in Architecture in Greece, Bauwelt, Wallpaper, The Guardian among other media. They have received multiple nominations for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies Van der Rohe Award (2013 and 2015) and have participated twice in the Architecture Biennale of Venice (2012 and 2014).
Stephan Buerger is partner at Buerger Katsota Architects where he leads the design direction and strategy and is fully engaged in all stages of projects’ delivery. Stephan has taught at a number of schools of architecture, including the University of Patras, the Career Discovery Programme at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, the Boston Architecture Center and the School of Architecture at Lund University. Stephan has served as independent expert of the Mies van der Rohe Award European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture as well as member of various architectural committees and competition juries, including the Hellenic Institute of Architecture Awards. As editor of ΔΟΜΕΣ International Review of Architecture, Stephan edited 59 issues, 2 Greek Architecture Yearbooks, curated 5 exhibitions and organised 3 European architectural competitions and their respective publications. Before establishing his own practice Stephan gained professional experience working for EDAW, Shanghai Foster and Partners, London, Arakawa and Madeleine Gins, New York, Roland Rainer Architects, Vienna. Stephan received his Diploma of Architecture with honours from the Architectural Association and Masters of Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Demetra Katsota is partner at Buerger Katsota architects where she leads design research and is closely involved in all stages of project development. Demetra is Professor of Architecture at the University of Patras, Greece where she teaches and coordinates studios, courses and design research. She has lead joint design studios with the University of Toronto, the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Vienna. In 2015 she was a visiting scholar at Harvard Graduate School of Design. With a cross-scalar, multimedia approach to design and research her interests lie at the intersection of the study of architecture, urbanism and landscape. She is the initiator and leader of the on-going design research Coastal Domains which aims to systematically record and assess the dichotomous phenomena of territorial transformations across coastal territories envisioning cohesive strategies for the design and management of a more sustainable, future North Eastern Mediterranean. As editor of ΔΟΜΕΣ International Review of Architecture, Demetra edited 59 issues, 2 Greek Architecture Yearbooks, curated 5 exhibitions and organised 3 european architectural competitions and their respective publications. Before establishing her own practice Demetra worked for Porphyrios Associates and Skidmore Owings and Merrill in London. Demetra received her Diploma of Architecture from the Architectural Association and a Masters of Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design.