ETSI Architects at ESO 2026

On May 13th 2026, ETSI Architects participated in ESO 2026 at the Megaron Athens Concert Hall, joining a wider conversation around architecture, design, memory, material and the future of the built environment.

During the conference, Eleni Tsigarida presented three projects through a common thread: the idea that architecture does not begin from nothing.

Instead, architecture often begins in the middle of something already in progress.

A landscape already shaped by movement.
A village already carrying memory.
A building already marked by time, labour and use.

The presentation explored how architecture can operate less through control and more through negotiation, interpretation and continuation.

As Eleni described during the talk:

“We do not compose from nothing. We interpret what already exists.”

The projects presented included the restoration and continuation of existing structures, the reading of old circulation paths and kalderimia, and the relationship between architecture, topography and collective memory in the Mani landscape.

Rather than treating restoration as the freezing of time, the talk approached it as an ongoing conversation between people, place and material.

“The question is rarely how to erase the past. The question is how to continue it.”

Across the presentation, architecture was discussed not as isolated objects, but as part of longer stories that continue through adaptation, use and repetition over time.

“We are not the authors of these places. We are one episode in a much longer story.”

Although the themes are layered and complex, the talk itself is concise and accessible at just around 12 minutes, making it an easy watch for anyone interested in architecture, restoration, landscape, memory and contemporary practice in Greece.

The conference was organised by ESO / esw in collaboration with ARCHISEARCH.gr and The Design Ambassador.