BETWEEN AXIS AND LAYBRINTH

Athens is a city full of contradictions. Planned and chaotic at the
same time. Monumental and improvised. Historically layered and
constantly transforming. It is exactly between these opposites that
the master thesis Brave New Axis by Spyridon Loukidis, Markos
Georgios Sakellion and Georgios Thalassinos from the National
Technical University of Athens unfolds. The three architects
received the prestigious EUmies Young Talent Award 2025 for their
work — one of the most important European awards for emerging
architects, presented during the Venice Biennale. Their project
begins with a nearly forgotten historical axis running through the
center of Athens. But instead of understanding the city as a rigid
geometric order, they reinterpret Athens as a network of
relationships, fragments, atmospheres and public spaces. Their work
moves somewhere between urban design, architectural theory,
collage, political vision and spatial storytelling. The drawings
recall Archigram, Superstudio and radical architectural visions —
while simultaneously addressing very real issues such as public
space, housing, urban voids and the future of European city
centers. Today, we talk with them about Athens, urban fragments,
new strategies for European cities and why architecture today may
be less about objects and more about relationships.