From the dry and wind-swept Cyclades’ landscape and the lush and tropical Panama all the way to the dense urban web of Kuala Lumpur, London’s gray buildings and Athens, the creative team of k-studio, in every chance and in every location it is assigned to create a new work, adopts a contextual and holistic approach, trying to reenact the feeling of being present in a particular place.

We dedicate time to take a thorough insight into the story of each project. Regardless of the scale, location or use, a successful design needs to be in harmony with its context. We create stories for every visitor and every user. Every building is a vehicle towards an experience that activates all our senses,” explains Dimitris Karampatakis, who co-founded k-studio with his brother, Konstantinos, and has delivered many lectures on the role of architecture as a storytelling medium.

As she points out, even though there’s no such thing as an objectively beautiful building, a compatible and fitting building surely does exist. As for his definition of an ideal building, it needs to have roots in its “birthplace”, to project its origin through its distinctive features and to live up to its role. These are the group’s trademark values ever since its kick-off project, the restaurant Alemagou in Mykonos, and up until today.

In the case of Alemagou, drawing inspiration from the natural and anthropogenic habitat, as well as from the island’s legacy, their goal was to interpret cycladic architecture and adequately meet the modern-day needs, offering an evolutionary take on tradition.

As he explains, they relied heavily on dry stone, an abundantly available and widely used material, experimenting on new uses. Dimitris and Konstantinos inherited their curiosity for the world of materials and the various techniques, as well as their love for the very process of constructing, from their architect father, before delving into these qualities through their studies in Architecture, in London.

Even though their return to Greece coincided with the outbreak of the financial crisis, the gloomy vibes did not put them down. On the contrary, they targeted their work to innovations and projects that provided them with the chance to bring forth the product’s identity as the main outcome of the designing process. “That’s how we came up with the office’s methodology and determined our focus of attention, developing a comprehension of the holistic nature of each project and of the ways it is interpreted both in architectural and conceptual terms. This way, we got accustomed to various work scales and particular typologies, as well as to different working environments. Amidst the financial crisis, we were equipped with the proper tools to seize any chance that would come up both in Greece and abroad.”

Indeed, chances did come up and Athens-based k-studio took on projects both in Greece and abroad. According to Dimitris Karampatakis, success can be found where the hard work and the energy you have devoted cross paths with luck. The office’s recent architectural studies include the design of a large-scale hotel complex in the Peloponnese, the study for the construction of four winter cottages in the Swiss Alps, the design of newly built residences and apartments in Greece and in England and catering establishments in Athens.