(b Chios, 7 Jan 1903; d 1 Oct 1992). Greek architect, teacher and writer. He studied under Hannes Meyer at the Bauhaus, Weimar (1924–5), and at the Königliche Technische Hochschule, Hannover (1928), and worked for Erich Mendelsohn in Berlin. In the 1930s he was a major figure in Greek architecture, being the only architect to relate Modernism to socio-economic structures and to socialist views. In 1932 he was co-founder of the Greek group of CIAM. His pre-war buildings include three sanatoria: Sotiria (1934) in Holargos, Attica, one (1936–40) in Tripolis, Peloponnese, and one (1937–40) in Asvestochori, near Thessaloniki; these were the first buildings of this type in Greece to show the influence of Modernism. From 1942 to 1946 and 1961 to 1966 he was Professor of Architectural Composition at the National Technical University, Athens, the intervening years being spent in Sweden, where he taught at various universities. In 1959 he was awarded first prize in the urban-planning competition for the Cultural Centre of Athens. The Athens School of Music (1969–85), the only part realized, is a balanced Neo-Rationalist composition, considered the most interesting post-war major public building in Athens.

• Despotopoulos, Ioannis
  • Greece, §II, 2: Architecture, c 1900–45: Critical regionalism and Modernism