Ifigeneia Liangi

Ifigeneia Liangi | PhD Thesis | The Architectural Novel: A study on the Greek spaces of magical realism

Research

Subject

The Architectural Novel: A study on the Greek spaces of magical realism

First and second supervisors 

• Professor Jonathan Hill
• Dr Penelope Haralambidou

Abstract

Athens is a city where according to Eugene Trivizas 'Myth precedes, reality follows, and imagination is not only infinite, it is also cheap'. The crisis devastated the capital on multiple levels. Three types of spaces spreading throughout its centre have qualities and potential for a radical change: the Stoa (Arcade), the Taratsa (Terrace) and the Akalyptos, the uncovered spaces in between the blocks of flats. My design research project will start from studying Dr Trivizas, Sociologist, Professor of Criminology and father figure of the Greek children's book, having created over than 150 worlds of the imagination. Studying his use of rhetorical tropes and allegory, as well as the first Greek comic-strip book and televised puppet show Fruitopia, (first published in 1983), I will investigate the architecture of his tales. Contemporary magical realism in animation and film, from directors Sylvain Chomet, Michel Gondry, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and Yorgos Lanthimos will be key to my design research. Revisiting the spaces of Stoa, Taratsa, and Akalyptos, I will start by writing and illustrating ideas of Factual Fictions discussed by Lennard J. Davis, (fiction as making up and fiction as making with), suggesting that the architectural novel can be a propositional and critical spatial act.

Biography

Ifigeneia Liangi was born in Athens, in 1988. She graduated from The University of Nottingham, BArch Architecture Part I, First Class. Her project was exhibited in the Athinais cultural centre.

She did an internship in Klab architects in Athens, before graduating from The Bartlett School of Architecture MArch Part II, with distinction, as well as being awarded the Sir Banister Fletcher medal. She was shortlisted for the RIBA Silver Medal.

Ifigeneia's film and drawings were exhibited at the RIBA and at the Lifelines exhibition in the European Commission headquarters in London. Recently, her film was exhibited at the Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark. She then worked as an architectural assistant for AHMM on a residential project and various competitions in London.

Having a deep interest in drawing and film, Ifigeneia joined Nissen Richards Studio where she worked as an assistant on architectural residential projects, but mainly as a senior exhibition designer on various exhibition projects including: Ice Age Island, Jersey Heritage / Light Fantastic-Adventures in the Science of Light, National Media Museum / Fashion on the Ration, IWMN / Shakespeare in Ten Acts, The British Library.

Ifigeneia has been a Teaching Fellow at The Bartlett since 2014, teaching design in First year. She is a first year PhD student with the LAHP studentship, under the supervision of Professor Jonathan Hill and Dr Penelope Haralambidou. She is writing and illustrating a novel which she hopes to publish in the future, in Greek and in English.