ExS Architects is a BNA registered architectural office. The BNA is the Industry Association of Dutch Architects (Branchevereniging Nederlandse Architectenbureaus).
ExS is a team of architects, agriculture engineers and passionate technicians that combine greek and dutch education and experience on architecture, urban design, landscape design, objects design and eco-material design.
Main interests and activities include Urban Agriculture, Cladding and articulated systems with Eco-materials and recycling materials, various forms of community and collective housing and participatory design.
The last two years Elina Karanastasi has been teaching the architecture studios of 1st Master year in Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. Both years focused on inclusive and wellbeing issues and in general in human-centered architecture.
ExS was founded in 2008 in Chania Crete by Elina Karanastasi after having worked seven years in Amsterdam, three years in Athens and four years in Thessaloniki as a freelance architect. Athena Papadopoulou joined shortly after and is a partner since 2012.
ExS is the designer of Deckhuis
Read more about the deckhuis on: Wired Magazine | The Guardian | Dezeen Magazine
ExS is the designer of Warmall passive house
ExS is the designer of Wallpot stone and Triko stone.
ExS if is not on the construction site, occasionally gives lectures (karanastasi.
"Hands-on" and participatory practices are the last years in the centre of our attention both in Greece and in the Netherlands as much as in our teaching. They vary from Do-it-Yourself projects and small workshop-oriented projects to bigger urban projects combining old and experimental participatory methods.
The last years we have been exploring the potentials of the fabrication laboratory combined with crafting, especially in the cases of multiple prototyping for layered molds of the eco-stones Wallpot and Trico. Throughout the process of mold generation and the research on contemporary modes of production, a deep knowledge base of molding techniques was built and conclusions on how the design helps in the creation of a type and a system, the digital fabrication adds a generic attribute to the type and crafting enriches it with a genetic attribute.
Publicatons of research work after competition
Karanastasi E., “Transcultural Gardens.
In several housing projects we are developing a "system" rather than a "type" of housing. This gives the stigma for our work allowing to be exploratory and consistent without being repetitive.
Competition distinctions:
- Re-Think Athens 2012. Competition, organized by The Onassis Foundation .
Exhibition Curator and/or Exhibition Design:
- Curator and designer of the exhibition of student projects “Social housing under new terms”, St Marcus Basilica, Heraklion Crete, December 2009. Organization: N.