Pioneering Greek architect Alexandros Tombazis dies, aged 85
Architect Alexandros Tombazis, one of the country’s greats and a pioneer of bioclimatic design, has died at the age of 85, it was reported on Monday.
Born in India on April 10, 1939, to a prominent family of shipowners from the Greek island of Hydra, Tombazis graduated from the National Technical University of Athens in 1962 and went on to work with another Greek pioneer, Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis, for two years before establishing his own architecture firm in 1963.
The oil crisis in the 1970s is what triggered the award-winning architect’s interest in the relationship between energy and architecture, driving him to explore the principles of bioclimatic design and new technologies.
Apart from being on the board of the Hellenic Institute of Architecture and a member of the Society of Greek Architects, he was also part of the association for Passive and Low Energy Architecture (PLEA).
His wide-ranging body of work includes the Archaeological Museum of Delphi, the Sanctuary of Fatima and Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Portugal, the Navarino Dunes development at the Costa Navarino resort in the southwestern Peloponnese, several residential complexes, such as the Difros and Dryades in the northern Athens suburbs of Halandri and Kiffissia, respectively, the Olympic Shooting Center, and numerous country houses, corporate headquarters, hospitals and factories, among much more.
