architect + urban designer
Eleni Gklinou
About
Drawing upon her training as an Architect and Urban Designer, Eleni brings her multidisciplinary experience and exposure to the fields of urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, graphic design, wayfinding, and cartography, to a wide variety of multi-scalar projects.
Eleni was originally trained as an Architect Engineer in Greece, holding a Dip. Arch. Eng. from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, as well as a Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University’s GSAPP, where she was awarded an Honor Award for Excellence in Design in recognition of her high quality of work in design studios. Upon the completion of her studies, Eleni held the positions of Adjunct Research Associate and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the fall Urban Design Studio.
Today Eleni works as an Associate Urban Designer at Foster+Partners' London office, exploring the multi-scalar process of bridging large, infrastructural projects with place-specific, human-centered, and community-driven design.
Prior to joining Foster+Partners, Eleni worked as an architect and urban designer at Grimshaw (London), Doxiadis+ (Greece) and Spaceagency (London). At all three practices, she contributed her creative enthusiasm to a variety of projects, including the Heathrow Expansion programme, the large scale regeneration of the former Athenian airport into a Metropolitan Park, and the development of a new wayfinding scheme for Greater Manchester.
Eleni is a registered Architect Engineer in Greece (TCG) and the United Kingdom (ARB), as well as a RIBA Chartered Architect.
Projects
First in line
A Regional Toolkit for Linear Re-Centering
A regional toolkit, you say? But what are the tools!? How do you use them? And isn’t linear re-centering a paradox anyway?!
‘First in Line‘ provides a framework: the ‘first’ trigger of a regional linear urbanism that responds to the critical challenges facing the Brazilian Mid-Paraíba Valley.
Through the re-claiming of its forgotten infrastructure, the Mid-Paraíba may break free from the shackles of its industrial past, towards an alternative regional identity.
To the Core
Newburgh, NY
“To the Core” seeks to leverage the prolific industry of apple production and processing in the state of New York, in an attempt to catalyze investment and broader economic growth in the Hudson Valley region.
A multi-component framework in proposed: one that addresses issues of employment, education, tourism related to the food and beverage industry, and perception in a city immersed in a not-so-original narrative of the post-industrial condition
Urban injections
Brownsville, Brooklyn
New York City Housing Authority's public housing units are the thorn in every mayor's agenda—an aggravated state of emergency for six thousand New Yorkers, 334 developments in need of immediate repair, unbearable costs, and one common thread. Residents feel far from familiar with the rightfully-owned public and collective spaces.
What if we inject accessibility, uses, and variety to NYCHA's public spaces? Start small to change everyday perceptions and assist NYCHA to break the shackles of its self-isolation state?
An experiment in 330 x 230 m
Pris[on/off]
Open Juvenile Detention Center in Silimna, GR
Pris[on/off] seeks to showcase the spatial dimensions of the open prison principles and the great potential for typological and programmatic alternatives in the contemporary carceral landscape.
Through a year long research that led to "Open Prison: A Socio-Spatial Approach", this design thesis moves across multiple scales to propose a new line of thinking and designing for young offenders.
Urban Synthesis
The ‘Urban Synthesis’ studio explored the potential of an imaginary site with predetermined dimensions [330m x 230m].
Devoid of context, this is a study on tabula rasa urbanism and a compositional exercise, where we were asked to invent our own scenario, programmatic rules and limitations by which we had to abide.
Theatres &
spaces for culture
In collaboration with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki's Department of Theater and Cultural Studies, this project seeks to create a micro-nucleus of cultural commons for the city, students and residents. With this notion as a starting point, the compositional values are ones of 'introversion' but 'publicness' at the same time.
Writings, visuals
and film
Collection of writings, short (or longer) publications, independent graphic design work and videos.