Helen Fessas-Emmanouil is an architectural historian and professor emeritus of the National and Capodistrian University of Athens. She was born in Volos in 1943, studied architecture at the National Technical University of Athens (1962-1967) and received a Ph.D. from this University in 1990. She is professor emeritus  of  the University of Athens, where she taught History of Theatre Architecture and Stage Design. Since 2005 she is scientific consultant of the Bureau of Architectural Research of the Academy of Athens.

During  the past thirty years she has worked as a researcher and historian of modern -mainly 20th century- Greek architecture. She has published extensively in Greek and foreign journals, conference proceedings and collective scholarly monographs. She is the author of twelve books, the most important of which is the two-volume Theatre Architecture in Modern Greece, 1720-1940 (sponsored by the J.F. Costopoulos Foundation and the European Cultural Centre of Delphi, 1994) which was awarded an Athens Academy prize, the book Aristotelis Zachos & Josef Durm. The correspondence between a pioneer architect and his mentor, 1905-1914 (Potamos Publishers, Athens, 2013) and the five bilingual books (full text in Greek and English): Ideological and Cultural Issues in the Architecture of Modern Greece, 1827-1940 (Athens 1987); Public Architecture in Modern Greece, 1720-1940 (Papasotiriou, Athens 1993);  Essays on Neohellenic Architecture (sponsored by the J.F. Costopoulos Foundation, 2001, Academy of Athens Prize); Twelve Greek Architects of the Interwar Period (in collaboration with Emmanuel V. Marmaras); and Pericles Sakellarios, Architect (1905-1995) (Potamos Editions, Athens, 2006, in collaboration with E. Sakellariou-Herzog). She is the editor and principal author of the book, Hellenic Architectural Society. 20^th Century Architects, members of the Society (in Greek, Potamos Editions, Athens, 2009). Essays on Neohellenic Architecture was awarded a honourable mention by the International Academy of Architecture (Interarch) in the book/journals competition of the 10th World Triennial of Architecture, Sofia, 2003. In 1991 she  participated in the 5th International Exhibition of Architecture of the Biennale di Venezia as Greece's curator, responsible for the exhibition New Public Buildings by N. Valsamakis, S. and D. Antonakakis and A. Tombazis. In 1994 she contributed as an author of four monographies ("Aristotelis Zachos [1871- 1939]", "George Kontoleon [1896-1952]", "Patroklos Karantinos [1903-1976]" and "Aris Konstandinidis [1913-1993]") to the International Dictionary of Architecture Dizionario di Architettura Contemporanea (UTET editions, Torino). In 1998 she participated at the Colloquium  "Aris Constantinidis. The  Building  and  the Land", organised by the School of Architecture, Princeton University (14.2.1998), with her presentation "Reconciling Modernity and Tradition. The Universal Relevance of Aris Konstandinidis's Architectural Philosophy". She participated in the International Seminar "Architecture between Regional Identity and Globalisation" (Bucharest, 19-23 October 2000), presenting her paper "Reconciling  Modernisation and the Genius Loci: The Balcanic Relevance of Aristotelis Zachos's Architectural Approach and Work". In  2003 she participated  in the Xth  World Triennial of Architecture (Sofia , 18-20. 5. 2003) and lectured at the  University of Architecture, Engineering and Geodesy of Sofia on "Greek Architecture in the second half of the 20^th Century" (see:www.culture2000.tee.gr). In  2008 she participated  in a conference on contemporary Greek architecture at the University of California, Santa Barbars (15-16. 2. 2008) presenting her paper "Modernity, Tradition, Locality and Personality: Reassessing Town planner Doxiadis and Architect Konstantinidis".

In 2002 she was responsible for the research and writing of all the texts of  the Greek participation in the CD-ROM «Discovering contemporary architecture in Paris, London and Athens», which was produced in three languages -French, English and Greek- as part of  the European Union's Culture 2000 program.

She parrrticipated as coordinator of the Greek group to the research program: "Highlights of Balkan Architecture and Town Planning". She contributed with her essay "Greece: The History behind the Myth" to the research and publication preojct CIAM IV. The Functional City, which was a co-operative venture of the gta Archives -ETH Zurich and the EFL Foundation in The Hague.

Helen Fessas-Emmanouil
Architectural historian,
Professor Emeritus, Athens University
6 Goura St, 105 58 Athens, Greece
Tel.: +30 2103312566, efessa@theatre.uoa.gr