INTERVIEW | Christos Passas from the Office of Zaha Hadid Architects: Functionality, Meaningfulness, Purpose, and overall Elegance

Be true to yourself and open to new possibilities. Believe in what you bring to this world and work to make it better as you go; nobody gets it right the first time.

- Our interview w/ Mr. Passas has been published as part of the celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the GOOD DESIGN Awards Program of The Chicago Athenaeum Museum & The European Centre. - The Good Design Awards (good-designawards.com)

Elizabeth Soufli: What are for you the qualities of a “GOOD DESIGN”?

Christos Passas: Good design encompasses a number of aspects: Functionality, Meaningfulness, Purpose, and overall an elegant solution.

E.S: What inspires you, and what boosts your creativity?

C.P: The inspiration for me always came from observing life and people but also the Arts and the Sciences.  

I find fascinating how the intersection between Contemporary (abstract) Art and Contemporary Science (particularly Physics) brings together ways of thinking about the world.  

E.S: What made you want to study Architecture? Which are the things that fascinate you in the field?

C.P: Ha! My dad knew that I wanted to be an architect since I was 13! I was doing some sketches overlooking the bay of our hometown but as a birds-eye view. The sketch was describing how people moved and how the sea and the land came together. He saw them, and being an engineer, he told me that I would probably enjoy being an Architect. 

These things still fascinate me today.  

The way in which, in our minds and in our physical world we live and experience life. Architecture still has, for me, this amazing power to seduce, to inspire, and to manifest new realities. The way we evolve on this planet, and how we treat it constantly surprises me. 

E.S: You’ve been working in ZHA since 1998, one of the world’s most prestigious Architectural Firms. What are the challenges?

C.P: Yes, I worked with ZHA for almost a quarter of a century. How time flies!

You know, the challenges at different times were different. In the beginning, for us the challenges were learning how to visualize effectively and how to draw new realities by looking at things in a rather oblique way. The computer offered new possibilities and challenges to develop digital working methods and concepts that dealt with systematization and fluidity. It hasn’t always been easy to achieve these results as many years ago most of the current technologies didn’t exist, so a lot had to be achieved experimentally.The experimentation led to a series of spectacular failures that became very important lessons along the way.

One learns not to give up, but to get up and get going. It is important to learn without becoming fixed minded. It takes discipline and perseverance. 

E.S: I understand that you’ve had the chance to work with Zaha Hadid, a talented architect. How was it working with such an amazing woman?

C.P: Many people ask me this question, and many people already have an answer in mind. For me, Zaha was a mentor but, ultimately, a friend. This relationship wasn’t always rosy but was always genuine and respectful, and I learned a tremendous amount from her unique way of looking at things. She was a very daring and courageous woman, and I admire her that. 

E.S: You also teach Parametric Design and Urbanism at the Architectural Association in London and in the Dessau Institute of Architecture at Bauhaus in Dessau. What are the main values of your teaching?

C.P: During the period I was teaching at the AA, with Patrik Schumacher, Theodore Spyropoulos, and others, we were developing so-called “Parametric Urbanisms”; projects that used complex digital patterns to assess, simulate, and project new urban conditions. 

The experience in Dessau was a rather different take altogether but not unrelated. I was offered a position as part of the DAAD program to develop a Master Studio (we called it “Studio X”) that was preoccupied with ideas of algorithmic systems and ecological design thinking. 

Together with a small but very talented group of students, we developed many interesting ideas about how to develop habitats for extreme climates, how to live on the water, re-envisaged the UN HQ by using big data from open sources and developed a series of schemes using processing and scripting techniques to produce anything from devices that would harness renewable energy to new natural-artificial ecosystems, moving through scales by combining ecology and technology. 

E.S: How do you imagine the future of architectural design?

C.P: It’s an interesting moment in the evolution of design.  

The amount of information that is now available combined with the ubiquitous presence of computing (internet, IoT, eventually AI) is indeed something that requires a serious reconceptualization of the role of the designer. It is also important to see how the planetary configurations are changing because of the shift to urban centers, and now (post-COVID-19) I feel we need to relook at the whole picture, emphasize wellness and ecological responsibility, help to develop new ways of doing more with less.

We are at a moment where it is too easy to believe the data without understanding the background, and it is also quite important that designers resist the idea of producing endless junk. I think there are much potential and much risk involved, so we need to remain alert. 

On the positive side, however, I think there is a chance to adjust the course of globalization into a more planet-friendly direction where ecology is taken more seriously, and technology is used to help us resolve issues effectively.

E.S: If a young architect asked for your advice, what would you tell him at the beginning of their career? Which are the qualities of becoming a key figure in the world of Architecture?

C.P: I think dedication and hard work are key to getting to where one wants to go. Be true to yourself and open to new possibilities. Believe in what you bring to this world and work to make it better as you go; nobody gets it right the first time. 

E.S: Thank your time! We are happy and honored to host you on our page.

C.P: Thank you! It’s been my pleasure.

Elizabeth Soufli for The Chicago Athenaeum & GOOD DESIGN