Pikionis Dimitris (1887 - 1968)

Born in Piraeus, in 1887; in 1906 he was the first student taken by K. Parthenis, and in 1908 gained his degree in Civil Engineering from the N.T.U.A. He departed for Munich and then Paris, where he studied drawing and painting at the Académie de la grande Chaumiére. At the same time he enrolled in the workshop of architect G. Chifflot and took a class in architectural compositions at the École des Beaux Arts. In 1912 he returns to Greece and commences his first studies of Neo-Hellenic architectural traditions. In 1921 he was appointed Tutor under Professor A. Orlandos for the lesson of Morphology of Architecture and Architectural Orders, which position he retained until mid-1923. In 1925 he was appointed Professor Extraordinarius at the N.T.U.A. in the chair of Decoration. In 1930 he gained tenure of this Chair. In 1958 he retired. In 1966 he was elected a regular member of the Academy of Athens (order of Letters and Arts) in the Architecture Chair. Pikionis died in August 1968.

His best known work include the Karamanou Residence in Athens, 1925; the Primary School at Pefkakia, 1931-32; the Thessaloniki Experimental School (Peiramatiko Scholeio), 1933-37; the Delphi Xenia Hotel, 1951-55; the Potamianou Residence in Philothei, 1953-55; the landscaping of the Precincts of the Acropolis and Philopappou Hill, 1954-57; and the Children's Playground in Philothei, 1961-65. Besides his architectural oeuvre, Dimitris Pikionis also authored major books in his field.

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