Hospice - Home for the Terminally ill / Edition #4 competition Sustainability Award winners - Lampis Farantos and Konstantinos Vlahavas

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the Sustainability Award winners of our Hospice - Home for the Terminally ill / Edition #4 competition – Lampis Farantos and Konstantinos Vlahavas from Greece!

Lampis Farantos and Konstantinos Vlahavas

Please tell us about your company (when it was founded, where it is based, how many employees, etc) Alternatively, if you do not have a company, please give us some insights on your own professional/academia background.

We are two architecture students from Greece, currently in our fourth year at the Department of Interior  Architecture, University of West Attica. Although we have not yet entered professional practice, we are deeply involved in academic projects and design research. Lampis Farantos is based in Marousi, Attica, and Konstantinos Vlachavas is from Volos. Our work is still rooted in the academic environment, but we approach every project with seriousness and passion, aiming to grow and explore architectural thinking in a broader context.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance, what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where the company/ individuals have been Involved?

This was our first time participating in an international competition, but not the last — we have already submitted proposals for other upcoming contests. Since the early years of our studies, we’ve been drawn to competitions, but we waited until we had developed stronger skills in representation and spatial thinking. We’ve taken part in several workshops in Greece and abroad, including the BIP Erasmus+ Program in Toulouse, France. Our work so far has been theoretical and conceptual, but our goal is to soon bring our ideas into professional application. Although we study Interior Architecture, we strongly believe that spatial principles are universal — not limit- ed by scale. Our aim is always to design spaces for people, spaces that carry emotion and offer meaningful experiences. That’s what architecture means to us.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

To us, architecture is a way of offering a way to contribute to the world by improving the quality of human life. It is a language of emotions, one that doesn’t speak in words but in light, space, and experience. We believe that the role of the architect is to listen deeply: to people, to place, to time. Architecture is not about imposition, but about care shaping spaces that bring dignity, comfort, and meaning. Even as students, we feel that design can express empathy. Through architecture, we hope to give some- thing honest and lasting, something that connects people to themselves, to others, and to the world around them.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

As students, architecture competitions give us a way to test our ideas in the real world—beyond academic boundaries. They allow us to explore what architecture truly means to us, without the fear of being “too early” or “not ready.” We don’t participate to win, but to learn—about space, emotion, people, and ourselves. Competitions challenge us to think critically, to tell stories through design, and to take responsibility for the environments we imagine. They are not only creative exercises, but also moments of growth—opportunities to experiment, collaborate, and develop our architectural voice. For us, it’s less about proving something and more about becoming something.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

Don’t overthink it just join. Express your idea. That’s the best thing you can do. Many hesitate out of fear: fear of being too young, too unprepared, too different. But in the world of ideas, there are no right or wrong answers only honest attempts to engage with the world through design. Especially for architecture students, we believe that competitions offer something irreplaceable: a chance to grow beyond the walls of academia and share your vision with an international audience. We hope that in the years to come, more and more students will participate, and that the ideas developed within schools will find their way into the world not judged only in classrooms, but received by the larger architectural community. So if you’re hesitating don’t. The moment you submit, you’ve already won something.