About
Maria Vidali studied architecture in the U.K. at Portsmouth University (BA), Kingston University (Diploma). She holds a Masters of Philosophy from Cambridge University in History and Philosophy of Architecture, and a PhD on ‘Liminality metaphor and place on the island of Tinos: the village of Kampos’ from the University of Thessaly in collaboration with Mc Gill University.
Since 2006 she has been living permanently in Athens. Her research work: Village and Land: The outlying chapels on the island of Tinos was published in December, 2009 by Futura Publications and the Municipality of Exombourgon in Tinos. Her book is available from Tzanakakis and the bookstore ΠΑΡ' ΗΜΙΝ in Athens.
In 2011, she attended a furniture design course at Central St. Martin's College in London. In 2016, she was adjunct instructor in Drury Centre in Greece (a flagship program for Drury University of Missouri, Hammons School of Architecture). From May 2017, she has been an adjunct professor at the CYA/ DIKEMES (an educational institution based in Cambridge, Massachusetts). Since 2019 she taught theory and design in the School of Architecture at the University of Thessaly and landscape architecture at the University of Ioannina. Also she participated in a master course at the University of West Attica.
Her articles and published work exist in several foreign and Greek scientific journals mainly on the subject of architecture, narratives, architectural education as well as traditional architecture and the landscape of Tinos.
Practice
‘Μaria Vidali – Architect’ is a practice based in Athens since 2007, and since 2011it has branched out on Tinos island in the Cyclades. It was founded by Maria Vidali and embraces a wider circle of specialists, collaborations and partnerships according to the requirements of each project. Today the practice carries out projects of different scales, ranging from product design, furniture design, interior design, individual houses, commercial spaces, building refurbishment and landscape design, including research work. Urban, rural and natural landscape is very important to our practice, as are the historical, social, anthropological and ecological aspects of the relevant space, as well as the maintenance and protection of natural and traditional landscapes. Observation and research provide the groundwork while architecture responds to the location and natural environment. Οur work is based on natural models and images that reflect the quality of the place and our work in it. This means makes it possible to study the natural proportions of landscape in relation to architectural volumes together with the quality of space, light and the materials used. Τhe narrative of a life existing and developing within every space, community and landscape is very important to us. Three projects have been published in DOMES/ DOMA architectural magazine (The hut, Beehive, Avdos house) and other projects in various magazines and websites both in Greece and abroad. Pieces from the design collections have been displayed in the USA, Germany, Denmark, Austria, as well as cities in Greece where they have been hosted in museums shops and galleries.