Kostas Gouzelis 1951-2016
Kostas Gouselis studied architecture in Rome and sculpture with Emmanuel Herzl. He designed and constructed houses mainly in the Cyclades-Greece. He has exhibited his sculptures in various galleries. He has restored old greek traditional sailing vessels and produced documentaries regarding the Aegean sea and its people.
My texts are fragmentary stabs at stating a modus operandi, with no intention of espousing a particular architectural theory. They are drawn out of my personal experience of the Cycladic architecture and its historical significance for the islands.
Much has been written on the subject by more renown architects than myself. I hope to have a small part to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on architecture, which is to say, the environment of the Cycladic islands where I live. That was the reason I gladly accepted my employer’s suggestion to create this book. Above all, the rapport between architect and client, the ideas of our common friend Barak P., and of all involved in the construction of this house, allowed to overcome any hesitation in pub- lishing the present volume.
Text From Web site
https://www.emeis.gr/kostas-gouzelis/
I think emotions are the driving force in our lives. From early age to where our lives end.
What do we do with this emotion when it first appears?
We all know how many parameters determine and manage emotion from the beginning of our lives. How "hidden" we must be, in order not to show our weaknesses. How "dangerous" it can be because it makes us vulnerable.
How "controlled" it must be, in order not to lead us to unconventional paths, "internalized" in order to be consistent with the surrounding behaviors and much more.
All in all, those indirect and direct barriers, which fight the truth and the virtues that follow it. It is in this context that we call on people to save by chance and character, by origin and environment, what our soul and heart give us to live a life for which we will not be ashamed. With these, I would like to identify an important security switch, an internal guide, that works as a deterrent or encouragement, in the work that everyone creates.
Of course, it's not the only insurance switch, but I start with it to put two thoughts on paper. My art of architecture moved me at a young age, when I first saw Cycladic landscapes and the buildings inside them. I still didn't understand anything but the emotion they were causing me. Later, with the same feeling, I met and studied my art, seeing and feeling many different places.
At a mature age now, I thought and understood the dynamics of each landscape and how it interacts with the building and the surrounding area. Every design you are called to make and then if you are lucky, every building has a physicality, it necessarily has a projection of the architect's biography. Many autobiographical experiences, quality, thoughts, philosophy, aesthetics, etc. have to do here
I'm sure that a good psychologist-architect, seeing a house, can outline the personality of the owner, but also the architect who created it.
Next to the Cycladic landscapes, however, there were also the Greek wooden hulls-trehantiria, varkalades, tsernikia, peramata. Any kind, color and size. Boats that gave life, day labor and communication to all our seas. A part of my soul went to them.