An important man and tutor of our Department passed away yesterday. George Marnelakis was the main and most daring intellectual of his generation on the scrutiny of the relationship across sexuality and space, gender studies and the city. The community of our Department was lucky enough to be part of his academic activity. He has shared his thoughts and ideas with us. His presence, in the architectural milieu of Greece, provided the confidence and the prospect of a renewed examination of the social role of Architecture. His activity on acknowledging the political importance of everyday life affairs and relationships, was aiming at the advance of architects’ intervening stance based on freedom and inclusiveness. His absence is a great loss for both the academic and the architectural community of Greece.
CV
Giorgos Marnelakis was born in Athens. He studied Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens (1993-2000) and Urban and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths College of the University of London (2001-2002). He taught Gender Studies and Cultural Geography at the School of Architecture of NTUA and the Department of Architecture of the University of Thessaly (2004-2010). Since 2005 he has been teaching in collaboration with Dina Vaiou the postgraduate course A Gender Cultural Approach of Urban Space at the Interdepartmental Postgraduate program of studies Architecture-Spatial Design of NTUA at the direction of Urban and Regional Planning. His research focused on issues of sexuality, gender and cultural identity within urban space. In his PhD research under the title, Pleasure and the formation of the city as a subject of discourse, he studied the idea of pleasure within the discourse of Modernity in regard to the city. He was the editor of the annual scientific journal Research in Architecture of the direction Architectural Design-Space- Culture ofthe Interdepartmental Postgraduate Program of NTUA Architecture- Spatial Design. His books, Geographies of the Bodies: Sexuality, Gender and Urban Space and Women and Men within everyday spaces (in collaboration with Dina Vaiou) are expected to be released by Alexandria and Epikentro editions respectively.
For more on his teaching activity and his stance visit the following links (in greek)
http://www.arch.ntua.gr/gs/menu.aspx?page2=bibliography.asp
http://www.10percent.gr/periodiko/teyxos19/466-2008-10-10-10-43-20.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4YjAc-mDhI