Petra Xynidou

Part 2 Architectural Assistant

Following her undergraduate degree in Kent, Petra returned to Greece where she worked at a number of practices, including KLAb Architects in Athens. Designing for the Mediterranean sun has been a challenging lesson on rooting a building to its place.

She first joined Mikhail Riches for five months and worked on Park Hill, exploring the materiality and adaptation of a Grade II listed building to accommodate the contemporary living.

During the two-year MArch, Petra developed a deeper interest in the historical context of architecture, exploring “the way we live now”; new models for social and affordable housing. Working with new sites within the historical context of the Peak District, as provided by the Bakewell City Council, she experimented by modelling different forms and visualising projects.

After graduation, she decided to get back on board with Mikhail Riches, contributing to a number of housing projects, highly engaged with a social agenda and place identity. Deriving from her deeper interest in crafts, she enjoys modelmaking. Pockets of place and time are also explored through her travels, drawing inspiration from people and places from far away.