Constantinos Marcou

Constantinos Marcou (London, 1988) is a British Cypriot writer, architect, and urban designer based in Larnaca, Cyprus. He studied Architecture at the University of Cyprus, graduating with excellence, and later completed a Master’s degree in Urban Design at UCL, supported by a state scholarship, under the mentorship of Luca Galofaro and Davide Sacconi.After his studies, he joined a local architectural magazine as an editor, where he explored the syntactic and literary dimensions of architecture. There, he wrote “Chorographies,” a column of fictional narratives that examined the complexity of the human condition—stories in which tensions, contradictions, and intimate social relations acted as frameworks for understanding the underlying structures of urban life.In 2014, he founded the Atelier for Architecture Research, a platform dedicated to a critical mode of practice in which research and design coexisted beyond the pressures of contemporary professional constraints. His practice was mostly involved in investigating spatial politics and urban conflict, the relationship between architecture and socio-political reform within emancipatory struggles, the politics of representation, and the use of diverse communicative tools as instruments of problematization—ultimately questioning the very category of the urban.Marcou has been involved in numerous projects that have earned international awards and recognition from institutions such as UNESCO and the International Union of Architects (UIA). His work has appeared in various publications, and he has presented at conferences and universities both in Cyprus and abroad. In 2019, he was selected as one of the twenty-five fellows of the Future Architecture Platform. Since 2021, he has been pursuing a PhD under the supervision of Pier Vittorio Aureli, focusing on the history of the bedroom from a queer perspective. He is also one of the editors of Burning Farm, a journal dedicated to architecture and domestic space. Education Masters of Architecture in Urban Design | 2012 – 2013 Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL Postgraduate Diploma in Architecture | 2010 – 2011 University of Cyprus B.Sc. in Architecture | 2006 – 2010 University of Cyprus Professionals experiences Adjunct Faculty 2022–2022 University of Cyprus, Department of ArchitectureCreative Director of Atelier for Architecture Research 2014–2025 Constantinos Marcou: Atelier for Architecture Research Awards Selected as one of the twenty five fellows for the Future Architecture Platform International Competition organized by Future Architecture Platform 2019 Honourable Mention Annual Fairy Tales Competition organized by Blank Space 2019 One out of the eight winning entries Next Helsinki Competition 2015 2nd prize runner-up Bamiyan Cultural Center in Afghanistan. International Competition organized by UNESCO in partnership with the Ministry ofInformation and Culture of Afghanistan 2015