Chryssa joined Architype in 2014 as a researcher, working on school building performance evaluation, in collaboration with Coventry University. Her work is now split between research, as a PhD student at University College London (UCL), and architecture.

Chryssa’s early work at Architype included the evaluation for the internal environmental quality of a selection of Architype school projects. The findings from the research feeds directly back into our design process, informing the aspects which can be developed and improved upon, besides providing evidence on the health and well being of current building users and building performance. The results were disseminated at conferences and events nation wide, leading to an ongoing collaboration with UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering (IEDE).

Education - Research

Chryssa is currently a PhD candidate at UCL IEDE. Having completed her undergraduate studies in 2011 in architecture at the AUTH School of Architecture, Thessaloniki, she studied Environmental Design and Engineering (2012-13) for her Masters in Science at UCL, Bartlett School for Environment, Energy & Resources, where she further developed her interests in analysis methodology, evaluation and improvement of the indoor environment.

During her Masters in Research in Science and Engineering in Arts Heritage and Archaeology (2016-17) she acquired interdisciplinary, technical skills which she applied for cutting edge indoor air quality monitoring. She is currently working on her case-study based PhD project: “Total Performance of Passivhaus Schools under the changing climate” with an expert team of supervisors: Mark Lumley (Architype), Dr Anna Mavrogianni, Dr Esfandiar Burman and Prof Dejan Mumovic (UCL IEDE), sponsored by Architype and funded by EPSRC and SEAHA CDT. In July 2019 she will have completed extensive monitoring in 4 Passivhaus primary School buildings in England and in Wales. Chryssa’s research project, to be completed in September 2020, will generate and use evidence from in-use evaluation of building performance to develop guidelines for best practice design of school buildings for good indoor air quality and low overheating risk.

Design

Chryssa was able to apply her practical knowledge of design and build to her current projects in the office, ensuring a well-rounded and pragmatic approach. Design work included window/façade design for the Passivhaus Sutton Secondary School for optimal daylight, indoor air quality and management of overheating risk. Before that, she worked on early design stages of a visitor centre on a picturesque site in the Surrey Hills.