PANAYIOTA PYLA / BIO
Panayiota Pyla (Ph.D., Μassachusetts Institute of Technology) is an architectural historian and theorist, and Professor of Architecture at the University of Cyprus, where she also directs Mesarch, a research lab focusing on the history and theory of modern architecture in the Eastern Mediterranean (http://mesarch.ucy.ac.cy). Between 2002 and 2006, she served on the faculty of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and in 2004 she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Design School. Among her works is the edited volume, Landscapes of Development: The Impact of Modernization Discourses on the Physical Environment of the Eastern Mediterranean. (Harvard University, 2013); the Journal of Architectural Education article “Crisis Spins” (2015); and the Architectural Theory Review article “The Varosha beachfront then and now: leisure aesthetics, heritage politics and contested futures (2020, co-authored with P. Phokaides). Her article, “Ηassan Fathy Revisited: Postwar Discourses in Science, Development, and Vernacular Architecture,” in the JAE received the best article award (2007). She served on the editorial board of Architectural Histories, and the Journal of Planning History, and in 2017, she co-organized (with A. Nitzan-Shiftan) the Thematic Conference of the European Architectural History Network, titled “Histories in Conflict: Cities, Buildings, Landscapes”.
CURRENT POSITIONS
University of Cyprus (UCY), Nicosia, Cyprus
Professor, Department of Architecture, 2022-present.
Vice-Dean, Graduate School, January 2021-present
Coordinator, Mesarch Lab: Research Laboratory on the History and Theory of Modern Architecture, Department of Architecture, August 2010-present.
PREVIOUS POSITIONS
University of Cyprus (UCY), Nicosia, Cyprus
Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Architecture, January 2013-January 2015.
Vice-Chair, Department of Architecture, January 2015-2017.
Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, 2012-2022.
Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, November 2006-September 2012
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Champaign, IL, USA
Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, August 2002-November 2006.
Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Art History August 2004-November 2006.
Visiting Design Instructor, School of Architecture, January-May 2002.
Harvard Design School, Cambridge, MA, USA
Visiting Associate, Aga Khan Program of Activities in Landscape Architecture and Urbanism, September 2003-May 2004.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA
Recitation Instructor, School of Architecture and Planning, January-May 1998.
Graduate Teaching Assistant & Research Assistant, School of Architecture and Planning, Cambridge, MA, September 1993-May 1994 & September 1995-May 1997.
American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), Cairo, Egypt
Research Fellow, September 1998-April 1999.
Miller Dyer Spears Architects and Planners, Inc., Boston, MA, USA
Designer, August 1994-May 1995.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA
Visiting Design Instructor, School of Architecture, September 1991-May 1992.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA
Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture, History and Theory of Architecture, 2002.
Thesis: Ekistics, Architecture, and Environmental Politics, 1945-76: A Prehistory of Sustainable Development. Supervisors: Stanford Anderson and Mark Jarzombek.
Areas of concentration: historiography of modern architecture, urban design theory, history of science and technology, cultural criticism. GPA: 5.0/5.0.
Master of Science in Architectural Studies, 1994.
Thesis: Revisiting Scientific Epistemology in Architecture: Ekistics and Modernism in the Middle East. Thesis Supervisor: Sibel Bozdoğan. GPA: 4.8/5.
* Awarded Outstanding Graduating Student Award for best Master Thesis.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA
Bachelor of Architecture, Professional Degree, 1991.
Bachelor of Science in Building Science, 1991.
Thesis: The Site: Society and Tourist Culture in Cyprus. Supervisor: K. Warriner.
* Awarded Peck Prize for best design thesis.
* Awarded American Institute of Architects School Medal & Certificate of Merit.