Ria Vogiatzi Xenou: From Football Stadiums to Luxury Resorts

Ria Vogiatzi Xenou always knew she wanted to be an architect, even after her father insisted she study civil engineering instead. After finishing an engineering degree, she secretly enrolled in architecture school and went on to found a world-renowned architecture firm. In this episode, the founder of ELASTIC traces her path from a first project for a Greek football club to designing resorts for Aman around the world. She talks about surviving Greece's financial crisis by going international, the daily emails that landed her first hospitality project, and the design philosophy she still builds every project around: give guests the experience of a place, not the architect's ego.