Elia Zenghelis, OMA co-founder, dies at 89

Elia Zenghelis, the Greek architect, educator, and co-founder of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), has died at the age of 89. Details surrounding his death have not yet been made public.

Born in Athens in 1937, Zenghelis studied at London’s Architectural Association, where he later taught for decades. In 1975, he co-founded OMA with Rem Koolhaas, Zoe Zenghelis, and Madelon Vriesendorp, following their influential collaboration on Exodus, or the Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture in 1972. He later established Gigantes Zenghelis Architects with Eleni Gigantes in Athens.

Zenghelis was also an influential teacher, holding positions at the AA, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Berlage Institute, EPFL, ETH Zurich, Yale, and other leading architecture schools, shaping generations of architects through an approach that consistently connected architecture with the city, collective life, and broader cultural and political questions.