Yannis Kitanis studied architecture at the University of Patras from where he received his Diploma in 2006. In 2009 he received his Master’s Degree (MARCH II) from Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge (MA). During the period 2009-2011 Yannis worked at the climate engineering consultancy TRANSSOLAR in Stuttgart, at the atelier of the artist Warren Neidich in Berlin, and in the architectural firm EM2N in Zurich. From 2011 until 2016 he worked as a project architect for DECA ARCHITECTURE in Athens, participating in numerous residential and landscape projects of various scales across Greece and Europe. Between 2015 and 2018 Yannis taught Architectural Design and Urban Design studios in the Department of Architecture, University of Patras. In 2017 he founded the architectural practice OKTANA in Athens undertaking mainly private residential projects and participating actively in architectural competitions of public buildings in Greece and abroad. Simultaneously, OKTANA served as the local architects of the Brooklyn based firm SO-IL and the Lisbon based firm AIRES MATEUS for residential projects in Greece. The work of his architectural practice, and specifically the awarded installation GLORIOUS HOLISTIC has been exhibited at the Benaki Museum in 2018 and more of his projects have been displayed at the 10th and 11th Biennale of Greek Young Architects. In 2021 OKTANA has been selected after a prequalification process to participate in the international competition HELEXPO CONFEX PARK for the redevelopment of the Thessaloniki International Fair grounds. Ultimately, Yannis Kitanis has published in the international architectural press the essays “Savage Modern, The FAU Building in Sao Paulo” and “Evolutionary Identity, at the Occasion of Um Qasaba Waterfront by Doxiadis Associates”.