Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

Alumni Profile, Fall 2006

For Iowa State alumnus Kostas Kyriakopoulos (BSCE 1982; MSCE 1985), the last two decades have brought success both professionally and personally. Kyriakopoulos, currently the project manager of building works for the Technical Olympic Group of Companies in Athens, Greece, most recently spearheaded the group that built Greece’s first U.S.-type major shopping center in Athens. The shopping center, The Mall Athens, measures nearly 1.7 million square feet. It includes 15 movie theaters, three underground parking levels, several restaurants, and more.

“I was very satisfied with this endeavor because we achieved completion on time and with a good profit,” Kyriakopoulos says. “It was a difficult technical project and the clients were happy we finished on time with very good quality.”

Kyriakopoulos says the most challenging aspects of the project involved having a tight schedule, constructing the reinforced concrete composite structures, and using many cranes simultaneously. Because of the tight schedule, Kyriakopoulos says crews cast about 650 cubic yards of concrete each day for several months.“The use of prefabricated concrete elements such as filigree slabs and concrete panels for the facades of the building was very interesting,” he says.

After Kyriakopoulos graduated from Iowa State, he first took a job with Woodward Clyde Consultants in Wayne, New Jersey. A year later, he returned to his native Greece to complete his mandatory military service as a petty officer for NATO Naval Works in the Greek Navy before continuing his career in construction.

In addition to his most recent success, Kyriakopoulos also has worked on many high-profile projects in Greece. Among those projects are several portions of the complexes for the 2004 Olympic Games. Kyriakopoulos led the construction efforts for 29 buildings in the Olympic Village, the tennis court complex, and swimming center. Other projects Kyriakopoulos has worked on include the Main Terminal Building for the new Athens International Airport (1999), the new Byzantine & Christian Museum of Athens (1996), a major shopping center in the center of Athens that includes an office tower and five underground parking levels (1992), and a multi-building project in the Athens-Piraeus metropolitan area consisting of three schools, two office buildings, a hospital, and an apartment building (1989 to 2006).

Kyriakopoulos reflects on his time at Iowa State with nostalgia. He says his college experience taught him to think quickly and in an orderly and logical fashion in order to come up with appropriate solutions. It also taught him to set goals and achieve them, and do high-quality work. He says each individual was given a high level of concern by all of the Iowa State staff. “This created a very friendly and nice atmosphere for all students, especially the ones that were far away from home.”

Kyriakopoulos and his wife, Sofia, hope that one day their two children, Marios, 10, and Kelly, 9, will follow in his footsteps. “I cannot stop dreaming of the moment that my kids will have the opportunity to study in a similar environment that I did, and of course, for me to be around and assist (if and as needed) and be proud of their progress.”

Until his children are ready to go to college, Kyriakopoulos will continue to enjoy watching his son’s and daughter’s soccer, basketball, and volleyball games and tennis matches. When he’s not attending one of his children’s sporting events, he enjoys playing tennis, reading, swimming, watching good movies, eating good food, and drinking good wine in the company of friends.