Yannis Tsiomis was born in 1944 in Athens and got his degree from the National Technical University of Athens as an Architect Engineer (1963-1967). In 1967, he moved to Paris where he received a Diplôme d’Architecture from the École National Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (Paris, 1969), a Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies en Anthropologie du Monde Greco-romain from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris, 1978) and a Doctorat d’État-es-Lettres from the Université Paris X-Nanterre (Paris, 1983).

He is a Professor Emeritus of Architectural Theory and Urban Planning at the École National Superieure d’Architecture and Director of Studies at the  École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and at the Universite Paris VIII. He is also a researcher at the  Architecture, Culture, Société ΧΙΧ-ΧΧ cent. (ACS-CNRS FRE 3221) laboratory of the École Nationale Superieure d’Architecture de Paris-Malaquais and of the Centre de Recherches Historiques EHESS-CNRS (UMR 5882).

His primary research is on urban planning and the history of the modern movement of architecture. He has been a visiting professor at the NTUA and the universities of Rio de Janeiro, Sapienza of Rome, Cagliari of Sardinia, a guest speaker at the New York University and at the universities Sapienza of Rome, Pescara, Ferrara, Parma, Venice, Ancara, Istanbul, Delft, Architectural Association of London etc. He has a wide and internationally recognized teaching, architectural and city planning work. He has repeatedly taken part and been awarded in international architectural and city planning contests. For his work, he has also received an award from the French Architecture Academy and the “Palmes Académiques” from the French Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs.