The second symposium on Advanced Architectures in Photonics (AAP 2016), organized by FORTH/ICE-HT and chaired by Dr. Spyros Yannopoulos, was held in Mykonos (September 25-29, 2016). The primary goal of this symposium was to bring together leading experts from a diverse set of research areas related to “nanostructures and light manipulation” from both the experiment and theory/simulation fields. Presentations covered almost all key areas of the above fields, having little or no overlap at all, being at the same time captivating and thought-provoking. The programme of presentations allowed ample time for long and enthusiastic discussions after each talk, which was a very positive aspect of the symposium.