Galery

3

2

1

Marina Nikolova

Athens is a city that has turned its back to the sea and it could change, were the words of the Minister of Environment George Papakonstantinou. The Italian architect Renzo Piano, known for his avant-garde ideas and design of high-tech buildings in harmony with the environment, presented in Athens a master plan to create a coastal park, which will merge the neighbourhoods Kallithea and Moshato with the sea. His dream is this park to become an integral part of the city and Athens to open to the sea, which is the most peculiar feature of "its face."

Renzo Piano’s idea is the park not to be a "false paradise, because that would be boring" but to make the visitors exercise, entertain and educate. The park Stavros Niarchos will cover an area of ​​170 000 and will be merged with the Kallithea and Moshato neighbourhoods and its residents will have direct access to it. The park will spread on the area now covering the Poseydonos promenade, the tram line, empty spaces and the buildings built for the Olympics in 2004. The famous architect plans to move the highway one hundred meters away from the sea, bring down its level, make it one meter above the water and bury it in green, says one of the architects of his team, showing his models. Moving and hiding the highway was one of the biggest challenges for Renzo Piano’s team. Another issue the team had to solve was the height of the park, which should be consistent with the fact that the adjacent neighbourhoods have to be protected from flooding when it rains heavily. The sewerage system from the neighbourhoods will be kept and there will be a hill in the park with a view to the city, the Acropolis and the sea.

There will be beaches all along the park that will cover with greenery restaurants, shopping centres, cafes, football playgrounds, two pools, an opera, and a library. The old buildings built during the Olympics will be saved, they could be "given a new look", but they will be destroyed in no case. "In Europe, the buildings have a history, we do not support their ruining but their integration in the project," said Renzo Piano. He has numerous ideas and he says he could be talking for hours, constantly emphasizing on the connection of the people of Athens with the sea.

The project amounts to € 4,000,000 and has been funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and its implementation will cost € 200 million. A competition for sub-contractors is expected soon and the project is scheduled to be completed by 2015.

"It is very important that Renzo Piano will leave his signature on this place," noted the Deputy Minister of Environment Nikos Sifounakis, who is also an architect and was a student of Piano in Genova. Renzo Piano, in turn, said that the initial drawings and ideas are his but a team of twenty Greek architects developed them hence. This project is a training process for these good professionals, who continue to learn and inspire one another, "the passion and the energy are the substances we need," said Piano.

According to the evaluation report of the project, its construction directly will bring 340 million euros in the country and its overall contribution will reach one billion euros. Around 1500-2400 people a year will work in the park and 250 will be the permanent staff and the state is expected to collect around 40 million euros in taxes during the construction and 15 million euros annually. It is important that the construction of the park will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 11,000 kg. 85% of the Stavros Niarchos Park will be green, while the constructed area, including the state-of-the-art buildings of the library and the opera house with green roofs in the size of 100x100 meters, will be 15%.