Designed by RPBW in Athens, the Niarchos Cultural Centre is an important cultural and educational project, comprising the National Library of Greece and the Greek National Opera.
The Stavros Niarchos Cultural Centre will be constructed in Kallithea, 4 km south of central Athens. An important cultural and educational project, the site will comprise the National Library of Greece and the Greek National Opera in a 170,000 sq m landscaped park. Currently a parking lot left over from the 2004 Olympic Games, once the site of a racetrack, when complete, the project will restore the site’s lost connections with the city and the sea.
 

Description of the project by Renzo Piano Building Workshop

The Stavros Niarchos Cultural Centre will be constructed in Kallithea, 4 km south of central Athens. An important cultural and educational project, the site will comprise the National Library of Greece and the Greek National Opera in a 170,000 sq m landscaped park. Currently a parking lot left over from the 2004 Olympic Games, once the site of a racetrack, the project restore the site’s lost connections with the city and the sea.

As one of Athens’ earliest seaports on Faliro Bay, Kallithea has always had a strong relationship with the water. At present, however, despite its proximity, there is no view of the sea from the site. To restore this, an artificial hill is being created at the south (seaward) end of the site. The sloping park culminate in the cultural center building, giving it spectacular views towards the sea.

Both opera and library are combined in one building, with a public space, known as the Agora, providing access and connections between the two main facilities. The opera wing is composed of two auditoria, one (450 seats) dedicated to traditional operas and ballets, the other (1.400 seats) for more experimental performances. The library is intended as not only a place for learning and preserving culture, but also as a public resource, a space where culture is truly accessible to share and enjoy.

The entirely glass-walled library reading room sits on top of the building just underneath the canopy roof. A square horizontal transparent box, it enjoys 360-degree views of Athens and the sea. The site’s visual and physical connection with water continues in the park with a new canal that runs along a north–south, main pedestrian axis, the Esplanade. The canopy roof provides essential shade and has been topped with 10.000 sq m of photovoltaic cells, enough to generate 1.5 megawatt of power for the library and opera house. This field of cells should allow the building to be self-sufficient in energy terms during normal opening hours. Wherever possible, natural ventilation has been used.

The visual connection with the water continues to the park, where it focus on a channel to the side of the Esplanade, the main pedestrian axis of the site, in the north-south direction.

The complex is aiming for a LEED platinum rating.

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Design architect
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Renzo Piano Building Workshop
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Executive architect
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Betaplan
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Collaborators
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Landscape design.- Deborah Nevins and Associates and H Pangalou and Associates
Structural engineer.- Expedition and Omete
MEP engineer.- Arup and LDK
Acoustic design.- Arup Acoustics
Theatre design consultants.- Theatre Projects Consultants
Library consultants.- British Library
Facade consultant.- Front
Signage design.- Atelier Martine Harlé
Traffic consultant.- Denco
Irrigation design.- Sotirios Mavraganis
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Project manager/LEED sustainability and cost consultants
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Faithful and Gould
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Commissioning consultant
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Ebert & Baumann Consulting Engineers Inc
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Occupational safety and health consultants
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Ergonomia
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Renzo Piano was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1937 to a family of builders. He graduated Milan Polytechnic in 1964 and began to work with experimental light-weight structures and basic shelters. In 1971, he founded the Piano & Rogers studio and, together with Richard Rogers, won the competition for the Centre Pompidou in Paris. From the early 1970s to the 1990s, Piano collaborated with engineer Peter Rice, founding Atelier Piano & Rice in 1977. In 1981, he established the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, with offices today in Genoa, Paris and New York. Renzo Piano has been awarded the highest honors in architecture, including; the Pritzker Prize; RIBA Royal Gold Medal; Medaille d’Or, UIA; Erasmus Prize; and most recently, the Gold Medal of the AIA.

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The Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) was established in 1981 by Renzo Piano with offices in Genoa, Italy and Paris, France. The practice has since expanded and now also operates from New York.

RPBW is led by 10 partners, including founder and Pritzker Prize laureate, architect Renzo Piano.

The practice permanently employs about 130 architects together with a further 30 support staff including 3D visualization artists, model makers, archivers, administrative and secretarial staff.

Their staff has a wide experience of working in multi-disciplinary teams on building projects in France, Italy and abroad.

As architects, they are involved in the projects from start to finish. They usually provide full architectural design services and consultancy services during the construction phase. Their design skills extend beyond mere architectural services. Their work also includes interior design services, town planning and urban design services, landscape design services and exhibition design services.

RPBW has successfully undertaken and completed over 140 projects around the world.

Currently, among the main projects in progress are: the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles; the École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay; the Paddington Square in London and; the Toronto Courthouse.

Major projects already completed include: the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris; the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas; the Kanak Cultural Center in Nouméa, New Caledonia; the Kansaï International Airport Terminal Building in Osaka; the Beyeler Foundation Museum in Basel; the reconstruction of the Potsdamer Platz area in Berlin; the Rome Auditorium; the New York Times Building in New York; the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco; the Chicago Art Institute expansion in Chicago, Illinois; The Shard in London; Columbia University’s Manhattanville development project in New York City; the Harvard museums in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Intesa Sanpaolo office building in Turin, Italy; the Kimbell Art Museum expansion in Texas; the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; the Valletta City Gate in Malta; the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center in Athens; the Centro Botín in Santander; the New Paris Courthouse and others throughout the world.

Exhibitions of Renzo Piano and RPBW’s works have been held in many cities worldwide, including at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2018.
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