The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center ( el, Κέντρο Πολιτισμού Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος) is a complex in the bay of

Faliro Phalerum or Phaleron ( ''()'', ; ''()'', ) was a port of Ancient Athens, 5 km southwest of the Acropolis of Athens, on a bay of the Saronic Gulf. The bay is also referred to as "Bay of Phalerum" ( el, Όρμος Φαλήρου '').'' The ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

which includes new facilities for the

National Library of Greece The National Library of Greece ( el, Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη της Ελλάδος, Ethnikí Vivliothíki tis Elládos) is the main public library of Greece, located in Athens. Founded by Ioannis Kapodistrias in 1832, its mission is to ...

(NLG) and the Greek National Opera (GNO), as well as the Stavros Niarchos Park. The center was designed by architect

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City ( ...

and its construction was funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. The $861 million project was completed in 2016, and was donated to the Greek state in 2017.

The project

Plans for a big scale donation by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation started in 1998. Initially the foundation planned to make separate donations to the

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant wo ...

and the National Opera. In 2006 it was decided to build one complex for both organizations and after discussions with the Greek state the area of the former horse racing (Hippodrome) track was chosen. In 2008 the foundation chose Italian architect

to design the complex and in 2012 construction works started.

The building

Renzo Piano envisaged the SNFCC rising out of the ground like a dislodged piece of the earth's crust. As a result, an artificial hill is constructed and the roof of both the library and the opera house is emerging from it maintaining the slope. The library is lower and the ‘hill’ concludes with the opera house. The roof of the library will be covered with ground material and planted with indigenous Greek plants. On top of the opera house there will be a canopy supported on thin steel columns. According to Piano, "the canopy represents a cloud hovering over the highest point of the hill". The roof of the building is covered with a 100x100 meter photovoltaic field, generating around 3 GWh per year. The roof is suspended with

damper A damper is a device that deadens, restrains, or depresses. It may refer to: Music * Damper pedal, a device that mutes musical tones, particularly in stringed instruments * A mute for various brass instruments Structure * Damper (flow), a mechan ...

s to increase its resilience during hurricanes. The design for the National Opera includes a 1,400-seat opera auditorium and a 400-seat

black box theatre A black box theater is a simple performance space, typically a square room with black walls and a flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interaction. The black ...

. The SNFCC was nominated for the international prize for architecture, RIBA International Prize 2018, awarded by the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

. It is the only Greek nominee among 62 buildings in 30 countries.

Other information

During his visit to Athens, Greece (November 15–16, 2016), the former US President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

gave a speech at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, covering the impact of

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

. Plans for the

Athens Metro The Athens Metro ( el, Μετρό Αθήνας, Metro Athinas, translit-std=iso) is a rapid-transit system in Greece which serves the Athens urban area and parts of East Attica. Line 1 opened as a conventional steam railway in 1869 and electrif ...

to reach Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center were announced in 2021.

References

*Leonidas Kourmadas (7 February 2014)
"Athens building its modern-day Acropolis"
gbtimes.com. Retrieved 17 June 2014 * Γιώργος Λάλιος (10 June 2014)
"Στο μεγαλύτερο έργο της Αθήνας"
''Καθημερινή''. Retrieved 17 June 2014

External links

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center official website
{{Coord, 37, 56, 23, N, 23, 41, 30, E, type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Athens Culture in Athens Opera houses in Greece National Library of Greece Buildings and structures completed in 2016 Modernist architecture in Greece