Athens | Αθήνα

[lukaszek89]

It belongs to goverment? Nice density around. It looks very attractive for investors.

[KONSTANTINOUPOLIS]

The facilities belong to the state. Many investors in the past wanted to invest there. One of the them, an American who is giant in the casinos business wanted to build there the "Las Vegas of Europe".

The municipalities around that area want the area to developed exclusively as park.

The former government proposed, from the total 5.500 acres, 4.500 park + 1.000 commercial and housing developments.

Personally i want a park with some smart and flexible commercial spaces (like the F1 track for example).

[Kuvvaci]

may I ask, why other Greek forumers dont post anything to this thread? It is an important thread, because usually such threads in Greek forum are in Greek language and we dont understand and pushes non-Greek forumers out of the forum ... I think Greeks shouldnt leave kosta anlone.

[lukaszek89]

I agree

[KONSTANTINOUPOLIS]

Guys, its ok

I cant force someone to take part in this thread. Now excuse me cause i have to go for my scheduled trip into the abyss of the world wide web

[ReiAyanami]

Not so fast!

[KONSTANTINOUPOLIS]

Bring it on

[KONSTANTINOUPOLIS]

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...&postcount=188

Update:











photos by marcb@amk.gr (SSC & www.flickr.com)

[ReiAyanami]

New metro stations updates, Elliniko station, Chaidari station, Peristeri station

Originally Posted by nastyathenian

Εξελίξεις Φεβρουαρίου 2010:

Ελληνικό:



Χαϊδάρι



Περιστέρι:



www.ametro.gr

[KONSTANTINOUPOLIS]

In 1-2 weeks i will update the thread, thanks.

[solchante]

thanks for all your work KONSTANTINOUPOLIS

[KONSTANTINOUPOLIS]

You are welcome solchante

Since it's summer and i like ships, here a nice a video of ships sea and sun.
The place is Igoumenitsa.

(watch in HD)

[raffo333]

ribas performin arts center on Pireos Street
finished phase A on 2010

3d Renderings

[gm2263]

Originally posted in the Greek forum last July:

McArthur Glen Discount Shopping Village - My pictures and some information

As probably every regular visitor and participant to this thread is aware of, something goes on in the area of Yalou, (Γιαλού) on the eastern outskirts of Athens greater area. Tis area, previously unpopulated now hosts a zoo, and a very large commercial complex is now in various stages of development.

The sketchy details about this development are as follows:

There are two separate developments that are simply adjacent (and hopefully connected in the future by an air-bridge or something).

The first one, whose pictures you will see below is a Discount "Village", i.e. an open shopping center there the shops offer discounted items at reasonable to cheap prices. The particular complex has been built and is operated by Mc Arthur Glen, who, despite the overall negative economic situation believe that it is going to be successful. True, the first week's figures seem encouraging and the center, besides the shops offers a beautifully arranged and picturesquely designed food court. The overall leasable space of the village is 25,000 square meters although there are ample spaces in between shops creating a unique combination of large plazas, corridors, atria, pedestrian air-bridges, etc.

The second part of the complex is right across the street and is under construction by Reds Development. Its leasable area will be some 55,000 square meters.

Upon completion these two complexes will offer a unified shopping and entertainment complex of some 80,000 square meters which will be the largest in Greece as at the time of this writing (the Mall Athens has an area of 67,000 square meters commercial space).

I have been to the Mc Arthur Glen village which is now fully open and below you can see some pictures. The large building with the red and orange wall seen in three pictures is the Smart Shopping Center still under construction by REDS Development.

-The Entrance







































My view: Worth a visit.

Website and info: http://www.mcarthurglenathens.gr/

[gm2263]

What follows is the second phase of the development in the neighboring land plot. The two estates are now connected with a large public square.

[gm2263]

Smart Park Hybrid Mall - Mac Arhtur Glenn Discount Village - Spata - Attica - Update April 2012


Following some earlier photo shooting sprees from last summer on this complex which in full development will comprise a total of 80.000 square meters of retail space allocated for the most part of it in a type of hybrid mall type of space arrangement at least for the large stores which normally constitute "anchor" names and if developed in a single plot with no connection to neighboring stores or relevant establishments they are known as "retail boxes".

An aerial image of the overall development in advanced construction progress, not including the full as at today or planned, (i.e. phase III), can be seen here:


(C) Aktor constructions, original link: http://media.feed.gr/filesystem/imag...0_11290130.JPG

Images of the first phase of development with the Mac Arthur Glenn Discount Village as seen from the parking terrace of Smart Center







I re-post here a couple of night pictures from the same spot taken last fall:





My pictures from Smart Shopping Center:

































...and before this post ends, you may visit the Aktor Constructions website and see many more quality photos by clicking HERE

[gm2263]

RE-Think Athens - The Exhibition - Athens Metro Syntagma Square Station

What follows next is a series of pictures I took from the exhibition titled "re-think Athens" (http://www.rethinkathens.org) relating to the international architectural competition with the same name. This competition tendered for proposals related to creating a new vision for the center of Athens through a large pedestrianization program that will transform a large part of the city into a car-free zone and will connect the most significant architectural and cultural spots of the center of the city though walkways, bikeways and light surface mass transport (i.e. tram lines). This new concept for urban transit and living will complement the existing city's metro and other mass transport media thus allowing for a drastic decrease in the city's drive-through traffic.

The exhibition included drawings, diagrams and models of the works that were chosen.

The first prize was won by the Dutch Architectural team OKRA LANDSHAPSARCHITECTEN BV, while the second prize was won by a group of Greek architects.

What I liked about the exhibition as I saw it today was the fact that indeed TOO MANY PEOPLE came across the works of active architects and that there were people guiding the visitors though the exhibits all over the place, explaining what were the items exposed.

I believe that the fact that we are talking about the re-shaping of public space in our city, plus the overall concept of making a connection between the work of the architects and the living experience that the the city of Athens offers will have a catalytic effect in familiarizing Athenians with their own urban environment.

I will now leave you with the images which were taken earlier today, 17 March 2013.

Notably, the first ray of light from the new day dawning breaks though the night's darkest hour...


1. General overview of the exhibition at the first level of the Syntagma Square










2. The First Prize

A very conservative, yet most probably correct approach in most points of intervention. I would prefer something more bold and innovative for Omonia Square though... Planting trees everywhere is the safe way to go about in a city where inner city greenery is not its strongest part. Do it indiscriminately though and you don't have architecture but landscape gardening. And in my view, this proposal is bordering on that direction. I will also repeat criticisms that the Athenian Neoclassical Trilogy such as the National Library, the University and the Academy should have their views unobstructed from across Panepistimiou and Korais street.

With this and that, it is probably right to say that this may be a good and "balanced" proposal overall but it looks like it was not made by Athenians. Unlike other architects whose works are also now under construction in Athens, this looks like a "good" proposal but it would appear that the architects did not complete their homework through on-site observation before proceeding to the drawing board.






















3. Other Views and Prizes

I must admit that, regardless of their suitability for the Athenian setting, thetre has been an abundance of proposals and prises given, all with a different philosophy and scope. You can see some samples of these works in the following pictures.




































4. A few remarks...

My view is that despite the high level of all contributions, some more time should have been allotted to the planning and observation phase for submitted work to reach higher levels of maturity. Athens presents a unique challenge to each architect involved due to a combination of factors that make it totally different from any other European city.

Especially for the central area that we are talking about, a landscape and public space designer should differentiate between hiding the ugly views and properly displaying the beautiful ones. Panepistimiou street is, along with Hermou street, two of the few streets of northern European caliber, presenting many architectural styles ranging from the neo-classical to 1950s modern and post-modern.

On the other hand, Omonia square is, despite its current decline, a two faced square with the architectural jewels like the Baggeion Hotel and the Megas Alexandros on the one hand, looking towards the Acropolis, as well as the modernist and brutal facades looking towards the west of the square.

In my view, if the competition allowed for more time on the part of the competitors, they would surely have incorporated these contrasts into the main concept of their designs. Now, my opinion is that because of the very short deadline schedule imposed on the competitors as part of the overall rush of the Onassis Foundation to present something, we are faced with designs that are of high quality, yet in need of more refinement in order to reflect the maturity level that an intervention of such magnitude needs to have.

Still, the time is young though and the message is clear: Athens will change - definitely for the better .

[gm2263]

Greek forum Discussion (Hellenic Agora) http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...#post102013349

On Saturday 6 April 2013 at 5 o clock in the morning, two new metro stations have been added to the Athens Metro line two, namely the "Peristeri" (Περιστερι) and the Anthoupolis (Aνθούπολις) stations, this expanding the particular line to close to a mile in total. Together they are expected to serve another 60-70 thousand passengers per year in one of the most problematic areas as far as public transport and commuting to central Athens is concerned.

Map of the extension, line 2, comprising the two new stations


(C) Athens Metro Official Website

Although the tunnels and station shells were ready as early as three years ago, many complications with the provider of the electrical equipment (the German company Siemens) has prevented the opening of the stations until the problems were cleared out, something that took place almost a year ago, after which point i was only a matter of months for the technicians to put the equipment in place, run the tests and deliver the two stations for public use
In addition, we expect another four stations on the other side of metro line two to be delivered by the end of July while another on the west end of line three (Haidari) is expected to be delivered by fall 2013.

The stations are a bit too luxurious and excessive in size in my view (you'll see what I mean when you see the photos), following the same design philosophy with the rest of the stations in the Athens Metro System lines 2 and 3. On the other hand, I feel very happy with the people of Peristeri who, I am sure, they will love them and happily use them.
However, all stations are equipped with state of the art electronic equipment and especially the Peristeri one, is so beautiful that I wish structures above the ground close to this station were equally magnificent.

OK, Pictures and serious apologies for the poor lighting conditions. I promise to pay another visit under more favorable weather conditions. All photos are mine except for the map. Thank God it wasn't raining.


-The Peristeri station is located right next to what has to be the City Hall of the municipality of Peristeri one of the 50 comprising the Athens and Piraeus greater area conurbation. I consider the building OK for the purpose it was built, although I would suspect that it is the same architect that builds the new city halls around Athens over the last 20 years but let's not go there .






-The station's entrance is also close to the Evangelistria church whose design I liked but not the color (too dark for my taste. )




-On the opposite side across Panagi Tsldari street, there is a rather unusual building complex for Greek standards, namely one of the two or three commie blocks in Peristeri alone. The blocks seem to have their facades recently repainted and the image of the neighborhood looked very decent, even under these poor lighting conditions.





Some of the buildings of this complex are highrises for the Athenian standards. All of them must have been completed some timeduring the 1970s and let me tell you: They definitely look good, giving a notion of decent urbanity with ample free space and an overall image of urban design organization.








-Finally, next to the church, there is a dome, allegedly being the biggest dome for a metro station in Europe!!!






-And now let's go to the images of the Peristeri station.

One of the corridors leading to the main concourse:




The descent of the UFO . OK, this is the escalator shaft just under the glass dome Not bad at all.






-Tickets and Station Control










The Anthoupolis station.

This one, like the Kerameikos station, has one of its entrances within an artificial well. I don't know what the building of the opposite side of the well is, but still I was equally impressed with the design of the main concourse, the platforms, as well as the overall design and luxury


















Finally, as a bonus, an image of the intterior of one of the metro cars, made by the Korean based Hundai - Rotem. We expect more of the newest versions of these trains to fill in for the new Athens Metro extensions.




Well, that's all for now folks. Stay tuned as more is yet to come with the new extensions underway.