>> Athens 2004 - the OLYMPICS thread <<

[gm2263]

@De Snor & the rest

Dear Stephan, with regards to the previous posts, I too found out that they are full of red crosses. I tried to use a number of free image hosting services, unfortunately they don't allow hotlinks anymore. Furthermore, the majority of the pics in photoways (all Athens skyscrapers and highrises) were lost, meaning that they don't even exist in the hosting site!!! I am still looking for new free services, or else I may go for a paid service.

It's a pity that so many hours of work have been lost but what can I do?

Also, thanks for your words about the Greek language, I appreciate.

In addition to the links provided by nessuno, you can try the following ones:

Ministry of Planning, Environment and Public Works English Page and chack the left column which contains an overview of all major works in progress in Athens.

Also you can check the website of Attiki Odos the new ring road of Athens now nearing completion (end of 2003, some 30+ km out of 70+ already in operation) You can see the map of the highway as follows from a satellite image

If you click on the image you will see the map in ultra-high resolution (for your eyes only hehehe )



(c) Attiki Odos consortium, http://www.aodos.gr

In addition, we should not forget the fine webside of the Greek stadiums found by Prometheus and nessuno, namely the http://www.stadia.gr.

[De Snor]

Gregory , many sincere thanks

[gm2263]

As posted in the Projects and Construction section of the Euroscrapers forum:

Today, 5 May 2004, the Greek Prime Minister Mr Kostas Simitis inaugurated the Athens 2004 International Broadcasting Centre for the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games.

Some data:

Area: Over 100,000m2 (Sydney's Centre was about 65,000m2)
Capacity: 10,000 reporters with at least 6,000 being present any time of a typical games day.
Technology: The best to date, including some 20,000km of optical fibre cables
Major Users: All the world major channels. Biggest users will be the Greek National Television (ET, NET etc) and the US NBC Channel.

Picture (C) Nikos Daniilidis



click here in case you cannot see the pic (shit happens)

The building is in Maroussi, right on the junction of Kifissias Avenue (where else?) and the Spyros Louis Avenue (Spyros was the first winner of the Marathon run in the first Athens Olympics in 1896). It is located very close to the Olympic stadium and also close to the the new Athens Helexpo complex, where another smaller development is underway for the International Media Press Centre (I reckon another 30K to 40k square meters)


(C) Nikos Daniilidis



click here to see the pic if you cannot see it directly.
My critique:

I have taken some street level pics of the building which have not yet been developed (I still have an old film Olympus SLR) and from my inspection in the area I can tell you that these constructions are HUGE, albeit lowrise ( ) The IBC could have had a height of 15 stories or something and let the part of the space occupied now to have some greenery.

But I guess, it's only me saying that right?

Anyway, construction is heavy at this part of northern Athens, with many new road junctions under construction. Right now, driving in Kifissias Avenue until its junction with the new Attica Road (Attiki Odos) motorway is a true ordeal. However, as the works are nearing completion, the overall visual outcome is quite impressive .

click here to access the original thread.

The British NOC is impressed with the Olympic Village

The visit of a delegation from the British Olympic Association, the British NOC, concluded with extensive meetings between officials from ATHENS 2004 and the BOA, as well as a number of visits to Olympic sites.

The BOA party included the senior staff of the association as well as the twenty eight (28) Team Leaders of the Olympic sports who will have the responsibility of managing their teams during the Olympic Games.

The group visited the Olympic Village and saw first hand the progress made in that section of the city. In particular, the BOA group was impressed with the Olympic Village infrastructure and the accommodation provision for athletes.

Simon Clegg, the Chief Executive of the BOA and Chef de Mission for the Great Britain Olympic Team in ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games, said: “We are delighted to be here in Athens for an extremely busy visit with our Team Leaders and BOA officials. We were particularly impressed with the progress made at the Olympic Village and expect this to be an excellent environment for athletes during the Olympic Games. In addition, we had productive meetings with our colleagues, and our Team Leaders were very satisfied following discussions with various Competition Managers”.

Spyros Capralos, Executive Director, briefed the BOA representatives on the current status and future timeline for delivery of all services for NOC’s in advance of the Games.

ATHENS 2004 International Relations General Manager, Dionysis Gangas, Sports General Manager, Makis Assimakopoulos and NOC Relations and Services Program Manager, Laszlo Vajda made presentations also.

Following, ATHOC Competition Managers briefed team leaders and invited them to tour relevant venues.

I found a few pics, small in size but they show how the "new" Olympic Stadium Complex will look like

[Monkey]

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<tr><td align=left valign=top>I found a few pics, small in size but they show how the "new" Olympic Stadium Complex will look like











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Gorgeous if they build it - but will they? Any news??

Gorgeous if they build it - but will they? Any news??

Yes, the roof has already been constructed in France and Italy and now it is being moved to Greece. The project will be ready on time but I read somewhere that the budget has almost been doubled! I'll try to find any specific article.

Btw, I love this color combination! Light-blue is my favourite color and it fits alot with light-silver

[Cobi]

What part of the Olympic complex is this one? Is it something like a garden? It's almost the same of the "Umbracle" (a garden), here in València:




Athens rules!!!

[gm2263]

This is the promenade around the Olympic stadium as designed by Santiago Calatrava. Welcome to this thread, Cobi, how're you doing amigo?

[Cobi]

Cobi, how're you doing amigo?

Supporting Athens'04 until DEATH!
You chose the bst architect; Calatrava has a Mediterranean style that fits Athens so well!!!

[gm2263]

@Cobi:

And Athens loves you amigo. I agree about your views of Calatrava. I too like his "organic" designs, they are very original.

ALSO: NOTICE TO ALL VISITORS

IF YOU WANT TO SEE PICTURES OF MAROUSSI, THE ATHENIAN SUBURB WHERE THE OLYMPIC SPORTS COMPLEX IS LOCATED CLICK HERE to visit my thread on modern Maroussi

You will see pictures of the rapidly developing new business centre of Athens. Not many highrises but worth seing especially if you haven't seen pics of modern Athens before.

As a taster I give you the following pictures:






Worth seing!!!

[De Snor]

This is so inviting
I just love it

[Prometheus]

June 2nd, 2003

A vast empty space is all that is left where "NIKOS GOUMAS" STADIUM used to stand. Yesterday was the "grand finale" of the stadium, marked by the demolition of the historic two-tiered "Skepasti" stand. This completed the first phase of works for the building of AEK's new stadium, as the old one is now razed to the ground. Club officials are confident that works will be finished before the 2004 Olympic Games. (The 2 photos above come from aek.com).

On another note, according to reports in newspapers, plans for AEK's new sports centre have changed significantly from those initially published. The club had to come to a compromise with local authorities and reduce the height and overall area covered by the new buildings (by 2,000 m²). As a result the indoor basketball arena (capacity: 8,000) will "move" to the north part of the complex and will mostly be below ground level.




Some facts about the new stadium:

- A football stadium with a capacity of 32,000. All seats will be covered. There will be 3,500 m² of
service areas and 2,000 underground parking spaces.

- An indoor basketball arena that will have a capacity of 8,000.

- Three more multi-purpose indoor halls: two primarily for volleyball (1,816 and 420 seats) and one for
basketball (340 seats).

- A hostel of 60 beds (for accommodation of teams and athletes), a conventions centre (640 m²), the
"AEK Museum" (600 m²) and the "AEK Superstore" (240 m²).

- "AEK Live Arena": a hall of 800 m² designed for the live projection of match broadcasts on video wall.

- "AEK Leisure Centre", which will include a multiplex of 8 cinemas, a bowling centre, a fitness club, a
swimming centre, theme restaurants, a shopping centre etc.



http://www.stadia.gr/news-2-6-2003.html

[Prometheus]

May 31st, 2003

KARAISKAKI STADIUM is now part of history. At 7 PM yesterday the last standing piece of the old stadium's stands was demolished after an emotional ceremony attended by over 4,000 Olympiakos fans. It was the part containing the entrance of Gate 7, the site of the worst tragedy in the history of Greek football (twenty-one people were killed in a freak accident on the 8th of February 1981).

The demolition of Gate 7 ends the first phase for the construction of the new stadium that started 40 days ago. It was the 21st of April when the General Secretariat of Sports signed the deal that gave Olympiakos CFP exclusive use of their historic home for the next 49 years. This was on the premise that the club would be responsible for the construction of a new stadium to be used in the 2004 Olympic Games. The new football-only ground (no athletics track) will have to be ready by July 2004, since it will host several matches of the Olympic football tournament, including the finals. The construction of the 34,000-seater stadium will cost approximately € 50 million. Olympiakos will also have to cover its operating costs for the next 49 years (around € 50 million on top of the construction costs).



How the new stadium will look:






3 teams are workimg 8 hours each 7 days a week (24/7) on each these news stadia's to have them done in record time. Finally 2 giants of Greek soccer will get the modern homes they deserve.

http://www.stadia.gr/news-31-5-2003.html

[Prometheus]

A short video 3d rendering of AEKs new stadium can be viewed here:

http://www.anaparastasis.com/site/pe-index----.htm

Go to 'gallery', and then 'videos' and it's at your bottom right corner.

[gm2263]

1. Monastiraki Station Complete. The new Monastiraki Metro station is already operational in central Athens. The new station which belongs to line 3, (blue line) us built with a junction to the already existing line 1 station. The new station is close to the Acropolis, near the famous Monastiraki Flea Market. In the station, a whole section will be devoted to displaying part of the bottom of the ancient Iridanos river (which was responsible for the delays in the construction of the station as the soil was too unstable for the use of the excavating equipment and the classical "Austrian Method", traditional digging and excavation tat is, was used).

2. Nikea Weightlifting Hall.

The Weightlifting hall in Nikea, to the west of Athens is ready to be delivered to the Hellenic Olympic Committee. It is the first of an array of works expected to be delivered this summer in order to be used for the test events, late 2003-early 2004.







All pics (C): Athens Olympic Committee

3. Athens Tram: the first cars have arrived from Italy and will be put to testing in the Hellenikon testing site, at the site of the old Athens Airport. The new cars look like the ones in the pictures. That was actually the main reason that made the residents of the areas that will be served by the tram to react as it looks more like a light train than an old fashioned tram car in the first place.

4. Others

As Prometheus already wrote, two major football stadiums are under demolition in order to be replaced by newer installations. The AEK and Olympiakos (the team which won the 7th Greek Championship in a row) Stadiums are already under total reconstruction (built anew that is ).

Roads also are under heavy reconstruction and I personally wouldn't advise anybody to visit Athens this summer as apart from the sites of the completed works, the rest of the city looks like under heavy bombardment. I have never seen so many road junctions under construction in my life in all the 40 years of my humple presence on this planet. I hope we will make it alive though until 2004 because all major roads are dug and traffic is twice as hell compared to the usual Athens situation.

5. Finally

Many Athens hotels have been reconstructed or renovated, or are still in the process. The luckiest of the guests though will stay in cruize boats, where they will be allowed to have a panoramic view of the coastal areas of Athens and its port, Piraeus. The ships will be docked in Piraeus although other places may be also under consideration.

And life goes on...

[KONSTANTINOUPOLIS]

Nikea Indoor Hall **UPDATED**












All pictures are from Stadia.gr

[KONSTANTINOUPOLIS]

Markopoulo Olympic Equestrian Centre **UPDATED**






Aerial view(February 2003)


All pics are from Athens2004.gr

[KONSTANTINOUPOLIS]

Markopoulo Olympic Shooting Centre **UPDATED**






Aerial view(February 2003)


pics 1 and 2 from Athens2004.gr---pic 3 from Daniilidis.gr

[KONSTANTINOUPOLIS]

Schinias Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre **UPDATED**




aerial view(April 2003)


pic 1 from Athens2004.gr---pic 2 from Daniilidis.gr