ATHENS | National Library @ National Opera of Greece - Cultural Park

[potiz81]

You sound rude, really, because it is the 50th time in this thread of only 4 pages to be mentioned that the project is a donation of Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

Mods, please keep these trolls away!

[_Dilettante]

Approximately how many books will it house? It looks great! congrats Greeks!

[ELLIN]

Hi Dilettante, the National Library of Greece has over 2.500.000 (million) titles of books, big part of the library especially the corner tower you see at the pictures it is going to be a museum, since National Library have books aged thousands years old. These one would be displayed as the corone of the library.

[Chadoh25]

Cool project!

[systema magicum]

1 day left...until then lets go for a journey to the new landmark by Renzo Piano in Athens.
General view of the Stavros Niarchos cultural center.

view of the Opera, the Agora and the Library





http://www.snf.org/snfcc/snfMain_en.html#/?page=main

[systema magicum]

http://www.snf.org/snfcc/snfMain_en.html#/?page=gallery

In 2006, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation announced its intention to fund the creation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), a project that includes the construction and equipment of new premises for the National Library of Greece (NLG) and the Greek National Opera (GNO), as well as the development of the 170,000 m2 educational and cultural Stavros Niarchos Park.

Located 4.5 Km south of central Athens on the edge of Faliro Bay, the SNFCC is a multifunctional arts and education facility, which expresses the Foundation commitment to the cultural development, prosperity, and future of Greece. The project has a budget of 566 million Euro and, once completed, the SNFCC will be fully operated and controlled by the Greek State, making it one of the largest grants ever made by a philanthropic organization. In addition, the SNFCC is the first private-public partnership of its kind in Greece, and one of the most important cultural/educational projects ever undertaken in the country. As one of the largest construction projects in recent Greek history, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center will have an immediate impact on the local economy, providing jobs and infusing capital into a challenging economic climate.

[systema magicum]

The Opera
In its new home, the Greek National Opera (GNO) will become an exciting destination for music lovers and architecture cognoscenti alike. The building will be a multi-use venue capable of hosting a variety of performances and events. Its stages will accommodate opera productions, musicals, concerts, theater performances, ballets, and multimedia art programs. Concrete walls towering six stories high dominate the lobby, create the feeling of being inside a “quarry”, and define the dramatic purpose of the stages within. The main block of the opera house is surrounded by several suspended light balconies, with “holes” leading inside the auditorium and alcoves where all the different loge areas are located at every level, providing patrons an opportunity to appreciate the impressive backdrop close-up.

The new 28,000 m2 (301,000 sq. ft.) auditorium is an architectural jewel, designed to enhance the opera experience for patron and artist alike. Its world-class acoustics, mechanical capabilities, flexible staging, and innate beauty will position it for immediate entry into the world opera circuit, ready to play host to the most technically demanding operas, international multimedia art productions, and formidable solo vocalists. The auditorium is in par with the best European opera houses, and its multiple stages configuration allows for efficient scene changes and the staging of complicated productions. The comfort of the 1,400-seat main auditorium will be equaled in the backstage dressing rooms and rehearsal spaces, and the technical capabilities will extend to the scenic design and costume shops.

The new opera house presents the Greek National Opera with opportunities to strengthen its educational and outreach programs through lectures, seminars, and other events. The organization has developed in the last few years, a children’s stage to attract younger audiences and engage future generations of opera-goers, and expanded its children’s programming to include tours of children’s performances, educational programs, age-specific seminars, and innovative activities. The Greek National Opera will be able to take advantage of new wireless technologies to present productions via the Internet to other Greek cities, as well as employ the Stavros Niarchos Park as an outdoor theater for selected video-link and also outdoors live performances.

A smaller black box theater with a capacity of 400 people will host more intimate productions, including GNO’s experimental performances, contemporary Greek music, dance, dramatic readings, and theater productions in a venue with technical capabilities on par with the main performance space. The small theater has a flexible layout with no fixed seating, making it ideal for experimental productions. A school of dance will also reside at the SNFCC.
The main hall:

The lobby:


http://www.snf.org/snfcc/snfMain_en.html#/?page=opera

[systema magicum]

http://www.snf.org/snfcc/pdf/SNFCC_Brochure_eng.pdf
for more info.

[systema magicum]

http://www.snf.org/index.php?ID=news_EN&Rec_ID=4858

29 JUNE 2011 > Live coverage: The SNF presents the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center
Live coverage of Renzo Piano’s presentation of the final architectural plans for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center.

[savas]

Introducing the SNFCC



Amazing!

[systema magicum]

more than amazing...an instant classic and Renzo's most mature work...!!!

[potiz81]

Originally Posted by savas

Introducing the SNFCC



Amazing!

THIS is 21st century architecture...Stunning!

[systema magicum]

June 29, 2011, 1:30 pm
Design for Athens Cultural Center Unveiled Amid Debt Crisis
By ADAM W. KEPLERhttp://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/20...d-debt-crisis/
The final designs for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, a major hub for the arts planned for Athens, were unveiled on Wednesday. The center, designed by Renzo Piano, includes a 42-acre park, the headquarters for the National Library of Greece and a 1,400-seat opera house for the Greek National Opera. Budgeted at more than $800 million, the project is to be financed by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. Construction, to begin later this year, is to be completed in 2015.

The center’s design is inspired by the Acropolis, with the park rising gradually to a summit where a “reading room” with glass walls will provide views of the city and the Aegean Sea. Under the reading room, the main library is to house more than two million books, and the opera house will mount a variety of concerts, ballets and musicals.

The center’s operations are to be run and paid for by the Greek government, raising obvious questions about center’s future, given the current debt crisis.

Andreas C. Dracopoulos, a co-president of the foundation’s board of directors, wrote in an e-mail that the project is “a good example of a public-private partnership where the State has made available the land, our Foundation has taken the full financial responsibility to build and deliver the project, and then upon delivery it will be wholly transferable to the State so that the people and society at large can enjoy it.” Of the risk posed by the government’s financial troubles, he said only that the group is “closely working with all related parties to make sure that all operational and organizational issues are taken into account so that our finished product can be one of efficiency, viability and sustainability.”

[Slartibartfas]

@Minsamol
I don't want to sound rude or anything but have you actually read the last few posts? This issue has been addressed. It is more or less a private donation. The already dead shipping tycoon surely evaded lots of tax in Greece during his life. So at least that way some of it is coming back again. And as not only an opera is being built but also a new national library at least science benefits from it as well.

[ELLIN]

This is the biggest donation to culture has ever been made Worldwide to a country!! more than 566 billion euros, more than 800 millions dollars, all in all with architectular schedule for Faliron Deltan and the reconstruction of Kalithea supurb sport facilities aproach the 1 billion dollars!!
Stavros Niarchos family deserve to be listed as one of the greatest patriots of Greece.

[savas]

I also think that we could mention that there is a master plan
conceived by Renzo Piano for the whole area of Faliron.

The master plan includes the creation of parks, sidewalks and
bike paths, areas of athletic activities, piers, diving parks.

The most interesting part of the master plan is the conversion
of the coastal highway underground to create an open space
without interruptions for the pedestrians.

[potiz81]

Some details of the project:

[systema magicum]

Update: The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center / Renzo Piano Building Workshop, architects
http://www.archdaily.com/150392/upda...op-architects/
14
Jul 2011
By Kelly Minner — Filed under: Museums and Libraries , Athens, Greece, Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Today we are providing our ArchDaily readers with an update for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, architects. The sustainable arts, education, and recreation complex aims to enrich the everyday lives of its surrounding community and attract millions of visitors from around the world. As we previously shared the project will be financed by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and has an anticipated 2015 completion date.The striking ecological and architectural achievement includes the 170,000 m2 (42 acre) Stavros Niarchos Park, a state-of-the-art, new building for the National Library of Greece (NLG) and a world-class opera house for the Greek National Opera (GNO).Overlooking the Athens waterfront 4.5 km south of central Athens on the edge of Faliro Bay, the SNFCC site honors the namesake of its surrounding community, Kallithea (“beautiful view”), by restoring the original open views of the sea. The Stavros Niarchos Park knits the surrounding neighborhoods back together, reflecting their street grid in its design. The Park gently grades to a 32 m (105 ft.)-high hill leading to the summit where a glass structure, the Lighthouse/Reading Room, facilitates the visual connection between sea and city, past, present and future.Renowned architect Renzo Piano has designed an icon that represents the aspirations of Greeks in the third millennium by incorporating essential elements of the national ecology – the sea, sun, stone, and earth. A beacon of sustainability is borne out in every aspect of the design—from the Park, which also functions as a green roof for the National Library and Greek National Opera, to the canal which can also function as an additional anti-flooding measure to the whole site, to the photovoltaic canopy which produces energy for the two buildings’ needs and contributes to the goal of low emissions.The approximately €566 million (US$803 million) project is a culmination of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s commitment to the culture, prosperity, and future of Greece. This is the first public-private partnership of its kind in Greece, and the largest cultural/educational project ever undertaken in the country. When completed, it will be fully operated and controlled by the Greek State. As one of the largest construction projects in recent Greek history, the Center will have an immediate impact on the local economy, providing jobs and infusing capital into a challenging economic climate.Intrinsically designed to draw visitors, the SNFCC extols the public benefit of community and of urban civic spaces. Tree-lined side streets entice visitors into the Park. Once visitors are inside the Park, a host of spectacles and access to arts and educational programs entices them to explore, discover and learn.Underneath the Park, two buildings have been brilliantly combined into one fluid, glass-walled structure, sculpted to include an urban Agora – both a gathering place and a portal to the National Library and Greek National Opera. An iconographic tower of books, a functional and welcoming symbol of accessible learning, defines the character of the new National Library of Greece, which will offer a plethora of public services and will include a lending library, while serving as a center of research and scholarship. The Greek Na- tional Opera will offer technological sophistication and acoustic perfection that will accommodate the most demanding productions including ballets, concerts, musicals, and more intimate solo performances.

A world-class cultural resource, a gift to a community, a beacon of sustain- ability, a tribute to a legacy, a symbol of the future… WELCOME TO THE STAVROS NIARCHOS FOUNDATION CULTURAL CENTER.

[balthazar]

i love this project!

[Littlemob]

Love this project, but with the dept of Greece at the moment I hope they cancel it. I as Dutch taxpayer can't approve of this being built from my money.