AN IDENTITY REFERENCE FOR THE INHABITANTS, A PLACE THAT REVIVES THE COLLECTIVE MEMORY OF THE AREA’S PAST, REMINISCENT OF THE SEASCAPE’S SIGNIFICANT IMPORTANCE IN THE LIFE OF ATHENIANS.
FALIRON* PARK – ATHENS ON THE SEA
Bird’s-eye views of the project area.
A Metropolitan Park, a generous public space of high aesthetic quality, the city’s natural and historic outlet to the sea and the city’s view from the sea. Α public space of high quality, addressed to citizens and visitors, based on the concept proposed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW).
CATEGORIES
Architecture, Spatial and Environmental Planning, Urban Regeneration, Master Planning and Urban Design, Landscape and Open Space
TIMELINE
2011 - 2013
STATUS
Under Construction
LOCATION
Athens, Greece
SIZE
560000 sq.m.
CLIENT
Stavros Niarchos Foundation
A regeneration project of a brownfield area that reconstitutes the coastline of the city and the landscape of Attica, a key component of the physiognomy and identity of Athens.
A unique continuous physical and cultural destination that reconnects the urban fabric to the sea, bridges Athens with Piraeus, the eastern to western neighborhoods and bonds together adjacent metropolitan uses.
Works of flood protection and rainwater drainage of the adjacent inhabited urban areas are facilitated by the construction of an important wet channel that leads to the sea.
An open space that (re)connects Man with the natural environment, highlighting Nature’s centrality in Greek culture. A public park accessible, permeable, without restrictions, inclusive, and friendly, which accommodates in its 560,000m2 moderate supplementary activities – educational, cultural, athletic, touristic, recreational — that enhance urbanity and aim to create a hub of the Athenian public, social and cultural life and a place for social interaction.
Τhe proposed intervention focuses on re-establishing the strong continuity between the sea and the city. This is implemented through the displacement further south, and submersion of, Poseidonos Avenue, which allows for the creation of two overpasses for pedestrians and cyclists totaling 300 meters each.
At the same time, a relationship is established, interactively and symbolically, via the penetration of the existing urban street network (pedestrian) into the park and its extension into the sea in the form of piers; and vice-versa, with the penetration of the park into the urban fabric along green corridors.
Conversely, the sea penetrates the park by means of artificial linear channels that will function as swimming pools, re-establishing swimming in Faliron Bay, creating a bidirectional movement to the river Ilissos, which flows into the sea at this point.
The lightweight constructions of pedestrian bridges that pass over the swimming pools ensure the unobstructed spatial continuity, all the while offering multiple readings of the perceived image of the park and the overall landscape.
Τhe terrain, the uninterrupted view towards the sea, the Attic light, the use of native and drought-tolerant plant species, as well as the use of a mix of deciduous and evergreen trees create a landscape where Nature is acting as a “green lung” that dominates the park’s-built environment, which consists of lightweight pavilions and embedded buildings.
The buildings on the main axis, treated as pavilions inside the park, are characterized by transparency and lightness. With their distinct position along the street axes, the pavilions contribute to the intended extension of the urban tissue to the south and into the park, and to its gradual dissolution towards the sea.
Off axis buildings are embedded within the topography, functioning as horizontal fissures in the landscape, with their terraces constituting an interruptible continuation of the park’s terrain.
