NTUA, School of Mechanical Engineering organised a site visit for SIMOR Discipline students to the Stavors Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre at Kallithea. This large scale development will host the new Greek national Opera, the national Library of Greece and the Stavros Niarchos park. The project is at each final stages and the commissioning phase has commenced. Its overall value is at the order of magnitued of €400M. Our sincere graditute to the Project Director Mr K. Vavaletskos for hosting us.
The magnitude of the project and of the Foundation's dreams and hopes required the impact and the creative presence of a visionary architect. In February 2008, following a closed international design competition, the Foundation's Board of Directors unanimously selected the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (www.rpbw.com). In selecting renowned architect Renzo Piano, the Foundation chose an architect at the forefront of the architectural profession, who possesses vision, intellectual curiosity and a historical and geographical understanding of the project's location and significance.
The project site is located 4.5 km south of the center of Athens, on the edge of Faliro Bay, and the SNFCC is designed as a multifunctional arts, education and entertainment complex. The project's total budget of $831mil (€596mil) includes two grants of $6mil (€5mil) each to the National Library of Greece and the Greek National Opera respectively, aiming to support the organizations' transition to their new facilities. Upon SNFCC's completion, the Foundation will transfer the control of the center to the Greek state, which will assume its full operation and management. The SNFCC is the first private-public partnership of its type in Greece, and one of the most important civic (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 landscape. [source: http://www.snfcc.org/about/vision/]
