Archinect - News

David Chipperfield reflects on his journey in Pritzker Prize ceremony video

2023-11-14T12:50:00-05:00

A video of the special Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony honoring this year’s laureate David Chipperfield has been shared with Archinect, following the culmination of the event held this May from the Ancient Agora in Athens.

Chipperfield spoke to a crowd who were assembled at the cultural site in honor of the 45th year of the Pritzker Prize, which has been presented annually by the Hyatt Foundation since its establishment in 1979.

Video courtesy of The Hyatt Foundation/The Pritzker Architecture Prize

“My debts are enormous,” he began in stating. “I’m thankful for this prize but even more thankful for the wonderful journey that got me here... Architectural practice depends not only on creative talent but just as much on the collaboration of individuals within the studio and without. It has been a journey of privilege.”

Other speakers in the documentary-style video include Greek First Lady and designer Mareva Grabowski; Hyatt Foundation Chairman Tom Pritzker; and the Prize’s Jury...

BIG designs stepped concave towers for ‘Europe’s largest regeneration project’ in Greece

2023-10-18T12:15:00-04:00

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has designed a major residential complex in Athens, Greece. Named Park Rise and commissioned for LAMDA Development, BIG’s scheme is part of The Ellinikon, described by LAMDA as “Europe’s largest urban regeneration project and a smart city being built from the ground up in Athens.”

Image credit: Bjarke Ingels Group / LAMDA

Park Rise will form the centerpiece of Little Athens, a new residential neighborhood located within the Ellinikon master plan. BIG’s concept will contain 88 residential units across five building cores: two rising to five floors, two rising to eight floors, and one rising to 12 floors.

Image credit: Bjarke Ingels Group / LAMDA

From the outside, the scheme is defined by a curved concave facade which, the architects say, “creatively reimagines the classic Greek column while adding a soft geometry to the aesthetic.” Off-white glass-reinforced concrete with exposed aggregates is integrated into the facade to “harken to the natural landscape.”

I...

Sasaki Associates will lead in designing the largest public park in Athens, Greece

2023-08-03T13:52:00-04:00

The city of Athens is preparing for a groundbreaking addition to its already historic city. Thanks to the efforts of Lamda Development, the city will welcome Ellinikon Metropolitan Park, set to not only be the largest park in Athens but also "Europe's largest coastal park."

Urban Land's Bennett Voyles reports that "after 3,400 years, Athens will soon get its first big park [...] When completed in 2030, Ellinikon Metropolitan Park will be 600 acres (243 ha), about three-fourths the size of New York City’s Central Park, an enormous addition of public green space that may prove as important to Athenians as Central Park is to New Yorkers."

Project render of Ellinikon Metropolitan Park shows design details inspired by the Olympic venues. Image courtesy of Sasaki Associates.

Spearheaded by international planning and design firm Sasaki Associates, the site acts as another unique factor to the development, with areas of the new park being "leftover remnants" of venues from the 2002 Summer Ol...

Pritzker Prize winner David Chipperfield and others reflect on the role of architectural practice

2023-05-23T17:19:00-04:00

This year’s Pritzker Prize laureate David Chipperfield has concluded his remarks at the special awards ceremony and presentation held this morning at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).

Topics covered by Chipperfield’s address include the limits and responsibilities of practice, the market’s influence over the industry, and an overview of his career, all framed by the impetus of climate change and the responsibility of designers within the context of the current global architectural stasis.

Chipperfield began by paying homage to Le Corbusier, Josep Lluís Sert, and the other architects who met at the school for the influential Fourth CIAM Congress on urban planning in August of 1933, stating: “We find ourselves again, in this room, needing more than ever the sort of planning structures that were proposing in order that we can confront the environmental issues of our time.”

“We must become incr...

Athens has hired a new 'Chief Heat Officer' to help the city combat climate change

2021-08-26T16:45:00-04:00

Europe’s summer of natural disasters has included increasingly frequent extreme weather events [...] Ms. Myrivili’s appointment is a recognition of that new reality. But it is also a foreboding sign that having someone to grapple with suffocating temperatures may be a mainstay of the municipal cityscape, as necessary and unremarkable as a transportation, sanitation or police commissioner.

Other cities like Miami have retained administrators with similar titles. Athens is leading the way in terms of a loss of residents who are in large part moving to escape the heat. The country itself is expected to lose 8 million people in the next four years. Myrivili earned a PhD from Columbia University in 2004 and served as Athens' Deputy Mayor for Urban Nature, Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation from 2017 to 2019.

A scorching mid-summer heatwave combined with wildfires has forced the closure of several important cultural sites around the city.

The New York Times has a profile of Athens' newest city administrator here.

The Acropolis is closing amidst wildfire concerns

2021-08-05T17:32:00-04:00

Across southern Europe, large wildfires have so far killed eight people and caused mass evacuations while also threatening to damage ancient cultural sites. In Greece, authorities have partially closed the Acropolis and other major archaeological sites while battling with dozens of conflagrations around Athens.

Greece is currently in the midst of its worst heatwave in over thirty years, and the capital region has been squarely in the crosshairs as the heat has combined with encroaching wildfires to create an emergency situation in Athens. The UNESCO World Heritage Site has recently been the center of public debate as planned renovations have prompted a debate of the Acropolis' "correct appearance."

NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo may have been one of the last visitors before its closure. The Observer has more on the threats to archaeological sites around the city here.

Foster + Partners unveils designs for Greece's tallest tower

2021-07-09T15:27:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has released designs for what will be the tallest building in Greece. Located near Athens, Marina Tower will also be the first green high-rise building in Greece and the tallest green beachfront high-rise building in the Mediterranean.

Images © DBOX for Foster + Partners

The building is the centerpiece of a massive master plan, led by Foster + Partners and funded by Lamda Development, called the Ellinikon Masterplan. The project will sit on the site of the vacant Ellinikon International Airport and will include the construction of mixed-use districts as well as five other new skyscrapers.

The Marina Tower will stand at 650 feet tall and will contain 200 apartments on 45 floors. The high-rise is slender with a façade defined by balconies and hanging gardens. The extensive greenery reportedly allows the building to blend in with the surrounding natural environment and “the special character of the Mediterranean landscape.”

Images © DBOX for Foster + Partners

Accordi...

Planned Acropolis renovation draws opposition from experts

2021-04-28T18:56:00-04:00

Plans for a major renovation project to the western entrance of the Acropolis have been met with strong opposition from archaeologists in Greece and across the world. In an open letter to the public, the signatories, including figures from the universities of Oxford, Durham and Brown, called for the cancellation of a project they believe will lead to the “devaluation, concealment and degradation of the greatest archaeological and artistic treasure that has been bequeathed to modern Greece”.

At the center of the controversy is the argument over the "correct appearance" of the historic Acropolis site in Athens that has experienced multiple additions, restorations, and excavations over the years.

According to The Art Newspaper, the group opposed to the planned renovation believes that the intervention was "contrary to the internationally recognized and established principles concerning the preservation, conservation and safeguarding of antiquities."

New hotel blocking Acropolis view must demolish top floors

2020-05-11T13:40:00-04:00

A battle over the right to enjoy uninterrupted views of the Acropolis has resulted in a five-star hotel being ordered to demolish its top two floors, in a landmark ruling hailed by residents of Athens. [...] Citizens enraged about the ten-storey establishment blocking their own views of the citadel took the case to the highest court in the land.

Activists in the Greek capital have been rallying against a number of high-rise proposals that could substantially block the view of the city's most priced historic landmark.

The court's decision in the most recent luxury hotel case wasn't easy, however, as The Guardian points out: "In 2012, in the midst of Greece’s economic crisis, a new construction code was passed permitting bigger and taller buildings if they met 'green' standards. Investors seized the opportunity, initiating a building spree in a capital that would subsequently attract record tourist arrivals."

Deadline to apply for AA Athens Visiting School is approaching!

2017-05-22T03:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by AA Athens Visiting School.

AA Athens Visiting Schools will be hosting their workshop, Symmetry Sentience, from June 12th through the 22nd and the deadline is approaching—you have until May 29th to submit your online application form and fees!

Our world has been enriched by numerous interactive means that connect us across the different continents. These amplifications take place through various media that in turn estrange people from their surroundings. Our built environment continues to evolve, into an interconnected hyperspace where architecture can be fluid, flexible and vivid. In 2017, AA Athens Visiting School, will address architectural themes involving active engagement and participatory design through prototypes that are characterized by action.

Apply now for the AA Athens Visiting School: Symmetry Sentience workshop

2017-04-11T06:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by AA Athens Visiting School.

Symmetry Sentience
Monday 12 - Thursday 22 June 2017

Action-designed structures enabled by technology today, begin to timidly move beyond the utopian proposals of the 20th century’s manifestos and hold a place in the world of realized designs. The AA Athens Visiting School incorporates in the design process, materials and scientific devices as vital parts of the end-creations. The research aims at bringing closer the ...

Tensions build at Athen's port of Piraeus, the first stop for many refugees seeking asylum in Europe

2016-04-26T12:52:00-04:00

Squalid, chaotic, overwhelmed: Piraeus is the first port of call for the thousands now trapped in the capital, on the frontline of Europe’s refugee crisis. Since the closure of Greece’s northern border and with it the Balkan migrant trail – a move that has resulted in more than 46,000 stranded on the Greek mainland – it has been emblematic of the country’s inability to cope with a situation few had envisaged.

"In passenger terminals never built to deal with a humanitarian crisis, facilities have been rudimentary, tensions high, and resources vastly overstretched."

The article notes that the growing refugee population is putting pressure on Athenian society, which was already tense as the country continues to struggles under crippling austerity measures imposed by the European Union. Far-right movements, like the Golden Dawn, are gaining popularity.

Meanwhile, a plan sponsored by the UN Refugee Agency proposes to house up to 20,000 refugees in private apartments around the capital.

For more on the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East, check out these links:

Barcelona wins Grand Prize in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge for Europe

2014-09-23T21:32:00-04:00

Michael Bloomberg's Bloomberg Philanthropies revealed the winners of its first European edition of the Mayors Challenge. More than 150 top cities from 28 European nations entered the competition, which asked participants to send their most innovative ideas that address Europe's timely pressing issues like unemployment, energy efficiency, obesity, aging, and improving government efficiency.

Barcelona took the Grand Prize for Innovation and €5 million to help implement their proposal, Collaborative Care Networks for Better Aging, a digital and community "trust network" for each of its at-risk elderly residents.

Innovation prizes of €1 million were also given to the following cities:

Athens, Greece: Synathina, a Public Platform for Engaged Citizens
Kirklees, in Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Kirklees Shares
Stockholm, Sweden: Biochar - for a Better City Ecosystem
Warsaw, Poland: Virtual Warsaw - Urban Information System for the Visually Impaired

In addition to prize money, each winning city will receive technical assistance, expert coaching, and a trophy specially designed by renowned artist Olafur Eliasson.

Michael Bloomberg congratulated Barcelona via a surprise phone call from Paris in the video below.

Learn more about the winning ideas on Bustler.

AA Athens Visiting School 2014 challenges the static built environment with “Kinetic Haze”

2014-09-12T21:03:00-04:00

Students and professionals had another opportunity to take part in the third cycle of the AA Athens Visiting School program, "Cipher City: Revolutions". Taking place at the National Technical University of Athens this past spring, participants focused on addressing the roles of change, adaptation and interaction through scripting and digital fabricating techniques at large scale models.

The program set out to challenge the motionless built environment in the collaborative creation of a kinetic pathway prototype called Kinetic Haze. Participants applied the basic design elements from their own proposals in creating the project in less than five days.

Here's a glimpse of the project

Find more project photos and details on Bustler.

Ten years on, Athens 2004 gives Greece little to cheer

2014-08-11T18:50:00-04:00

It was billed as a chance to transform Greece's image abroad and boost growth but 10 years after the country hosted the world's greatest sporting extravaganza there is little to celebrate at the birthplace of the modern Olympic Games. [...] For Greeks who swelled with pride at the time, the Games are now a source of anger as the country struggles through a six-year depression, record unemployment, homelessness and poverty. Greece has struggled to generate revenue from the venues.

Greece protests over government plans to sell off historic national buildings

2014-03-19T20:55:00-04:00

Greece's cultural gems have become the focus of renewed protest on the streets of Athens following the cash-strapped government's announcement of plans to include prime properties around the Acropolis, and other landmark buildings, in its privatisation programme. Furious opponents marched through the city centre at the weekend to denounce the "illegal sale" of the country's heritage.

Ann Beha Architects selected for major rehabilitation of Gropius-designed Athens Chancery

2013-11-19T19:54:00-05:00

Ann Beha Architects from Boston, MA was selected by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) for a major rehabilitation project of the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece. Walter Gropius and consulting architect Pericles A. Sakellarios designed the iconic embassy from 1959-1961. The building is also listed as a protected architectural landmark.

Ann Beha Architects was given the task out of four shortlisted teams that included: DesignLab Architects, Inc. (Boston, MA); Machado Silvetti / Baker (Boston, MA); and Mark Cavagnero Associates (San Francisco, CA).

Previously: Four Design Teams Shortlisted for Major Rehabilitation of Gropius-Designed Athens Chancery

Four Design Teams Shortlisted for Major Rehabilitation of Gropius-Designed Athens Chancery

2013-05-15T19:26:00-04:00

Four design firms have been shortlisted by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) for the major rehabilitation of the Athens Chancery project. The iconic modernist embassy building, designed by Walter Gropius with consulting architect Pericles A. Sakellarios, was constructed between 1959 and 1961 and is a protected architectural landmark.

The shortlisted firms are:

Ann Beha Architects, Boston, MA
DesignLab Architects, Inc., Boston, MA
Machado Silvetti / Baker, Boston, MA
Mark Cavagnero Associates, San Francisco, CA

UPDATE: Ann Beha Architects selected for major rehabilitation of Gropius-designed Athens Chancery

Faliro Pier Athens by Point Supreme Architects

2012-10-18T17:55:00-04:00

Greek firm Point Supreme Architects has shared with us their latest project, Faliro Pier Athens. The proposal has recently emerged as the winning entry in a competition in conjunction with Athen's ambitious Stavros Niarchos Cultural Park project which started construction a few days ago.

Renzo Piano Unveils Green-Roofed Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center for Athens

2011-07-06T14:52:00-04:00

Renzo Piano recently unveiled plans for a new waterfront cultural center and urban park in Athens that includes a massive opera house and a library that is directly connected to the park by a sloping green roof. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center will also incorporate several sustainable technologies with the hope of attaining LEED Platinum certification.