NEW ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF THE PORT OF PIRAEUS (2015)

European architectural competition entry regarding the conversion of an existing building into a museum and rehabilitation of the surrounding terrain, to highlight the naval legacy of Piraeus and enhance the monument and site of Ietionia Gate, which in antiquity protected land access to the port. Preliminary design. Building 9.465 m², site 19.380 m2.

The proposal's identity is based on the inextricable bond of "Monument + Museum": the Museum embraces the Monument while the ancient hill extends towards the building, restoring the undulating landscape. As the work was produced at times of deep recession, the intention was to present a most economical solution. The building becomes non obtrusive in a multifunctional, open, continuous screen. This outer skin provides shading, the inner skin thermal protection, natural ventilation and lighting, and the atrium is part of a bio-climatic continuum of spaces. The parking for 140 cars has a planted roof, through which one reaches the city to the north. Access to the monument is possible through the atrium independently of the Museum operation; the road to the archaeological site is broadened, paved with a carpet of pave stones in earthly hues -in harmony with the monument’s aktitis stone and the local rock. The park becomes a continuation of the western hill, the height of its green gradually diminishing. Appropriate for the local conditions xerophyta are arranged freely in the terrain; rain water is collected, its natural cycle assisted by permeable, compressed earth pavements.