papalampropoulos syriopoulou

Status: Architectural Competition / Ministry of Environment, Energy & Climate Change, Stavros Niarchos Foundation
Program: Landmark, Leisure 
Year: 2012
Location: Faliro Bay, Peiraeus, Greece
Architect: Leonidas Papalampropoulos 
Team: Georgia Syriopoulou
Structural Engineer: Marinos Kattis 
Awards: 
Honourable mention | National professional competition | Ministry of Environment, Energy & Climate Change | Stavros Niarchos Foundation | 2012

Honourable Mention in the  category "Best project of the years 2009-2013" | DOMÉS International Review of Architecture

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The term “CULTURE TERMINAL” refers to the notion of traveling as it is registered both allegorically and literally in the context of a terminal station.

The time of the city becomes personal time during the wait at the terminal thus creating parallel illusionary virtual realities.

The Culture Terminal generates a condensed narrative at the end of the cultural axis where the expected new character of the site as a cohesive landmark can be materialized.

The design principles are summarized as follows:

• The generation of a narrative (Terminal) on the Cultural Axis

• The question of generating recognizable form turns into a question of finding semiotic rules that arise from the narrative.

• The structure functions simultaneously as a viewing point and a viewing device (an object to look at and an object with which to look)

• The technology of -lighter than air- structures (BLIMPS) is chosen as the primary structure for the apparatus (creation of the balcony).

 

The Apparatus is divided into two parts:

1. WAIT / The pier platform function as a culture and exhibition space (arrivals) while the elevated terrace contains the restaurant and the docking area for the blimp (departures)

2. TRAVEL / The suspended Blimp Balcony functions as a viewing device that provides access to the city and the landscape and

a supporting structure for cultural events and performances