The Board of Directors of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation has selected the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (www.rpbw.com), a world-renowned architectural firm, to design the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, which will include new state-of-the-art facilities for the Greek National Opera and the National Library of Greece, set within the Stavros Niarchos Park. The public site for these three projects is near the center of Athens, Greece, adjacent to the sea, covering an approximate area of 42 acres (17 hectares, 170,000 square meters).
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center is to be funded exclusively by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation with an approximate budget of euro 300 million, pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding executed last summer with the Greek State. A final agreement with the Greek Government is expected to be concluded before the end of the year, upon which commencement of the work will be conditioned. Once completed, the project will be turned over to the Greek State.
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center will attract patrons from Greece and around the world. Visitors, physical and virtual, will benefit from the technologically advanced library, respectful of the past and attentive to the future. In addition, the Center will provide the public with invaluable opportunities to enjoy and learn about opera and the performing arts at large. The park will offer much needed open space in the city, an ideal, “green” backdrop for the Center’s educational and cultural activities. The entire project will be designed to the highest standards of environmental sustainability.