OLP - Museum of Underwater Antiquities

Piraeus, Greece

2012

4th Prize, International Architectural Competition

Iconic Award, Concept - Visionary Architecture, German Design Council

DIVING (to the bottom of the sea) _ EMERGING (to knowledge)

Surface: 10.200 sqm of built space, 3.900 sqm of new building, 6.600 sqm of open space

Conversion of an old silo to a Museum for Underwater Antiquities and urban regeneration of the whole coastal zone for recreation.

The concept is a ‘continuous flow of diving and emerging’. A continuous flow of people who, via escalators sculpted to the body of the Silo, rise to the ‘sea level’ placed on top. Visitors rise, enjoy the view of the horizon and enter the mysterious world of the Museum in order ‘to dive to the sea-depths’. A large internal void, sculpted through vertical concrete-ribs becomes the heart of the museological narrative. A continuous belt of ramps winds around the internal void, bringing visitors deeper to the ‘bottom of the sea’. Natural light enters from above, while visitors wind around the shipping-wrecks.

On the top, mirrored in a water surface that dissolves to the horizon, the winding forms of the cafe and the restaurant emerge.

OLP - Museum of Underwater Antiquities / Piraeus, Greece

CREDITS

Αrchitectural Design: Rena Sakellaridou & Morpho Papanikolaou | SPARCH, Ch. Mavrou

Collaborators: Ε. Papaevangelou, N. Tsompikou, E. Korompeli, G. Papanikolaou, F. Smouklis

Students: K. Moustakas, P. Tzannetakis

Special Consultants:

Pagonis – Polichronopoulos – Kinatos CO (Civil Engineers Consultants)

J.Papagrigorakis & Associates (Mechanical Engineer Consultant)