The Building, the Sea and the Rock

Our thesis narrates the story of the unfinished concrete shell of Zachariou Cultural Center in Piraeus, Greece, and proposes its next chapter: The reactivation of the shell, as a living junction between the rock where it sits on and the sea it overlooks –between the city of Piraeus and the Athenian Riviera.

Our aim is to narrate and continue the building’s life creating a seaside destination for both the city and its visitors. Our narrative starts from the site’s early life and the private villa’s close relationship to the coastline. The villa is replaced by the Cultural Center, envisioned as a public space next to the water, which until today remains incomplete, abandoned and lost between other, larger-scale infrastructures. Proposing the next chapter of the narrative, we celebrate Piraeus’s identity as a place related to sailing, seafood, sea-inspired art and practices, and design the reactivation of the concrete shell through a series of sea-related festivals. The building is envisioned as part of a network of already existing festival sites around the world, hosting events simultaneously with them, thus remaining active throughout the year. We re-establish its lost proximity to the water, and perceive its descending circulation as a public promenade, which links the city to the coastline. Small interventions are ‘injected’ in the concrete shell –surfaces that wrap around it and create spaces to host the festivals’ activities. In the end of the promenade, we add a concrete platform, as the ones of the existing building, floating on the water instead of sitting on the rock. Celebrating the new life of the building, we illustrate the visitor’s experience, following the path of the public promenade. We imagine the visitor walking around the open market, or standing on the edge of the plaza that overlooks the sea. We see him going down the ramp, to catch a glimpse of the act in the open amphitheatre, of the models in the workshops or of the surf art exhibition. He perches on the wooden surface of the playground, or reads a book next to the picture window of the library, before going out, to meet the sea. Taking the raft he arrives to the floating platform –the sail-in cinema. He admires an alternative view of the site: The one towards the coast and the building, which performs now as a living junction, hosting new life and activities, rejuvenating in this way both itself and its context.