Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Location: Athens, Greece

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) is located in the Athens Faliron Delta area, at a site close to the interchange of Sygrou and Poseidons Avenues, at a distance of approximately 400m from the seafront. The Center comprises the National Library of Greece, the Greek National Opera and a cultural/educational park. The architect is the Renzo Piano Workshop.

GCG were appointed as geotechnical advisor and worked closely with the structural engineer in the Center’s design. This included work on the substantial retaining walls with a maximum retained height of about 15m, the external and internal stability, deformations, facing design, and assessment of the effects of construction.

GCG also looked at the latest advances in research and development related to ground treatment technology which may be applied as a countermeasure against liquefaction to the SNFCC project. The design of the ground improvement work, and an evaluation of its expected performance during future earthquakes, is complicated by some relatively unique aspects of this project. Thus, a detailed review of case histories and physical modelling studies was carried out to address several issues of relevance to the SNFCC project.