Salini Impregilo : Athens Opera House project wins ENR global best award

Influential U.S. industry magazine Engineering News-Record (ENR) has awarded a 2016 Global Best Project Award to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, built by Salini Impregilo according to a design by Renzo Piano. The centre, the new home of Greece's national opera and library in Athens, competed in the cultural/worship category. It was one of 23 from 15 countries on five continents to be recognized as outstanding examples of designing and building.

One of Europe's biggest structures dedicated to arts and culture, the centre was financed by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and built by a joint venture led by Salini Impregilo with Greek partner Terna.

'The judges looked at projects in many markets and examined safety performance, innovations, challenges, and design and construction quality - with a special emphasis on the diversity of global project teams and their collaboration,' wrote an ENR deputy editor in a statement announcing the awards. 'They also considered how the project benefits the local community and/or the construction industry.'

Built on the site of an old hippodrome in the neighbourhood of Kallithea near the sea, the centre rises out of an artificial slope of a panoramic park 170,000 square metres in size and planted with 1,500 trees and 200,000 shrubs from all over Europe. Its innovative feature is the so-called Canopy, a roof of 10,000 square metres that is suspended over the centre. It shifts according to the wind and to changes in temperature. Its surface is covered with solar panels, helping make the centre energy self-sufficient. This feature as well as the care taken in choosing the materials and supplies according to principles of sustainability led to the centre receiving a 'Platinum' certification, the highest rating from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), one of the most prestigious in the construction sector.