When we last visited Piraeus Tower on the Greek capital's coast in 2022 for our trip to explore the thriving Athens architecture and culture scene, the 1972 port icon was in the midst of a highly anticipated renovation.
A long-abandoned modern ruin and the second tallest high rise in Greece, the tower has now been reimagined as a mixed-use scheme, aimed at redefining the busy, yet somewhat architecturally neglected, port district of Piraeus. Local developer Dimand worked on a special new façade for the scheme with young studio PILA (local studio Betaplan acted as the lead architect for the overall scheme), founded by architect Ilias Papageorgiou, who left a partner position at New York’s SO-IL in 2019 to return to Athens and set up shop on his own.
Piraeus Tower: an icon revived
‘After ten years of a harsh economic crisis, Greece is undergoing a rapid transformation on many fronts,’ Papageorgious said at the time. ‘This building is situated on a really important part of the wider city of Athens. We see the “awakening” of the abandoned structure of the tower as sparking a broader regeneration, allowing for the life of the city to move closer to the water.’
During the same trip, Dimand COO Olga Itsiou added: 'The Piraeus Tower was an unfinished building, a sleeping giant for more than 40 years. It has never operated except for minimal commercial uses on the ground and first two floors. It was not filled with people. [Now], offices, shops, a gym, an all-day restaurant, and a café will enable approximately 2,000 people to work there.’
Completed this summer, the main building has been transformed into sleek offices and retail space. A second phase, currently in the works, will include public landscaping, aiming to further revitalise the surrounding context and reframe the port’s pedestrian access and circulation via a new green footbridge.
For now, Piraeus Tower is up and running, flying the flag for sustainable architecture and retrofitting. The team was keen to implement a range of eco-friendly strategies; for example, its louvres, which reduce solar gain on the façade by 45 per cent; façade elements chosen following light pollution studies; the use of photovoltaic panels; and the recycling of more than 5,000 sq m of glass during construction, a proportion of which was installed as new glass in the project.
The project, hailed by its authors as the 'first green high rise in Greece', is nothing if not ambitious, awarded the first LEED Platinum certification for a building of its type in the country, while highlighting the potential of adaptive reuse.
'The rejuvenation of Piraeus Tower exemplifies adaptive reuse at its finest. By reimagining existing structures, we can transform our city into a more sustainable and livable environment,' said Papageorgiou and his partner at PILA Christina Papalexandri on the occasion of the opening.
-
Behind the design of national pavilions in Venice: three studios to knowDesigning the British, Swiss and Mexican national pavilions at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 are three outstanding studios to know before you go
-
Premium patisserie Naya is Mayfair’s latest sweet spotHeritage meets opulence at Naya bakery in Mayfair, London. With interiors by India Hicks and Anna Goulandris, the patisserie looks good enough to eat
-
Discover midcentury treasures in Marylebone with Álvaro by AppointmentLondon is full of sequestered design havens, and Wallpaper* knows them all. Allow us to point you in the direction of Álvaro González’s shop window on Nottingham Place, home to a bonanza of beautiful 20th-century antiques
-
A retro video game is the unlikely inspiration for this island house in GreeceDesigned by ARP, this island house on Antiparos is a contemporary Cycladic home inspired by Tetris
-
A Costa Navarino house peeks out from amidst olive groves to ocean viewsThis Greek holiday residence designed by K-Studio balances timeless design principles with modernist touches
-
A breezy Greek island retreat lets the outdoors inOpen to the elements, an island retreat in Corfu by Invisible Studio was designed to suit the local climate, using metal mesh screens rather than windows
-
A Corfu house balances local vernacular and 21st-century minimalismCorfu House, a sensitive and minimalist holiday home, has been recently completed on the Greek island as a collaboration between architects Tony Wynbourne, Georgios Apostolopoulos and engineer Makis Gisdakis
-
Remembering Alexandros Tombazis (1939-2024), and the Metabolist architecture of this 1970s eco-pioneerBack in September 2010 (W*138), we explored the legacy and history of Greek architect Alexandros Tombazis, who this month celebrates his 80th birthday.
-
Tour House D in Athens, where interiors are peachy keenDesigned by Cometa Architects, House D in Athens is full of curvy, colourful character
-
Three Object Apartment embraces raw concrete honesty in the heart of AthensThree Object Apartment by DeMachinas is a raw concrete home in Athens, which confidently celebrates its modernist bones
-
Residence in Dionysos was conceived as a minimalist ‘cave refuge’ outside AthensResidence in Dionysos by Desypri & Misiaris Architecture is a family home designed as a minimalist refuge among the surrounding nature's pine tree-filled slopes
