DESCRIPTION
THE FLOATING PAVILLION
The development of the new Passenger Terminal of Souda will contribute to
the future development of the port and provide a high quality service to the
continuously increasing number of visitors in Crete. Our proposal aims to achieve
optimum functionality of the Terminal and create a landmark that is inspired by
the morphological characteristics of the Cretan tradition and archaeology. The
passenger terminal will be the first and the last building that visitors will
come across during their arrival and departure from Crete. Therefore it is essential to
provide a unique experience to the passengers and introduce them to the Cretan
hospitality. The notions of the arrival,
pause and departure are expressed through the translucency, the clean volumetry
and the continuous flow of the terminal. The proposed composition is easily
accessible, light, easy to orientate and generous to the visitor. The volumetry
refers to the purity of the anonymous architecture in the Greek islands, the
structural system of the trusses is a reference to the Venetian shipyard
geometry and the translucent shading surface is an element that connects it to
the industrial identity of the port.
The terminal will be the first element of interest to be seen by the
arriving visitors as the ships will be approaching the pier. As such, the
building aspires to function as a modest landmark, a building that is unique
not only by its design but also in the way in which it is integrated in the
port and its surrounding context. The program of the Terminal is arranged in
two floors with an overall height of less than 10 meters. The ground floor is
recessed to provide shaded space in the perimeter and the main entrance, and it
contains the main lobby and visitor’s services, check-in areas, administration
offices, utilities and secondary spaces. The first floor is connected to the
lobby through a large atrium and an escalator, and contains the main waiting
areas of the Terminal, the café and the jet bridge connections to the boats.
The two cores are symmetrically placed on the Eastern side of the building, so
that they can frame the open central part of the program and serve the terminal
also in its second phase of extension.
The Terminal will be constructed in two phases, the first of which was the
scope of this competition. In the first phase the Terminal occupies half of the
plot and provides an open plaza on the other half. On the second phase the
plaza will be occupied from the extension of the Terminal and the public space
will be transferred on the two sides of the building all along the pier. The
Terminal and the plaza provide an efficient configuration for the flow of
visitors and at the same time generate a series of opportunities for activities
and leisure time in the waiting hours.
INFORMATION
location:
client:
year:
status:
program:
total area:
competition team:
collaborators:
Crete, Greece
Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks
2017
competition entry(2nd Prize)
Infrastructure
9.000m2
Marina Kounavi,
Irgen Salianji,
Karolina Szóstkiewicz,
Harris Vamvakas
DENCO Structural Engineering,
GKA Engineers