The New Acropolis Museum is without question one of the most demanding building projects in Greece over the last decades. The collection and presentation of the antique excavations in the Makryianni area of the city was a particular challenge for the client and architect.

The continuous visual dialogue with the ancient Parthenon was solved by Bernard Tschumi with his minimalist concept through reduction of materials used. Aside from the marble and concrete it is clearly glass that dominates covering more than 80 percent of all visible exterior and interior surfaces of the building. The integration of the 2,200 square meters of archeological excavation within the museum as well as the creation of atmosphere using natural light and the acropolis has been perfectly executed. Visitors have a simultaneous view of the exhibits, the Parthenon and the Acropolis. Ensuring highest quality of construction was the goal of Aktor in this complex project.

The energy saving design concept made the whole team rightly optimistic about the possibility of achieving Green Building certification from the European Union.

Glass – significant factor of the design concept

To extract the transparent, glowing and reflective characteristics of the glass and in contrast to the surrounding concrete, the glass was used in a self-supporting concept as opposed to a conventional frame system. Apart from wind loads, the glass system is designed to withstand an eathquake up to 6.5 on the Richter scale. The brilliance of the glass is highlighted by the use of DIAMANT – extra clear float glass – avoiding the typical green hue which is apparent in regular glass. Colour rendition is maximised and distortion of natural daylight is minimised.

The importance of the glass construction to the building with regards to performance meant that Aktor looked globally for a supplier. ECKELT became the successful contractor - based on its historical ability and references – to design, manufacture and install the glass structures and facades.

Parthenon-Facade

This is a suspended, double-skin glass construction. The outer VARIO glass wall comprises colar control insulated glass, the second inner skin is made of STADIP laminated safety glass, distanced 70 cm from the facade with glass fins and floats 2.25 m above the finished floor. This construction creates a chimney effect – cool air streams over the bottom edge of the open inner façade, is heated by the suns rays on the outer façade and rises. At roof level the warmed air is mechanically extracted.

The colar control of the the insulated glass is achieved using SUNEX 73/39 coating, an additional STADIP COLOR coloured interlayer as well as a LITEX screenprint in 6 different patterns ensures that even with outside temperatures over 40°C, room temperature on the inner façade is kept at about 23°C. Solar sails provide shade for the exposed façade areas.

Level-Facade

A completely separate concept was used at the lower level to avoid summer overheating. Cantilevered floors stand out over the facade below providing shade from the sun at its highest angle. With low angle sunshine, shade is given by the external oriented glass fins which have a BF1WS custom-colour screenprint. The 9.3 m high glass facade also uses the VARIO structural glazing system and the same colar control measures as the Parthenon façade. The structural connection to the glass fins uses a custom fitting and connections from the Eckelt FINS+BEAMS system.

Glass floors and stairs

In the whole museum, but particularly in the excavation exhibits in the lower levels, glass floors using LITE-FLOOR have been extensively employed. These allow an incomparable experience of the excavations. Small viewing windows also allow a safe but interesting visual experience of exhibits.

Glass balustrades and spandrel cladding

The uppermost facades interface with the roof using a discreet cladding of black enameled EMALIT-H glass in colour BF4WW.

To compliment the overall transparent character, even in the exhibit halls, free-standing all-glass balustrades have been set into the ground.

In total there is over 11,000 square meters of glass surface.
Opening to the public is planned for Autumn 2008.

(Photos: Nikos Daniilidis)