Athens is changing the outlook of their port, thanks to the building of a compound of -170 thousand square metres. The compound will include two of the tallest skyscrapers ever built in Greece: the Riviera Tower and the Hardrock hotel. Ilias Paraskevopoulos, head of the REDI engineering solutions IKE company in Greece, is cooperating with Penelis Consulting Engineers S.A on the static research design of the Hardrock hotel.
According to Paraskevopoulos,the hotel will take up 70 thousand square metres of the compound, containing 43 floors, 1100 rooms and will be 200 metres tall.: ‘’In comparison with skyscrapers abroad, it’s not that tall, but for Greece it’s the tallest we’ve reached. We would like it higher but unfortunately, that is not a possibility in Greece. Up until now, there is a law that states that it is prohibited for any building to go higher than Acropolis’’.
Acropolis is the pin point of Greece so; no building should exceed its altitude. Likely the project is taking place in the city’s port, while the monument of Acropolis is pretty high up. This is the reason they are even able to reach the 200 meters. The cost of the building is calculated at about 1 billion.
‘’It was an interesting project with obstacles that we never faced before’’. In Greece most of the buildings have one thing to considerate: earthquakes. They should take all the precautions necessary to survive one. When it comes to the Hardrock hotel, great precautions have already been taken so even if something were to happen and a small part of the building collapsed, the rest wouldn’t follow.
This is where the difficulty comes in this project. The problem was not the earthquakes but the wind. The building goes high up where the wind is extremely strong, especially in the port. So, apart from safety, comfort was the problem. ‘’Surely if you were in a pool on 150 meters altitude, you wouldn’t enjoy it that much if the wind was dragging you back and forth. Possibly your stuff would be flying off the roof’’.
So, the wind was a strong factor when making the design. What made it even more difficult, was its strange appearance; reminding us of a sailing boat. One of the building’s sides is much slimmer than the rest, increasing the building’s complexity. But, luckily, a solution was found.
‘’The building has a complex system of high strength concrete, something that is unusual for Greece, while great reinforcement and elements of meta beams have also been added to support it’’.
This solves the problems of both the earthquakes and the wind while providing to the residents a sense of security when they are in the compound’s grounds. On top of that, great measurements were taken to make the design environmentally friendly.
‘’We have two guidelines: attention to failure is the first. We need to complete the design within the correct timeline and with no errors while obeying all regulations at the same time. The second is the functionality; the construction must provide ease and security, while being economical for our client’’
Last week the openings for the hotel took place where the CEO of Hardrock and the president of Greece attended. According to calculations, the compound will be ready in 2026. For now, the construction has started with the installation of 1.500 of the hotel’s foundation pipes.
‘’What was of great interest to us was that the design was executed at the same time by all groups. It’s not that one group finishes their part of the job and the other team picks it up. Mechanical engineers, architects, designers; all work at the same time. It’s our first time working this way. Of course, the reason behind this, is the small timeline we have. Our client wants it done the sooner the better’’.
Ilias Paraskevopoulos is political engineer graduate with two PhDs. He graduated the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1995. He pursued his first PhD in political engineering, which he acquired in 2006. He then proceeded with his second in the department of mechanical engineering with focus on computational engineering. Now his is a university professor and owner of the REDI engineering solutions IKE company.
