SOUTH architecture won 1st Honorable Mention for The Pier in the competition for the New Passenger Terminal in Souda, Crete. he New Ferry Terminal is a big scale, lightweight structure that incorporates the main idea of the Cretan landscape: infinite view of the sea under a protective shelter.
The Pier is an airy, lightweight, white-steel building. Two opposing canopies accomodate crossing flows from and to the ferries. The scope of the design is to create a landmark, and at the same time, to enrich the experience of this transit place, by creating views, and engaging surrounding scape elements. Furthermore, design aims to promote a sustainable solution that integrates well with the environment, providing with pleasant but not sterilized interior conditions.
On its basis, the new Ferry Terminal was approached as an utilitarian building.
Therefore the program had a critical impact on design; the terminal is formed by a structural grid, comprised of round, white-steel columns, and levels of different kinds: vertical, horizontal and sloped. The structural grid enables design and construction flexibility, as asked by the competition brief.
The Terminal would be constructed in two phases, with the expansion to be made with the minimum interventions. The steel structure provides with this flexibility. Both canopies, are being built at the first phase, while at the second phase part of the second canopy will accomodate the interior expansion.
On its basis, the new Ferry Terminal was approached as an utilitarian building. Therefore the program had a critical impact on design.
The steel, grid structure serves well the scope of design:
It integrates well with the surroundings; the two opposing canopies develop at their full length, across the linear plot, occupying the plot and matching the massive scale of the port. At the same time though, the lightweight structure, with the variety and alternation of closed and open spaces in its core, result in a ‘smooth’ structure, that subtly expands into the landscape.
The structural grid serves well the sustainability of the building. It enables the design of closed spaces, along with open spaces – atriums, enclosed in the spatial grid. They serve as voids, allowing ventilation and cooling during hot days. Large, framed movable, aluminum louvers, on the facades, work as sun-shades. Moreover, a series of openings and screens on the facades, allow cross-circulation – ramps, staircases, and from the inside, they provide with exceptional view frames on the surroundings.
In the grid, steel sloped surfaces–ramps develop, that allow visitors to fully move on and around the building, on their way from the entrance, through check-in areas, to the cafe, and to the open-air observation deck, with stunning view across the landscape. A double-height canopy and a reflecting pool, both surrounded by seapebble landscape, form the south-east entrance.
By cross-entering the terminal, from both sides of the building, one can view in the interior, the main lobby with check-in areas and the mezzanine with the waiting areas and the cafe. Double height enriches communication. The main waiting room allows for a 360-view of the natural port and enhances the feeling of belonging.
The New Ferry Terminal is a big scale, lightweight structure that incorporates the main idea of the Cretan landscape: infinite view of the sea under a protective shelter.
Facts & Credits
Project title: THE PIER
Architecture Competition for the New Ferry Terminal, Souda Crete – 1st Honorable Mention
Area: 2000 m2 (1st phase), 6000 m2 (expansion)
Location: Souda, Greece
Architects: SOUTH architecture / Eleni Livani, Chrysostomos Theodoropoulos
Visualization: Anna Vasileiou
Structural Engineer: Katerina Ioannidou
Mechanical Engineer: Markos Katsafaros
Landscape Consultant: Daphne Kokkini
Year: 2017
READ ALSO: The Wedge House utterly blends with its natural environment in Drafi | schema architecture & engineering