The Making of a Green Oasis in Athens

New York School of Interior Design

Thu, May 9, 2019
6:00 PM- 8:00 PM

In this illustrated talk, landscape designer Deborah Nevins will discuss her firm's latest project. Once completed, the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center and Park in Athens, Greece, will be one of the largest public spaces in Europe planted with only Mediterranean, drought-tolerant plants. At the start of the project, Deborah and the design team were presented with a 40-acre, totally flat, degraded site.

The Park now rises over the buildings, approximately 96 feet from the street, allowing the city to have a view of the sea, which was previously blocked by an eight-lane highway. The project included the planting of 1,400 trees and 310,000 Mediterranean shrubs and perennials. At 1.7 acres, one of the green roofs is planted with 164,000 grasses, cultivated from seeds collected in the hills of Attica, resulting in a roof which looks like those very hills. 

The Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center includes the Park, the National Library, and the National Opera House of Greece. It is widely considered one of the most important cultural and educational projects ever undertaken in Greece. In 2018, the project was awarded first prize for Innovative Concept or Design by the European Garden Heritage Network, and the Green Roof Leadership Award from the International Green Roof Association.

Part of the Garden Conservancy 2019 National Speaker Series

DATE AND TIME 
Thursday, May 9
6 p.m. Registration and reception
6:30 p.m. Illustrated talk

LOCATION
New York School of Interior Design
170 East 70th Street
New York, NY  10021

REGISTRATION
$40 General admission
$30 Garden Conservancy members
PLEASE NOTE: Online registration for this program has ended. Walk-ins will be welcomed on a first-come, first-served basis.

About the speaker
Deborah Nevins is the president of Deborah Nevins & Associates, the New York-based landscape design firm she founded over 25 years ago, and a principal of Nevins & Benito Landscape Architecture. Her firm’s recent work includes the 40-acre Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center and Park in Athens (in collaboration with the Renzo Piano Building Workshop), and the ongoing expansion of the campus of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, which is the largest cultural project currently underway in North America, with some 500,000 square feet in new construction. She also designed the Pritzker Garden at the Art Institute of Chicago. The firm’s extensive residential work includes significant gardens and estates throughout the United States, the Caribbean, and Europe. The work of Deborah Nevins & Associates is noted for exciting visual experiences, a sophisticated use of plants, and a dedication to sustainability.

The Garden Conservancy is a recognized LA CES provider.

 

 

 

The 2019 speaker series is made possible in part by generous contributions from the Lenhardt Education Fund, Coleman and Susan Burke Distinguished Lecture Fund, and Kayne Challenge Fund.