The Piraeus ISAP (electric railway) Station

Piraeus, 1928-29

Architect
Ioannis Axelos (1874-1940).
Associate civil engineer
Miltiadis Axelos
Restoration works 2000-2001
Restoration architects:
"Pleias" D. Diamantopoulos & Associates,
Giorgos Parmenidis, Kostas Moraïtis,
Katerina Helidoni, Christina Longkepe,
Andreas Lambropoulos, Vassilis Critikos,
Panagiotis Nikolaidis, Ioanna Papamatthéou,
Alexandra Panagiotidou



The ISAP (Piraeus-Athens Electric Railways S.A.) Station in Piraeus is a work of European stature by architect Ioannis Axelos, graduate of the _cole Royale des Beaux Arts in Brussels, and his civil engineer brother Miltiadis Axelos, graduate of the Technical University in the same city. The construction of the station dates to around 1928-29. The magnificent, eclecticist structure with its large domed hall was a creative adaptation of its European models to the Greek conditions of the time. This is a metallic, riveted, articulated structure with a transparent roof. Successive frames are held together by horizontal interlinked beams, ensuring their solidity with diagonal wind breaks, while at the same time holding transparent panes of glass. The station is surrounded by two-storey support buildings which inside give the impression of a roofed forum.
The recent restoration of this heritage eclecticist railway station in Piraeus aimed at the aesthetic and functional restoration of the passenger station as part of a broader plan to upgrade all such stations. The building today retains all those decorative features which, before the restoration, had suffered extensive damage through neglect, pollution and vandalism.
The aim of the project was to restore its facades, floor and roof and at the same time to contribute to the effort to promote the commercial nature of the roofed platform area and to bring new uses into the unexploited building infrastructure, removing the miscellaneous stalls from inside the station.
The ticket offices and the public main entrance hall were renovated; the ticket windows were restored in the Art Déco style. The interior was painted in the colours of the facades and paved with tiles. The metallic structure was painted a dark green. The old wooden door and window frames that look onto the interior of the station were replaced with new aluminium ones in a bright green.
On the roof, the "reinforced" glass panes were replaced by polycarbonate material. With this change, the structure was lightened, the interior space acquired a soft light, and, in conjunction with the air currents, the greenhouse phenomenon prevailing in the summer months was eliminated. Regarding the lighting in general, the existing light fixtures were retained and conserved, while new floor lighting was introduced to highlight the metal structures.
The utilisation of the single-storey structure along the main roofed section of the station is of interest, as it continues to house a back-up train. In collaboration with three state agencies – the Ministry of Culture, the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASKT), and ISAP – the solid white wall of the station plays host to large-scale works by ASKT students. Thus waiting for a train can take on a visual and educational dimension.
At the same time the platforms were lengthened. The future plans of ISAP include the enlargement of the Piraeus building complex along the coast front, so as to create a complex with multiple potential.

TRANSPORTATION