Summary
- Ellinikon Park to transform the abandoned airport into a green space for Athens, complete with a sports complex and cultural path.
- Sasaki Architects is leading the project to turn a deserted airport into a 600-acre park with trees, upcycled materials, and an innovative water system.
- Athens aims to combat the effects of climate change by creating green spaces like Ellinikon Park to provide relief from heat waves.
Located on a narrow strip of land between the Aegean Sea and the three thousand feet plus Hymettus mountains for decades. Ellinikon International Airport (ATH) was the international airport serving the Greek capital. Following its closure on March 30, 2001, the airport was primarily abandoned except for a brief period in 2004 when parts of it were used for events during the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics.
In 2014, looking to breathe new life into the abandoned airport, a consortium of investors signed a $1 billion deal to redevelop it into a luxury coastal resort. The plan was to build hotels, apartment blocks, a shopping mall, and an entertainment center with a casino. Alas, political differences and bureaucracy killed the project, and the old airport was used to house thousands of Syrian and Iraqi migrants.
A new green space for the city of Athens
A new vision to turn Ellinikon International Airport into a 600-acre park
With Athens lacking dedicated green areas, Ellinikon Park will give the city’s three million people a tranquil place to relax, unwind, and reconnect with nature.
Image: Sasaki
Besides a 440,000 square meter (4,779,176.23 square feet) state-of-the-art sports complex, there will be 45 kilometers (28 miles) of walkways and bike paths. The park’s 12-kilometer (7.4 mile) cultural path will have 14 historical and modern artifacts from both the classical and contemporary eras.
Sasaki Architects are in charge of the project
In charge of the project is Boston, Massachusetts-headquartered
architecture interior design, and urban planning company Sasaki. Founded in 1953 by landscape architect Hideo Sasaki, it has won many awards for its innovative projects, which include:
- Charleston Waterfront Park; Charleston, South Carolina
- 2008 Beijing Olympic Green; Beijing, China
- Bruce C. Bolling Building; Boston, Massachusetts
- Chicago Riverwalk; Chicago, Illinois
- Universidad de Lima Masterplan; Lima, Peru
- Nord Family Greenway; Cleveland, Ohio
- Zidell Yards Masterplan; Portland, Oregon
- Denver Airport Strategic Plan; Denver, Colorado
- Lincoln Memorial Landscape and Reflecting Pool; Washington DC
- Wuhan Yangtze Riverfront Park; Wuhan, China
- Chengdu Panda Reserve; Chengdu, China

Related
Low Altitude & Speed Over Athens: The Near Miss Involving Olympic Airways Flight 411
The flight was close to ending in disaster for its 400+ occupants.
When speaking with American broadcaster the Cable News Network (CNN) about the Ellinikon Park project, the landscape architect for Sasaki, Michael Grove, said:
“This is a generational and transformational project for Greece. Athenians were frustrated that this was an empty piece of important public land for 20 years.”
Image:Sasaki
When planning how the park would look, Sasaki planners decided to keep some of the airport’s features and repurpose others by recycling them. One of the key features that will remain is the Finnish-American Eero Saarinen-designed 1960s main terminal building and all the runway light poles. The airport’s 300,000 square feet of concrete and the apron from the runways will be recycled for other purposes.
When speaking to CNN about how they plan to use existing materials, Grove said:
This upcycling approach helps to bolster the park’s environmental credentials. We are using what we have on-site through all this beautiful concrete—these 30-centimeter-thick concrete slabs with marble aggregate the size of golf balls.” Grove later added that to keep carbon emissions down, all the maintenance vehicles in the park will be electrically powered.
The park will have more than 30,000 trees
Because the airport had been abandoned for 20 years, nature has allowed a novel ecosystem to emerge; biologists have identified plant species with ecological benefits, such as habitat structure and food provisioning for local wildlife.
After looking closely at the local soil, 86 types of trees were selected for their ability to adapt to the local climate. Water scarcity in the area was also a significant concern, leading the project planners to devise an innovative system to ensure the park had sufficient water.
Image: Sasaki
To do this, a 3.7-acre lake will be created using the former canoe/kayak Olympic venue. The lake will also include a flow-through wetland area and a rain garden that will conserve rainwater during the winter for use during the hot summer months. Again, with nature in mind, all chemicals and pesticides used to help maintain the park will be organic.
The effects of climate change
Athens and Greece as a whole are already seeing the effects of climate change with higher summer temperatures and water scarcity. A study of 571 European cities done by Newcastle University looked at the following criteria:
- A worsening of heatwaves in all European cities
- An increase in drought conditions, particularly in Southern Europe
- An increase in river flooding, mainly in Northwestern Europe
The study singled out Athens, Nicosia, Valletta, and Sofia as the southern European cities most likely to be affected by heat waves and drought. These cities would experience the worst increases in both drought and heatwaves.
Image: Sasaki
One problem cities like Athens have is that large areas of concrete and asphalt absorb and retain heat during the day, making residents feel like they are living in an oven. At least when Ellinikon Park opens to the public, it will give Athens residents a green area to escape the heat of a densely built metropolis.
About Ellinikon International Airport (ATH)
When it opened in 1938, Ellinikon International Airport (ATH) was initially called Kalamaki Airfield. When the Italians invaded Greece in October 1940, they failed to achieve their objectives. Fearing that British forces would move into the Balkans on April 6, 1941, the Germans invaded northern Greece and, by the end of the month, had marched to Athens.

Related
Iconic Boeing 727 From Olympic Airways Restored And Showcased In Athens
After many years on the apron at the deserted Ellinikon Airport, it is now on display in Hellinikon, a suburb of Athens.
Now in the hands of the Germans, Ellinikon International Airport was used by the Luftwaffe until the Germans retreated in October 1944. The following year, Greece signed an agreement with the United States, allowing them to use the airport as an American air base, which they did until 1993.
Now used as a public airport for Athens’ Greek national carrier, Olympic Airways made Ellinikon International Airport (ATH) its main airport. On March 28, 2001, the airport was closed, and all Athens flights now used the new Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos (ATH), near Sparta.