An Urban Park between Mountain and Sea

By: Gustafson Porter + Bowman

Located between the mountains and the sea in northern Greece, the city of Thessaloniki is layered with memories of its past. Yet, its current reputation as Greece’s largest and most influential northern city and its ambition to be the Balkan region’s major business and tourist destination hub, is what’s putting it on the map today. Built in the heart of Thessaloniki, the new ConfEx Park is an emblem of the city’s present and future ambitions. Its strategic location was a driving force behind its redevelopment, which incorporates its past traditions, memories, and reputation for hospitality. Gustafson Porter + Bowman’s landscape design for the park respects its rich heritage in contemporary form, making it an important destination for all who live in and visit the city.

Thessaloniki is a city full of excavated sites, historic buildings and monuments that provide orientation for visitors, as well as an oasis of calm for its residents, in what is a densely built urban environment. Beyond being a tourist destination, ConfEx Park introduces a new route within the city. The Culture Path connects the city’s east and west sides, its major monuments and museums, the new metro station at Egnatia and the landscaped spaces to the new ConfEx Exhibition buildings.

The landscape naturally splits into three parts: the western area between Aggelaki and the central axis, which becomes a space for play and temporary installations; the central area that fans out from the YMCA Square and the Contemporary Art Gallery that becomes the location for small scale cultural gardens, and garden cafes arranged around the existing curved canopy; and the south area adjacent to Leoforus Stratou that addresses the new Conference Centre, will become a large amphitheatre for performances and events. The park’s three landscaped areas provide habitats for a diverse range of native trees and plants specific to the Thessaloniki region; all of which are capable of resisting climate change and the ever-increasing extremes of temperature, storms, and drought. The greater the diversity of plants, the greater the range of wildlife they will support, and the more resilient the plant and wildlife populations will become. This increase in biodiversity will create a natural ecosystem within Thessaloniki, helping to support a healthy environment for its citizens.