Top Italian architect Renzo Piano is to design a massive cultural complex on the coast near Athens, a Greek charitable foundation said Thursday.
The new complex on the Faliron seafront will provide a home for the National Library of Greece and the Greek National Opera, both currently housed in dilapidated old buildings in the centre of the capital.
Piano has promised his work will ''breathe pure air and sanctity'' in homage to Athens, which he described as the city of ''warm spirit and joyful genius''.
The Niarchos Foundation, run by the family of shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos, has offered to stump up 300 mln euros for the project.
''Renzo Piano's Mediterranean roots and his respect for the contribution the Greeks have made to Western culture will provide the inspiration for his work,'' said Foundation President Andreas Dracopoulos.
Piano, 70, has designed a host of major buildings around the world including the Pompidou Centre in Paris, Kansai International Airport in Osaka and the New York Times Building in New York.
His most recent creation, the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, was unveiled in Los Angeles earlier this month.
The seafront complex will be Piano's first commission in Athens.
