The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), designed by Renzo Piano, has opened in the Greek capital city Athens with a four day festival of cultural events.

The building – one of CLAD’s most anticipated of 2016 – is a multi-functional and environmentally sustainable education, arts, and recreation complex which houses the National Library of Greece and the Greek National Opera in separate wings.

The building features a sloping grass roof which visitors can climb to access a glass-walled Reading Room and a 360 degree viewpoint over the city and coast. This links at the bottom to the 210,000sq m (2,260sq ft) Stavros Niarchos Park, created by landscape architects Deborah Nevins and Associates.

The complex is aiming for a LEED platinum rating. Natural ventilation is being extensively used and the building’s canopy roof is topped with 10,000sq m (107,000sq ft) of photovoltaic cells. The architects say this will generate 1.5 megawatts of power.

Alongside the centre, a wide canal has been built as a figurative extension of the adjacent sea, and an anti-flooding window for the whole site.

The SNFCC is a gift by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to the Greek state – one of the largest donations in Greece’s history – and will be operated by the government. The total cost of the project is approximately US$816m (€738.5m, £595m). The SNF was founded by the late shipping magnate Stavros Spyros Niarchos – considered one of the most innovative and successful businessmen of the 20th century.

Proud to be Greek. An excellent new Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center #snf #Greece #snfccmetamorphosis pic.twitter.com/imI9VXA2Xs

— Aris Kamvisis (@AKamvisis) June 23, 2016