BOEHRINGER-INGELHEIM PHARMACEUTICAL COMPLEX

KOROPI, GREECE

The Boehringer-Ingelheim pharmaceutical plant is located in Koropi (east Attica), close to the Athens International Airport. It was awarded, by the Greek Ministry of Public Works, one of the 30 ex-aequo prizes for the best buildings in Greece of the 1973-1983 period.

All major functions of the pharmaceutical plant are contained in one building which includes manufacturing areas, packaging lines, laboratories, warehouses as well as administrative and staff facilities. Extending over the whole building is the technical floor which houses all the mechanical equipment and allows ducting, piping, cabling etc. to reach the exact area required, this being particularly important for the complex and specialised manufacturing areas.

The supporting facilities of the industrial complex have been placed at a distance from the main building and are connected via an underground tunnel in the case of the energy building and a covered corridor in the case of the staff cafeteria. There is also a waste treatment plant. The total surface area of the buildings is 11570m² while the site is 48500m².

Stand-out features of the plant are the exposed concrete surfaces, the vertical blinds of the main building, the covered corridor with its orange columns and the almost sculptural exposed concrete fire escape stair.

The landscaping of the site includes a variety of trees and shrubs and is in harmony with a large preserved vineyard at the back of the site. Most significant are the age-old olive trees and large poplars which line the main circulation axis on both of its sides. In fact, these olive trees and poplars were the starting point of the site layout and thus of the overall concept. As one enters the site, one continues to feel, to this day, that the two lines of trees together with the circulation axis are the fulcrum from which emanate the several functions of the overall complex.