Nowadays, an Educational Center for Astronomy is not a luxury for a big city like Volos with a rich cultural tradition. In the most developed countries, the Public Astronomy Centers and Observatories are much more widespread, and are engaged in research, education, training and employment of both students and young people as well as older people, as well as beauty and mysteries of the starry sky always fascinate and attract human interest.
This project deals with the creation of an Astronomy and Sky Observation Education Center in Agios Stefanos of Volos, aiming at disseminating and popularizing scientific and astronomical knowledge mainly to students, but also to the general public of Magnesia and Greece in general and as a building the program is structured arounf the perimeter of an open-air observatory as it is the main function of the building along with the main observatory and planetarium.
The building is located on the hill “Stavros” in Agios Stefanos, eleven kilometers from the city center of Volos. Since it is a center dedicated to observation and study of the sky, it was placed at the top pf the hill, which formed the basis of the synthetic idea and the relief of the hill together with the contour lines formed the boundaries of the building. A characteristic element of the building are the curved walls of reinforced concrete that can be seen from the open-air observatory and the canopy of the planetarium in the entrance of the building that is located outside and comes to break the circular shape. These synthetic elements in combination with the domes of the two observatories and the curved roof give the visitor the feeling that he travels in space.