Marathonisi Island

Marathonisi is a private island within the National Marine Park of Zakynthos. Its northern coast is host to a nesting beach of the protected Loggerhead sea turtle Caretta-Caretta. Existing legislation allows the restoration of the old agricultural estate as well as the implementation of light infrastructure for ecotourism. The restoration project is a painstaking study of the existing ruined complex of buildings in parallel with a study of local architectural heritage that was swept away in the devastating earthquake that hit the island in 1953. The landscape plan incorporates the old estate agricultural infrastructure with the new proposed environmental interpretation infrastructures into a unified whole for eco-tourism. The target set by the brief is to enable the reorganization of current ad-hoc tourism which is harming the sensitive beach biotope into a controlled unique educational and recreational experience.