Aetheria Heights Plaza, Pafos, Cyprus
Location:
Pafos, Cyprus
Year:
2018- 2019
Type:
Public Square
Award:
1st Prize International Competition
Status:
Planning Permission
Size:
15.000 sqm
The project, which consists of a plaza and a building complex, is located in the heart of the residential settlement Aetheria Heights, near the city of Pafos in Cyprus.
The plaza is designed to function as a versatile meeting and social point and a centre of cultural and recreational activity for the settlement’s residents. It resonates with local cultural heritage offering a sustainable platform of socialisation and engagement in coherence with the rest of the settlement.
The building complex consists of a community club, a craft centre, an art gallery, a café-restaurant, a mini-market and a gym arranged linearly along the northwest side of the piazza. The building follows the natural slope, gradually rising from the ground up to define an enclosure towards the north.
This monolithic synthesis of linear elements highlights and portrays with clarity the virtues of activity-based spatial design. The different levels of the plaza are interconnected by an imperceptible circulation network.
The botanical gardens on the south east side filled with colorful native plants and herbs extend over the craft center roof and offer seating areas that evoke spirituality, tranquility and visual pleasure.
A continuous circulation loop is created over and around the new buildings; a promenade that leads up to the landscaped roof of the ground floor Arts and Crafts center towards the Community club reaching the level of the upper road where the natural ground is at its highest point. The amphitheater also mirrors the slope closing the loop in the opposite direction.
The passer’s gaze is allowed to penetrate the buildings’ interior, enjoy unobstructed views towards the surrounding landscape and observe the free flow of people over the different landscape levels of the plaza.
The design epitomizes the social impact of a public space infused with Eco-emotional intelligence in both the present and the future.