LEDRA PALACE CROSSING, NICOSIABUILDING BLOCKS FOR SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY CATALYST II / ARCH-491 / 9th 13 th November 2015 / [A.R.C.]

Petros Lapithis, Anna Papadopoulou, Alexandros Postekkis, Nikolas Tsaousis

Catalyst Brief

The workshop addresses the issue of social sustainability within a humanisticand cultural context, set on the platform of the built environment.Participants are called to consider matters of formal and informal urbanstructure, sense of community, social identity and ethics as those pertain tosocietal development in a diverse, multicultural setting. Operating under thepremise that social sustainability can be attained through means ofcollaboration and common awareness, the workshops findings aim to activateurban spaces in a three-dimensional and temporal manner in order to inducevalues of social and egalitarian participation.

At demanding times such as these, when we are called upon as a nation towithstand the turbulence of the financial crisis and the challenges of theenergy potential, issues of community and social cohesion become pivotal toour global survival. The time has come to look beyond skin colour, religionand social order and to employ architecture as a means of creating livingspaces that transcend racial division and micro-politics. With this in mind, agroup of instructors and dedicated students gathered around the Ledra PalaceCrossing , Nicosia, and invented a world where social problems are tackledwith urban proposals. This initiative came forth under the umbrella ofBuildings Blocks for Social Sustainability (ARCH-491Catalyst II).

The site chosen is known as the Ledra Palace Crossing and it is situated justoutside the western top of the Venetian Walls of Nicosia. The name of thearea has been provided by military checkpoint separating Nicosias militarizedand demilitarized jurisdictions. Ledra Palace the building immediately adjacentto the checkpoint, was formerly a landmark hotel for the city, and currentlyprovides administrative and accommodation facilities for the United Nations(UN) forces stationed in Cyprus. The rich tapestry of the areas past extendsalong the approximate north-south axis provided by the Wall and the Moat,which act as a spine connecting civil buildings such as th4 the District andSupreme Courts in the south, Ledra Palace in the north, impressive sandstonecolonial buildings on the west and a more humble and dense residential fabricon the east. Conditions of spatial and social isolation occur as a result of thedifferent jurisdictions, the sites elevational challenges and the areas activehistoricity.

Statement

To sustain is to survive, and to survive as a community requires that class andracial differences, as well as spatial and perceptual distances are overcomeby good will and good design. As such, social sustainability combines designof the physical realm with design of the social world for creating successfulplaces that promote wellbeing by understanding what people need from theplaces they live and work.

Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes

Participants take a multi-ethnic area of particular urban interest, analyse it asper its specific physical and social elements and invented a system, aprocess, a space, an object, a condition, or a circumstance that will act as acatalyst of social and spatial perception. Final products range from theinvention of a new visual language for wayfinding, choreographingexperiential activities, staging new urban functions, designing interactivemobile systems, temporary or permanent structures and others. The aim ofthe design is to challenge current cognitive perceptions and encourage socialinclusion and sustainable communities.

While particular attention is set on non-conventional means of visualexpression, inquiries include the physical and metaphorical manifestation ofconditions of social inclusion and exclusion, identifying physical elements orlandmarks that if removed, would strip the area of its identity, its sense ofplace, traces of transculturation etc.

Since the nature of the catalyst workshop is limited to five working days,participants quests are better served while operating in groups of three.Each group takes on the investigation of any of the following circumstantialrelationships: Amenities and social infrastructure, Social and cultural life,Voice and influence. Space to grow.

The InstructorsThe instructing team consists of practitioners and theoreticians with anextensive background on issues of sustainable design, bioclimaticarchitecture, sustainable urbanism and social and environmental ethics.

Dr Petros Lapithis is a professor of architecture and the coordinator of theSustainable Design Unit (SDU) at the Department of Architecture, Universityof Nicosia, while Anna Papadopoulou joins the SDU as adjunct faculty andspecial consultant. Alexandros Postekkis who masterminded the entireinitiative, is a graduate of the SDU and an active practitioner. NikolasTsaousis is also a graduate of architecture from the University of Nicosia andhis special interests and thesis, with Dr Lapithis as his advisor, lay wellwithin urbanism and social sustainability.

The StudentsThe student team consists of students of the Architecture programme andthe Interior programme of the Department of Architecture, University ofNicosia.Nikiforou Ivi, Christofidou Christiana, Hatzigeorgiou Josephina, AlferovaAnastasia, Chrysochos Andreas, Agamemnonos Louis, Psaroude Rafaella,Stylianou Georgia, Neokleous Rafaella

Project title: Green Design for DiversityParticipants: Christiana Christofidou, Ivi Nikiforidou, JosephinaHadjigeorgiouObservation:The Ledra Palace site is a multi-culture area which gives the opportunity ofconnection at one point between the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriotsides. However, the morphology of the ground and the physical and technicalboundaries such as the vegetation, the wall of the moat and the transportinginfrastructure do not allow access between the two communities.Proposal:The connection is now achieved by using bridges in order people can acrossone side to another and also have the opportunity to descend to the moatwhich is now transformed into an open green space.

Project title: Wide Open SpacesParticipants: Louis Agamemnonos, Andreas Chrysochos, Anastasia AlferovaObservation:Observations of abandoned and inhabited space and also the different uses.There is a contrast in density of vegetation and porosity of the urban fabricProposal:The proposal is based on the observations of contrast that exist within theurban fabric. It is an experiential path starting from two different locations,which are the House of Cooperation and the Arabahmet Mosque, since theyare both important community landmarks. The propose of the path is toenhance the social interaction within the site and it has a flexible pattern inorder to the different conditions.

Project title: Feel the MoatParticipants: Rafaela Neokleous, Rafaella Psaroudes, Georgia StylianouObservation:The time usage around the site was interesting as at the evening hoursmost of the area before the borders is not used. Activities around the sitelike restaurants, bars football courts, playgrounds, school were also noteddown. The most emphasis was given to the boundaries found which arevisibility boundaries, architectural and physical, and political boundaries,the borders. Thee is no connection from the one side the other having themoat as a vastness of empty space separating them physically but alsopoliticallyProposal:We proposed a grid of scaffoldings, that based on the observations, we willcome to overlap the boundaries found and connect the two sides bycreating different events. The users will have the flexibility to adjust theirown uses on the scaffoldings and uses such as market, cafeteria, sleepingarea and the stage are proposed

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