Manifesto|of|Complexities
Architecture Collaborative
Starting from the premise that the detached house constitutes the overwhelmingly predominant residential typology in the wider area, the proposal seeks to investigate in depth the spatial conditions defined by this particular typology. Its design intention is to fundamentally reformulate the type within the framework of collective dwelling.
At the core of this transition from the individual to the collective lies the spatial organisation of the courtyard. If the detached house is examined as a building system, and more specifically distinguished according to the relationship of entry between building, plot and public space, the key to its spatial configuration lies in the courtyard.
The courtyard manifests itself in at least two predominant forms: firstly, that of the front yard, which defines the entrance to the dwelling as an open and publicly oriented threshold; and secondly, that of the rear courtyard, an open, private and enclosed space, where social interaction is permitted primarily through adjacency.
This spatial configuration is grounded in the reading of the entrance as a fundamental spatial transition. Since the aim of the proposal is to reproduce the logic of the detached house within collective dwelling, its first and most decisive characteristic is the pursuit of a ground-level, courtyard-based entrance to the individual dwellings.
The reading of the topography, together with the positioning of the semi-subterranean units, substantially supports this criterion. A large number of dwellings can be accommodated within partially embedded volumes with rear courtyards, while the first level of the superstructure, wherever required, also operates as a ground floor.
The distribution of movement through the upper building volumes is resolved through open access galleries in the form of ballatoio, complemented by the addition of loggia, allowing for the simultaneous presence of at least two open spaces of distinct spatial qualities within each dwelling.
These choices reveal a deliberate attempt to introduce a fundamentally urban typology into an arrangement of suburban detached houses, proposing a hybrid condition of local urbanity.
The space between the residential buildings is organised as an extensive courtyard, occupying the interstitial space between the ground-level dwellings. An extension of this shared courtyard is formed by the now communal circulation path, establishing a sequence of gradual transitions from the public realm towards the private “courtyard” of each dwelling.
The dwelling itself operates as a spatial threshold within this transition.
Topography and Building Massing
The building footprint remains below the permitted site coverage, with the semi-subterranean portions fully accounted for within the overall footprint, without compromising either the proposed functional programme or the number of dwellings.
The proposal follows a principle of minimal intervention in the natural terrain, avoiding abrupt alterations to the landscape and its existing topographical condition.
The positioning of the building volumes on the site is dictated almost entirely by the existing contour lines, orienting the development towards the sea. The dwellings, predominantly close to ground level, partially embedded within the terrain or extending to a single upper floor, are terraced along the slope in such a way as to ensure unobstructed views for all units.
As these views are secured primarily through the existing natural gradient of the site, they are inherently safeguarded over time, since their obstruction or reversal through future construction on neighbouring plots becomes considerably more difficult.
Circulation and Movement Network
In terms of circulation, the proposal introduces a new, low-intensity access road that serves both the development and its public connection to the surrounding network.
Parking spaces are integrated organically into the open landscape, arranged along the road, responding both to the need to avoid costly excavation for underground parking—thus supporting the affordability of the project—and to the need to integrate parking within the landscape without creating blind and residual spaces of the pilotis type.
Materiality, Construction Method and Environmental Strategy
The architectural proposal is founded on material economy, favouring construction systems that do not require specialised application techniques, allowing the project to be realised without unnecessary construction costs or additional technical burdens.
Concrete is used only where considered essential: at the unavoidable interface between the building and the ground, and in the elements required for retaining the terrain. The semi-subterranean portions are constructed in exposed reinforced concrete.
The geometry of the proposal facilitates the possibility of insulating the building envelope from the exterior face where it is embedded within the ground. The exposed concrete elements are thus achieved without the costly requirement of a double-envelope construction, while the arrangement of dwellings in party-wall configuration reduces the surface area requiring insulation to the minimum possible.
In the superstructure, solid brick masonry is employed simultaneously as infill and load-bearing construction. This choice draws upon a historical reference connecting Cyprus with the Venetian city of Palmanova, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region—a historical coexistence of fortified urban architecture that offers a significant constructive precedent.
The structural and tectonic expression of brick masonry constitutes here an architectural borrowing from a local suburban building tradition of a region in dialogue with Cyprus. At the same time, the choice of solid brick masonry contributes to reducing the overall environmental footprint of the intervention.
The deliberate restriction of reinforced concrete to the minimum necessary, together with the pursuit of a construction system that can be implemented locally, without additional cost, using a non-extractive and fully recoverable material, allows the proposal to respond directly to contemporary construction conventions and requirements.
The environmental strategy and the ambition for energy autonomy are completed through the strategic placement of sufficient photovoltaic surfaces, integrated directly into the geometry of the roofs.
This approach reinforces the long-term viability of the project, providing high-quality, affordable housing with an almost negligible operational footprint.
