Space of new Identity Nicosia is the last divided capital city. It is a place where a clash of two cultures occurs: Greek and Turkish Cypriots claim the city as their own. Cultural coexistence and frictions make up the everyday life in Nicosia. The urban fabric is split in two by the UN-controlled buffer zone, the width of which ranges from 20 metres to 7 kilometres. The site for our project, the Ermou street, is locked in its entirety inside the area. It used to be a vivid shopping street, that has gradually turned into a relic of the past since the island ́s division in 1974. Given the tiny scale of the surrounding urban fabric, the museum is conceived as a series of punctual interventions. We recognize the existing buildings as history bearers, which is why the museum adds new volumes on top of the ruins. By introducing a string of interventions, the institution operates on an urban scale as well, allowing to visit all of them within a short walk. Our concept investigates the art production process dividing it into four stages: storage, production, exhibition, and the subsequent discussion. We understand the museum as a platform for presenting art to the public. Conventionally, the institution of museum focuses primarily on exhibiting and storing their collection. We intend to break this notion offering the local artists a stage covering the whole lifeline of the art piece. Great works of art have a reverberating effect that lives on in the spectators. Therefore, we decided to offer a space where artists could talk about their work or where seminars could take place. In this sense, the dialogue space handles the ́afterlife ́of the artwork. Allowing insight into every step of the process, even the storage part, engages the spectatoron a deeper level. Thus, our museum intends to redefine the relationship between the artist, their work, and the audience. We imagine the institution as a self-governing art society involving artists equally from both sides of the city. Under the auspices of the United Nations, the museum would maintain its unbiased character focusing on the art production while re-establishing the Ermou Street as a focal point in Nicosia’s Old Town. It would be accessed from both ends, with two additional checkpoints at prominent intersections. Should the tension between the Turkish and the Greek Cypriots endure, the remaining junctions could be transformed into flexible outdoor spaces of the museum (event space, café, etc.) or simply enrich the urban space. This way, our intervention functions as a starting signal for change in the zone, wherefurther initiatives would follow suit. Flexible pavilion-like structures instead of ubiquitous barbed wire. In terms of the construction we aim to contrast the existing walls with the new structure. The volumes are supported by a steel structure enveloped in polycarbonate allowing for a distinct incidence of light. The subject of contrast runs through the entire project: natural and artificial materials, old and new programme, heavy and light structure, dark and brights paces.In order to structure the space in-between, we envision a new pavement as a series of geometric concrete slabs whose size differs in relation to thedistance towards the following part of the museum. The bigger the slabs, the closer you are to the next building. Redesigning the urban space and its walkway would re-establish the Ermou street on the city ́s map changing the face of an other wise deserted and ominous area.
Urban situation, masterplan 1:1000, street elevation 1:150
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Jacopo Bianchi, Karol Wojtas, Studio Antonakakis, FS20
STORAGE
Ground floor
First floor
LAGER
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Storage building, 1:50
Jacopo Bianchi, Karol Wojtas, Studio Antonakakis, FS20
Ground floor
First floor
Second floor
Production building,1:50
Jacopo Bianchi, Karol Wojtas, Studio Antonakakis, FS20
EXHIBITION
EXHIBITION
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Ground floor
EXHIBITION
First floor
Second floor
Third floor
Exhibition building, 1:50
Jacopo Bianchi, Karol Wojtas, Studio Antonakakis, FS20
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Ground floor
First floor
N DISCUSSION Discussion building, 1:50
Jacopo Bianchi, Karol Wojtas, Studio Antonakakis, FS20
Exhibition
Production
Produktion
Construction details, 1:20
Ausstellung
Storage
Lager
Discussion
Diskussion
Jacopo Bianchi, Karol Wojtas, Studio Antonakakis, FS20
Buildings sequence, 1:100
Jacopo Bianchi, Karol Wojtas, Studio Antonakakis, FS20
GSEducationalVersion
Outside spaces,1:50
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Jacopo Bianchi, Karol Wojtas, Studio Antonakakis, FS20
GSEducationalVersion
GSEducationalVersion
Outside spaces,1:50
Jacopo Bianchi, Karol Wojtas, Studio Antonakakis, FS20
onalVersion
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Outside spaces,1:50
Jacopo Bianchi, Karol Wojtas, Studio Antonakakis, FS20
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Outside pavillon,1:50 GSEducationalVersion
Jacopo Bianchi, Karol Wojtas, Studio Antonakakis, FS20