BBSS 2/State Refugee Estates, Agios Mamas 2013-2014

STATE REFUGEE ESTATES AGIOS MAMAS STATE REFUGEE ESTATES, AGIOS BUILDING BLOCKS FOR SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY CATALYST I / ARCH‐392 / 24 / / th – 28 th March 2014 / [A.R.C.] h /[ ] Petros Lapithis, Anna Papadopoulou, Alexandros Lapithis, Anna Papadopoulou, Alexandros Postekkis, Nikolas Tsaousis Postekkis, Nikolas Tsaousis

At demanding times such as these, when we are called upon as a nation to withstand the turbulence of the financial crisis and the challenges of the energy potential, issues of community and social cohesion become pivotal to our global survival. The time has come to look beyond skin colour, religion and social order and to employ architecture as a means of creating living spaces that transcend racial division and micro‐politics. micro politics p of instructors and dedicated students ggathered With this in mind,, a ggroup around the State Refugee Estates, Agios Mamas, Nicosia, and invented a world where social problems are tackled with urban proposals. This initiative came forth f h under d the h umbrella b ll off Buildings B ildi Bl k for Blocks f Social S i l Sustainability S i bili (ARCH‐392 Catalyst I).

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

C t l t Brief Catalyst Bi f The workshop addresses the issue of social sustainability within a humanistic and cultural context, set on the platform of the built environment.

Participants are called to consider matters of formal and informal urban structure, sense of community, social identity and ethics as those pertain to societal development in a diverse, multicultural setting. Operating under the premise that social sustainability can be attained through means of collaboration and common awareness, the workshop’s findings aim to activate urban b spaces in i a three‐dimensional h di i l and d temporall manner in i order d to induce i d values of social and egalitarian participation.

Participants consider issues of spatial form and are called upon to present cognitive and experiential plans and maps that interpret their site’s conditions. Discussion addresses the dynamic relationship between the profile and demographics of a community and its host environment, i.e. whether the built environment defines the social character of the community or whether community is, in fact, the influencing force that p and forms constructed urban environment. shapes Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes Participants take k a multi‐ethnic l h area off particular l urban b interest, analyse l it as per its specific physical and social elements and invented a system, a process, a space, an object, bj t a condition, diti or a circumstance i t th t will that ill actt as a catalyst of social and spatial perception. Final products range from the invention of a new visual language for wayfinding, wayfinding choreographing experiential activities, staging new urban functions, designing interactive mobile systems, systems temporary or permanent structures and others. others The aim of the design is to challenge current cognitive perceptions and encourage social inclusion and sustainable communities. communities While particular attention is set on non‐conventional means of visual expression, i i inquiries i i include i l d the h physical h i l and d metaphorical h i l manifestation if i off conditions of social inclusion and exclusion, identifying physical elements or l d landmarks k that th t if removed, d would ld strip t i the th area off its it identity, id tit its it sense off place, traces of transculturation etc.

Since the nature of the catalyst workshop is limited to four working days, participants’ quests are better served while operating in groups of three.

Each group takes on the investigation of any of the following circumstantial relationships: Amenities and social infrastructure, Social and cultural life, Voice i and d influence. i fl Space to grow.

The Instructors The h instructing i i team consists i off practitioners ii and d theoreticians h i i with i h an extensive background on issues of sustainable design, bioclimatic architecture sustainable urbanism and social and environmental ethics. architecture, ethics Dr Petros Lapithis is a professor of architecture and the coordinator of the Sustainable Design Unit (SDU) at the Department of Architecture, University of Nicosia, while Anna Papadopoulou joins the SDU as adjunct faculty and special consultant. consultant Alexandros Postekkis who masterminded the entire initiative, is a graduate of the SDU and an active practitioner. Nikolas Tsaousis is also a ggraduate of architecture from the Universityy of Nicosia and his special interests and thesis, with Dr Lapithis as his advisor, lay well within urbanism and social sustainability.

The Students The student team consists of students of the Architecture programme and the Interior programme of the Department of Architecture, University of Nicosia.

Adamou Georgia, Apserou Ourania, Kouloumbri Christina, Paraskevaidi M i tt Vasquez Marietta, V H djil Hadjilyra P Penelope, l Ch Chrysanthou th Stavros, St P i Loukia, Parpi L ki Andreou Thalia, Hadjipetri Skevi, Elena Athanasiou, Cleopatra Ioannou, Argyridou Marilena, Michalis Peppas, Balabanides Anastasis

Project title: Multifunctional Temporality Participants: i i Adamou d G Georgia, i Apserou Ourania O i Observation: Dead Ends / Green Areas are creating a small community of the neighbouring houses. The purpose of their function is to provide safety and enclosure so they should be effectively used. They wish that these areas where well treated and organized, they would like to be able to walk there, grow their plants or vegetables, and have a pleasurable place to sit, relax and interact.

Poor temporal structures at dead ends usually used as car park shelters, shelters storage or workings spaces. The green areas are left abandoned instead of productivelyy used. There is an absence of local yyoungg couples p who beingg p prefer to move to another area.

Proposal: By focusing on Dead Ends and Green Areas of the Site the proposal is offering: A multifunctional space of interaction where the inhabitants of the community will gain a sense of ownership, ownership productivity, productivity socializing and relaxation. It aims to satisfy the needs of all age groups, and increasing the quality of life and at the same time creates a connection between the neighbours. The intervention will work as a place to grow, to play, to sit, interact and relax Project title: Safe Visibility Participants: Kouloumbri Christina, Paraskevaidi Marietta Observation: We analysed the different speeds of the roads. Furthermore, we focused on the density of the temporary structures that appears to be more than the permanent buildings. Some of the temporary structures are used by the residents as parking or storages. storages Also there are many dead ends which can have different viewpoints to informal green areas and sometimes not. p Proposal: We proposed a change to the density between the permanent and the temporary structures by reorganizing the temporary structures, considering the h open areas / green areas nearby b to allow ll more unrestricted i d visibility i ibili around them. By moving the temporary structures that belong to the edges of the dead dead窶親nd end and placing those in order inside the dead dead窶親nds ends or by reorganised all the temporary structures only in the edges of the dead ends.

Project title: Linking through appropriation Participants: i i Vasquez Hadjilyra djil Penelope, l Ch Chrysanthou h Stavros S Observation: Although the site is located adjacent to a main road and cycling path, path the road serves the community, without allowing it to become a destination.

The community includes a dysfunctional central core, which divides the area into two parts. There is a large degree of appropriation on the site, where residents extend their activities to the otherwise inert open spaces and dead ends. ends Proposal: path linkingg the two ‘parts’ p of the community, y, while at the same time Ap passing through the core and church (identified as landmarks), can help to attract residents into meeting each other and socialising. Another path joins the first one to the main road and the cycling path, as a means of attracting visitors that would otherwise bypass the community. Proposed activities are introduced along the paths as point interventions, interventions and are based on extending and formalising the existing appropriated elements.

Project title: Red path P ti i Participants: t Parpi P i Loukia, L ki Andreou A d Th li Hadjipetri Thalia, H dji t i Skevi Sk i Observation: Because of the dead ends more time is needed to reach a destination by car than on foot. The church, the school and the market area were identified as important main spots of social interactions of the inhabitants.

Proposal: the proposal involves the extension and creation of paths that connect the existing paths with points of activities and green areas. In order to achieve this, this a flexible modular box is introduced, introduced that can be rearranged according to the use. Through the organization of elements of the proposed p the p paths and main red module,, the inhabitants are led to experience spaces through planting, exercising, sitting under the shade.

Project title: Interaction�Installation�Movable platform Participants: i i Elena l Athanasiou, h i Cl Cleopatra Ioannou, Argyridou id Marilena il Observation: Lack of interaction and Social isolation are the main observations within this community. community There is no limited interaction between people of different ages in this community and they need a socializing space.

Proposal: areas have been chosen to connect together the surrounding communities of the refugee estates. It facilitates access for the people within the radius of 400m from the hot spot. A movable ( It can easily move around the community by car) installation ( The design purpose is to improve the socialization between the people in and out of the community )has been providingg interaction ((Its flexible objects j on the p platform are created p adjustable to their needs )

Project title: Enlightment Participants: Michalis Peppas, Peppas Balabanides Anastasis Observation: Going through the analysis, observing the area and after speaking with the locals we have spotted a major problem the criminality and the absence of lighting in many areas of the site. Especially the dead ends, the empty plots and the abandoned buildings are identified as cores of criminality. i i lit Proposal: The proposal is based on grouping certain problematic areas and transforms them in order to serve the people needs. The dead ends, the uniformly green spaces and the abandoned buildings as a group become the areas that will enlighten the area around them metaphorically and literally.

The five groups (cores) becoming impromptu cultural centre�less formal and community oriented in the day time. In the night time the previous abandoned buildings and now spontaneous art centres become a source of light for the whole surrounding area and also a place that young artists and people p can meet each other and entertain themselves at the casual common p bars of the respective cultural centres