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. With this in mind, a group of instructors and dedicated students gathered around the walled city of Nicosia, and invented a world where social problems are tackled with urban proposals. This initiative came forth under the umbrella of Buildings Blocks for Social Sustainability (ARCH-392 Catalyst I).
Statem ent To sustain is to 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. As 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.
Catalyst Brief 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 spaces in a three-dimensional and temporal manner in order to induce 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 shapes and forms constructed urban environment.
Course Objectives and Learning Outcom es Participants take a multi-ethnic area of particular urban interest, analyse it as per its specific physical and social elements and invented a system, a process, a space, an object, a condition, or a circumstance that will act as a catalyst of social and spatial perception. Final products range from the invention of a new visual language for wayfinding, choreographing experiential activities, staging new urban functions, designing interactive mobile systems, temporary or permanent structures and others. The aim of the design is to challenge current cognitive perceptions and encourage social inclusion and sustainable communities. While particular attention is set on non-conventional means of visual expression, inquiries include the physical and metaphorical manifestation of conditions of social inclusion and exclusion, identifying physical elements or landmarks that if removed, would strip the area of its identity, its sense of 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 and influence. Space to grow.
The I nstructors The instructing team consists of practitioners and theoreticians with an extensive background on issues of sustainable design, bioclimatic architecture, sustainable urbanism and social and environmental 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. Alexandros Postekkis who masterminded the entire initiative, is a graduate of the SDU and an active practitioner. Nikolas Tsaousis is also a graduate of architecture from the University of Nicosia and his special interests and thesis, with Dr Lapithis as his advisor, lay well within urbanism and social sustainability. SDU focuses on theory, technology and technique that promote the creation of a sustainable built environment. The mission of the Sustainable Design Unit is to advance architecture and design to exist harmoniously with man, nature and the spirit of place. In architecture, sustainable design is not the attachment or the supplement of architectural design, but it is an integrated design process. SDU Studio projects directly explore the interdependent issues of environmental, social and economic sustainability. The Studio culture prompts students to develop critical positions concerning sustainability and to extend and explore those positions through the architectural design process.
The Students Project title: Move to the End Participants: Savvas Fysentzou, Evgenios Vasiliou, Maria Christophi Observation
Observing and defining dead-ends and conditions of spatial isolation.
Proposal Connecting the dead-end spaces to enhance interaction between existing users and non-users, by creating an interactive route where users can be informed of activities that take place at dead-end spaces.
Project title: Safe Art Participants : Sophia Stavrinide, Eleni Stavrou, Constantia Djiali Observation The project focuses on safety concerns that arise by observing the old town of Nicosia. By discussing with locals, it was outlined that in the evenings, the area is completely lacking of light, and therefore, the area seems to be abandoned. Some also described the area as ‘frightening’. Proposal The proposed idea is the addition of a central 24/7 open market, and three different paths with different uses to pass through. The aim is to connect Ledras street and the Pangkyprio school area, in order to bring life in an undeveloped area of Nicosia and to improve some existing conditions such as lack of safety. Different light conditions, different time zones (morning, afternoon, evening) with proposed activities were also proposed targeted age of the participants was considered. The addition of graffiti on the roads as a guide is also proposed.
Project title: Live Streaming-Connecting Cultures Participants : Antonis Karmenos, Paris Sophocleous, Tasos Pouros Observation An analysis of the existing cultural activities was done, showing that throughout Nicosia different cultural activities are constantly occurring. Proposal Connect different cultures, by inserting pavilions at different places throughout the city. Cultural activities are interconnected with live streaming video showing the happenings of all areas around the pavilions so that one can have a condensed view of all cultural aspects. Bicycles were also added that collect energy while being used and energy is transferred to the pavilion when docked back to the pavilion.
Project title: In-Fix Participants : Kyriaki Chira, Christina Hadjisterkoti, Lambia Constantinou Observation
Locals who live or work in the area were interviewed for their opinion about the old city.
Proposal
Addition of activities that will enhance safety and will create a stronger sense of place
Project title: Multi-One Food Network Participants : Constantinos Pavlou, Anthi Eleni Mintsiou, Nikolas Savva Observation background.
Street chosen presents multiethnic markets and restaurants, with patrons being of ethnic background/culture
Proposal Blend the different cultures, promote different home-grown produce, reinforce the relation between the shops, slow down and/or minimise traffic, eliminate the road side parking spaces, welcoming scene for visitors to multiethnic elements. Also propose sitting areas and structures above the road level for vegetation.
Project title: Prosperity of the Abandoned Participants : Egor Mosolov, Evgeny Zelenov, Lev Shchipakin Observation Congestion of main street, lots of abandoned and ruined houses on backstreets and not visited by tourists and locals, backstreets are not developed, lots of empty spaces and chaotic parking. Proposal Bring people on the backstreets and remove parking lots from the centre. Develop active and friendly places either at empty spaces or ruined/abandoned buildings. Activities proposed are green zones, sports, spots for musicians, cafeterias, shops, creative potential.
Project title: Playgrounds Developed Through Meanwhile Spaces Participants : Andrea Pafiti, Eva Loizou, Stefanos Panteli Observation Roads and pedestrian circulation paths were investigated. Also taking into consideration the ages of the users, classification of commercial and public spaces and the classification of open spaces and in-between spaces. Proposal Design a continuous playground that loops through residential and commercial areas to create conditions for various activities through its design, this design proposes to bring together social groups and ages through the activities. Its design takes place in meanwhile spaces such as corridors, abandoned buildings, empty-open spaces, etc
Project title: Re-Finding Participants : Kyriakos Neoptolemou, Theodosis Georgiou, Danae Georgiadou Observation All important cultural buildings were noted on the map. The goal was to connect all these buildings/sites together forming a path. RE Finding one’s way through the walled city of Nicosia by creating a visible, clear path which will bring energy back to the city. Proposal The path is reformed by a red panel that is either on the ground (in commercial areas) or 3 to 4 meters high. Arrows are cut out from the panels and direct sunlight that is projected on the street. On various points on the path the panel extrudes towards the ground and forms sitting areas or booths.
Project title: Inter-Group Mixing Participants : Myria Panteli Observation
Relationship between immigrants and locals
Proposal Creating a network for the different groups of people living or visiting old Nicosia centre that will serve their daily and leisure needs but also give them the opportunity for interaction and an experience between them. Encourage intergenerational/inter-group mixing and improve communication and awareness through a series of portals for audiovisual recordings to be transmitted throughout the city.
Project title: Back to Nature Participants : Panagiotis Hadjiphillipou, Marios Theodotou Observation Observe where and how people and car circulation move in the old city and around the municipal garden, identify pedestrian flow and accessibility to the garden. Pedestrian accessibility to the site is the biggest problem and is hindered by numerous government buildings needs of big road access. Road crossings do not exist and sidewalks are in very bad shape. The particular site is enhanced with a variety of species of vegetation. During weekdays, a short number of people use the site basic as a shortcut, and some of them to just relax on resting areas, while on Sunday’s different cultures, visit the site, as to mingle, socialize, cook, have picnics, and sell items. Proposal A selection of old and new city spots that introduce and direct the locals, immigrants and tourists to the municipal garden is accomplished via ‘Green Graffiti’ (design symbols and drawings on streets, sidewalks, walls and buildings that are related to the Park). Develop the park through the peoples’ needs in the city, such as better recreational spaces and resting spots, in-nature playgrounds for minors, cooking area, bazaar, cafeterias, free range animals, grow-it-yourself learning opportunities and a “multi-ethnicity village” area is created for 1 or 2 week events, introducing foreign cultures. Through the peoples’ need of being heard for social, political, economic reasons, an ‘Agora’ emerges for citizen gathering, exposing and recording problems and ideas. Accountable individuals on a daily basis will pass the peoples’ voice in the parliament.
THE CYPRUS WEEKLY
APRIL 19 - 25, 2013
12 LOCAL NEWS
Implementing social sustainability in the walled city of Nicosia By Melissa Hekkers
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or the past year, a team from the Architecture Department of the University of Nicosia have been tackling the concept of social sustainability, a term they admit is difficult to pin down because of its wide ranging intangibility. There’s no denying the term’s appeal during the current economic turbulence, as issues of community and social cohesion are increasingly becoming pivotal to our global survival. Yet what made the end of March Catalyst Workshop ‘Building Blocks for Social Sustainability’ intriguing is the very hands-on nature of the project that the 27 architecture students took part in. Once every semester, for five days and away from classes, students are involved in a specialist workshop. This year, instructors and students gathered around the walled city of Nicosia and invented a world where social problems were tackled with urban proposals. The basic premise for the students was the following: To sustain is to survive, and to survive as a community requires that class and racial differences, as well as spatial and perceptual distances are overcome by goodwill and good design. As such, social sustainability combines design of the physical realm with design of the social world for creating successful places that promote well-being by understanding what people need from the places they live and work. “Because usually architecture focuses on creation of form, of building, what we have been building on as a culture in the sustainability unit (of the Architecture Department at the University of Nicosia), and what this workshop is doing as well, is to put on equal scale, production form and social existence. “You need to work with people and with the needs of people and that’s why we chose Nicosia; because of its particularities…because of its particular multiethnic nature,” explains Anna Papadopoulou, one of the four individuals in the instructing team. Obliging students to wear their architectural hat from a social as opposed to merely a structural point of view not only entailed recognising the needs and habits of the people along with the already formed environment, but also propelled them to grasp a relatively new trend, that of participatory design. “Participatory design has to do with positioning the architect not as a genius, or as the expert, but as a facilitator of a situation and this is a really new trend for architects to absorb first, because you have to change the attitude of the architect and then the acceptance comes,” said Papadopoulou. “We focused on a specific area of the old city which is multi-ethnic and has characteristics which haven’t been built by architects, but mostly artisan builders.
PROPOSAL: Solving pedestrian accessibility problems at one of the municipal parks by creating a bridging system
The character of the city was created by the humans living in the city, within specific areas with specific cultures,” Nikolas Tsaousis, another team member suggests. “Students started reading more humanistic ways of understanding people, specific ways of understanding the area and the way they understand the structure and the buildings that surround us.” Working in groups within flexible subject matters, students relied on real life analyses. The resulting designs challenged current cognitive perceptions and encouraged social inclusion and sustainable communities. “Hopefully this will help create spaces that are more suited to better living as opposed to being impressive and also for the most part build environments that tend to be very high on energy demand,” said Papadopoulou when referring to the project but also to social sustainability as a whole. Trying to imagine what kinds of proposals students developed after the five day workshop, the initial assumption may be that they had a utopian approach or perhaps focused on a theoretical effort to unsettle and therefore ‘raise standards of living’ in the area in ques-
CONCLUSIONS: Dr Petros Lapithis working with architecture students during the four day Catalyst Workshop
tion. Papadopoulou was quick to dismiss this notion. This project aimed at “improving the quality of life but I wouldn’t say to raise the standard of living, because if you say that, it’s as if we were deciding what the standard is. And that’s a tricky proposition. People can be very happy living in what we may consider substandard conditions…I’m not looking at it as a utopia, because that automatically predetermines no viable nature! I think if you start big, you can eventually have the seed of something. Think big, go crazy, be creative, and when the time comes, if the time comes, when you are out practising and these things have been inscribed already in your DNA, then maybe you can do something big.” Tsaousis affirmed that the very outcome of such initiatives is what needed to be questioned and perhaps embraced. “It (workshop) raises questions, daily issues; it’s not dealing with something that will come sometime in the future. It’s not futuristic even with regards to the design and the approach of the project and in a way, when results are published it raises questions to authorities: what can be done?”
CONCEPT: Connecting the dots of dead end spaces to enhance interaction between users and non-users by creating an interactive information route
APRIL 19 - 25, 2013
LOCAL NEWS 13
Blending cultures
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peaking to two students, from two different teams, it was refreshing to read in between the academic lines often characteristic of such workshops. Eleanthi Mintsiou worked with a group which focused on Trikoupi Street in the heart of the old town, which is known for its multi-ethnic markets and restaurants, usually owned by patrons of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Their proposal was to initiate a blending of these different cultures, promote different homegrown produce, reinforce the relation between the shops, slow down and/or
minimise traffic, eliminate the road side parking, elements which all work towards welcoming the scene for visitors to multiethnic elements. They also proposed sitting areas and structures above the road level for vegetation. “It was strange coming into contact with that area, we felt that perhaps we wouldn’t be accepted, we felt it was kind of a ghetto, but when we spoke to them, because each have their own customers, they aren’t competing against each other, and they were all the more happy to embrace the initiative to blend with other cultures. This surprised us,” said INTERVENTION: Addition of activities around the old town to ensure more safety and entice more people to visit the area Mintsiou.
Reviving the backstreets Evgeny Zelenov and his team observed the congestion of the main Ledra Street, the many abandoned and ruined houses in the backstreets that are not visited by tourists and locals, but are undeveloped with lots of empty spaces and chaotic parking. Their proposal was to “bring people to the backstreets and remove parking lots from the centre and develop active and friendly places, either at
empty spaces or ruined/abandoned buildings.” The activities they proposed were green zones, sports, spots for musicians, cafeterias, shops and creative potentials. “It was interesting to make an analysis, to take photos from Ledra Street to see what’s going on, to show these different relations via maps and pictures, and then to design the proposed activities,” he said.
'Building Blocks for Social Sustainability’ The ‘Building Blocks for Social Sustainability’ teaching team comprises Dr Petros Lapithis, Anna Papadopoulou, Alexandros Postekkis and Nikolas Tsaousis. The Sustainable Design Unit focuses on theory, technology and techniques that promote the creation of a sustainable built environment. The unit is part of the Architecture Department of the University of Nicosia.