Three-story luxury apartments in the center of Paphos with parking on the ground floor.

The site is between two existing buildings creating an introverted approach to our design. The apartments have a continuous connection to vegetation by softening the adjacent walls by creating a green wall and at the same time allowing the spaces to breathe through cross ventilation.

On the main road, the perforated skin inspired by the sculptor Donald Judd is created to allow for privacy of space but at the same time allow light to fill the spaces.

On the roof terrace, a private space is created for the third-level apartment that can enjoy panoramic views of Kato Paphos and allowing them to have a connection to the sea by swimming in the suspended pool with a seamless water edge.

The grand shaded voids act as cooling chimneys by forcing the hot air to escape and allowing the cool air of the shaded areas to penetrate the interiors, hence minimizing the use of air conditioning during the hot summer months.

This luxury villa was designed to please high-end clients who were looking for a spectacular view of the Paphos sea. Situated in the village of Pegia, this house offers all amenities and automatizations to assist the user to enjoy the exterior whilst being inside of the house. Heavy insulation allows a certain economy of use during the hot and cold periods of the year and deep projections create a certain protection to the large openings.

Having to deal with this site we had to consider two major issues: privacy and views. Privacy is achieved by side blinker walls, extended till the pool, and framing the primary view which is the banana fields and the sea far beyond. The house consists of two parts: the main family house of 200m2, sitting at higher ground, and the guest house 90m2, sitting at the road level. Both buildings are separated by an internal courtyard at road level and a pool at a higher level, all set in parallel to the road and the sea, facing south-west.

“The shadow of your project is captured in the landscape, so you must first hearken it,” said Renzo Piano.

 From the early stages of the elaboration of the sketches, we had in mind these words of the great architect. We wanted to enhance those elements which would contribute and reflect these thoughts, so that building and landscape become one: to receive at any time of the day and night, regardless of the season the glorious sun, the Zephyros wind, the majestic blue sea and the mysterious silver moon of August, as when we were kids going camping and enjoying nature, so the users can embrace all the elements under one…permanent camping tent!

The house was initially designed as a holiday house. In the process, our clients decided to leave London and come to reside in Cyprus.

Despite the fact that originally the house was meant to be used for holidays the clients decide to have …permanent holidays!

As you approach the house from the garage driveway, you face a stonewall with a staircase, with the main habitable area hovering above. The cantilevered mass above provides both shades to the lower ground floor, which accommodates a guest room and an artist’s studio, and a sense of playful curiosity, which invites you to the main entrance. The stone for the walls at the lower level was sourced locally from the Pomos region. The decision to use this local material enables the lower part of the house to blend seamlessly with the landscape, enhancing the weightlessness of the hovering white box above.

The main entrance to the house is through a corten steel door, which leads to a second staircase up to the main habitable areas of the house. As you enter, there are framed views of the sky, the mountains, and the horizon, with the sea-scape and the Pomos fishing harbor below.

The main floor is divided into two by inserting in the middle a generous patio and a pool. Living in Cyprus is basically living outside, due to weather conditions, so we have decided to emphasize this by creating a patio with multiple faces. The sliding roofs retract to expose the sky, whilst the wooden screens, when opened, invite the surrounding nature to be part of the house.

The house faces north at the small fishing harbor of Pomos which was our focal point. The location and the orientation of the property creates a soothing feeling of calmness, whilst the proximity of the cliff and the surrounding fields with lemon, orange and pine trees add a blend of smells, mixed with thyme and other aromatic wild plants.

Living in this house is being exposed to the elements, whilst being protected,  like going camping, enjoying every moment of the day and night.

Having an existing concrete skeleton abandoned to the elements for years the new owner decided to enhance the existing structure and transform it into a holiday house. The northwest exposure and the proximity to the sea obliged us to create a secondary envelope to protect the previous structure whilst insulating against the heat. The creek is running along the east boundary creating a natural cool green environment. The "dress", eloquently remodels the previous structure allowing shading and protection. It also offers a contemporary approach to environmental issues, using aesthetics with function.

Originally built for a house this urban dwelling was used as a storage area for the parents of the owner after they were forced to abandon their property in the occupied area of Cyprus back in 1974 and never been completed ever since. The owner decided to refurbish and complete the rest of the building when she decided to come and stay near her parents. The idea was to enhance the existing structure and add a floor with a patio. The patio serves as a scoop for the breeze to cool down interior spaces and as a verandah away from the curious eyes of the neighbors.

Development on the island can be described as a patchwork of massive land consumption with dispersed planning that leads to a plethora of ugly and horrible buildings that do not facilitate urban life, mainly focused on tourist hotel complexes for holiday-makers. With the Turkish invasion back in 1974 and the massive population displacement, a large necessity to house these people was created. The lack on behalf of the government to plan on a bigger scale, ie master plan the whole island to be able to control the booming construction in the early 1980’s lead to the more vast destruction of the urban and suburban areas. Social housing is restricted only of blocks of bad refugee low rise housing which leads to social and urban segregation.   

The plot is located in a suburban area of Paphos town. These areas consist of plots usually 22X24M and it is the result of fixed, anachronistic legislation for years. This has resulted in a sub-urban development of houses allowing hardly any green areas due to another part of the legislation that allows buildings to reach 3M from the neighboring boundaries.

With the modern family being more demanding these houses are covering the full percentage of building factors, allowing less and less free space.

Bearing this in mind and also having the neighboring properties occupied, our aim was to design a house that allows the occupants max. privacy, sun protection, and if possible more free space. The latter was not achieved due to the addition of a pool. So we have proposed some vertical vegetation screens which create shading and privacy.

The house, despite its contemporary lines, has a lot of “hidden” Cypriot traditional elements such as tall ceilings, to facilitate air circulation, lightweight floor construction, to create flexibility, a massive ground floor structure, to create anti-seismic stability, a loggia to protect the high glass sliding doors with aluminum louvers to control the intensity of sunlight.

The house is closed towards the road, with hardly any openings. Most of the openings are oriented southeast, towards the exterior areas, the patio, and the pool, facing the vegetal screen. Likewise, we have achieved cool interior spaces through various types of screening filtration of the sunlight and, by allowing the air conditioning to function only when it is very humid, we managed to cool down the volumes with the help of heavy exterior insulation.

The winter sun is welcomed during the day hours helping the house to minimize oil consumption by raising the interior temperature, thus, the insulation contributes to a certain, in long terms, economical running of the house and comfortable living for the family.

The challenge in this project was to combine three different volumes into one shell to accommodate the wishes of this young couple starting with their marital life. The shell is highly insulated against the heat and it is protected from the direct sunlight by various projections and or devices. The house is built on an angled plot with an important elevation from the front road level to the back cul-de-sac road, allowing us to add all the auxiliary rooms at the lower level. Though the building has three floors it looks as if it is a two-floored house, unless you approach the road boundary wall, then you can appreciate the garden that grows gracefully from the lower part of the house.

Built on a cliff at the edge of the road on a strip of land restricted by the extreme land morphology this house was designed and built-in four months. A 150m2 three bedroom holiday house hosts visitors from all over the world, all year round. A special feature of this house is the glass fireplace that enables you to sit by the fire whilst you enjoy a view to the pool, the sea, and the surrounding spectacular views, a pine forest at the south, and the blue sea at the north. Hanged literally from the cliff this house offers you the impression that you are on a boat ready to sail, dream and enjoy life! 

The effort whilst designing this holiday house was to place the various components in a such a way that they would not obstruct the view, from the nearby Paradise seasonal Jazz club (a family business) run by friends that attracts people from all over Cyprus and the passing by pedestrians and cars. Therefore, one can appreciate parts of the view due to the transparent interior walls of the bedroom area. This house accommodates  4 bedrooms and it is covering approx 200m2. One feature of this house is the pool guest bedroom which is under the pool. Completed in four months’ time this house seems to blend with its environment, enhanced with lots of aromatic herbs and Cypriot local plants to create a true Med feeling.

Originally built for a couple this house received extensive renovation and expansion to accommodate the needs of the new owners. Located at Cape St George the house faces southwest and the focal element for the composition is the island of St George. The generous and spacious interiors and exterior spaces allow for big social events both during the summer and the wintertime. The idea was to create a serenity feeling for the owners who's vibrant life in London was extremely stressful. Louis Barragan once stated that architects should provide with their designs calm living spaces. The Med light varies from season to season and the design provides shelter from the wind and the ruthless summer sun due to a choice of external protected areas. Living in Cyprus is living outdoors.......

The original stone house was part of an annex to a townhouse serving as a store area, laundry room, and animal stable. Built-in 1935 it withstood the severe earthquake of 1957 and ever since not much has been done, till 1978 when it received its first timid facelift, basically in the interior to serve as a holiday house. A major uplift-extension occurred in 1995 and in 2011 it had an addition above the stone structure. The footprint of this stone-built shell is an orthogonal shape set on the road boundary. In the courtyard, a circular cistern exists serving as a water tank to irrigated the trees. When searching for a geometry composition we considered adding a square, to recall the existing neo-classical townhouses of the neighborhood, twisted at an angle to recall a Hellenistic tomb which was excavated in the '50 under the carport area. The contextuality of this urban dwelling obliged the owner to leave from Nicosia and come to set up his family in Paphos. Close to the civic center and the major neo-classical public buildings this house seems to belong here despite its contemporary aesthetics.

The park-scape is envisioned as a ‘green urban tapestry’; A living, breathing, active, adaptive environment, stimulated by the social interaction of people, and highlighting the use and benefits of sustainable technology. Hence, the design proposal focuses on 3 key issues:
-PERFORMANCE
To demonstrate the use and benefits of sustainable technology in a modern, dynamic environment.
-ACTIVATION
To activate or operate the sustainable technology in accordance with the functional needs of the environment, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. -INTERACTION
To encourage and stimulate a social dynamic where the lives, values, ideals and vision of the population of Nicosia evolve.

CONCEPTUAL APPROACH:
The park-scape is envisioned as a re-interpretation of urban fortified fragments that form the historical landscape of Nicosia; medieval grid, bastions, moats, and the Pedieos River.
Embedded within these collective fortified fragments are strong connotations of historical reference that situates the project within a specific time, context and cultural location.
These collective fragments are then re-interpreted within the project as de- fortified landscaping elements, which leave a trace of the fragment behind as a memory.
The park-scape is thus embedded with a historical rooting within the site that recalls the social, cultural and political situation of Nicosia and Cyprus as a whole. 

Built at the edge of the area allowed for construction this residence turns its back to the road and opens up entirely towards the sea and the island of St George of Peyia. The idea was to try to construct a simple shaped house that could offer a max view to the sea. This house is a 350M2 covered area with an immense secondary-auxiliary area at the lower part where all the services are accommodated. The pool remains exposed to the southern light and it is part of an extended decking that hosts the social life of this family 

The old stone house was abandoned due to the Turkish invasion at the island in 1974. Population was obliged to lose their properties and forced to be displaced in foreign properties.In this village Turkish Cypriots were living amongst with Greek Cypriots.The goverment in order to avoid total destruction decided to rent out the properties to whoever could afford to renovate and look after these properties till a future solution to the problem.This house was in ruins and in a very bad condition when we started to renovate it.Now it has become the holiday house for a family of four.The cypriot vernacular architecture consists of a basic rectangular foot print,occasionally an L-shape (in this case it used to be but due to stone looting one part collapsed).Our role was to reinforced the existing ruin and secure it.Minor extension to accommodate the staircase was added with a wall partially incomplete to recall the previous ruined state of it.

This is a renovation of an old stone house in a village in Paphos for a family living in Nicosia. They desired a very simple and straight forward design completely different aesthetics of what they were used at back home. The traditional elements were replaced with new real copies and the interior was remodeled drastically. The main feature is the central void that helps to warm the upper bedrooms when the fireplace is lit. Raw wood logs were used for the interior floor support and externally the pergola is constructed using reclaimed power poles with bamboo for shading.

The derelict situation that the existing house of 1935 has reached was a dangerous condition so the owner decided to save it by refurbishing it, renovating, and adding an extension at the back courtyard as his kitchen. The problem was the communication between the ground floor areas with the upper bedrooms by the exposed stone stairs, a typical arrangement 100 years ago, but not at all functioning by today’s necessities. The planners insisted to add a circular staircase in the main corpse of the old house, destroying both ground floor vital space but worst abolishing one of the two bedrooms. We both came to an agreement to add a light structure to protect the stairs but allowing also the cross ventilation which is important in hot climates such as ours. This structure ought to be constructed with light materials in order not to impose at the old building.

A project that evolved in a span of 10 years by adding various other components during this period of time. Initially, the house was built in a field covering the basic needs of the family. Then we added the pool with a small basement extension and after we designed and built all the interior furniture: dining table with chairs, coffee low side tables, TV storage with music system, a diving bar type worktop between the dining area and the entrance landing, etc. Finally, we added the external patio-pergola and BBQ area with a 20 seated concrete table with a concrete bar. This space was vital for the social life of the family hosting friends and various other events.

After purchasing a derelict townhouse which initially was consisting of two separate volumes by a courtyard, one ground floor, and one in two stories, the owner decided to renovate and add a second floor with a connecting corridor-staircase-courtyard to facilitate communication between the two parts. This connecting volume is of contemporary design and the space functions as a sun trap during winter and as a ventilation corridor during summer, protected by a stone wall on the ground and mechanically activated louvers at the top. The louvers act as a light filter controlling the intensity of the sun penetrating this volume. The rest follows the traditional elements of the old built. The effort is to make the two different approaches in building technology to communicate amongst themselves, by the contract of materials, means of construction, etc.

Having to build in a mature citrus groove is not an easy venture. The trees arrangement was so geometrically placed that we decided to adapt our layout according to this geometry and try to avoid cutting away as little as possible. The architecture blends immediately into this natural and green environment by contrasting its vivid colors against the natural greens. The smell from the blossoms is so strong that recalls "Bitter lemons" novel by Laurence Durrell.

The Cypriot vernacular architecture is usually very basic and close to the place-land it is built. People used to use materials easily accessible such as stone, mud, wood to build homes. Looking to find shapes that would intrigue our curiosity we discovered next to the house a zivania (eau de vie) distillery that had drums stacked neatly. The drum shape was used to create a barrel vault shaped roof to cover the master bedroom area. The existing stone house was reinforced and been renovated to accept the new addition.

This private donation of a Cypriot living in Switzerland was a dream come true after 20 years, in memory of his late wife. The clock has the names of various mythological persons found on the floor mosaics of the Roman Villas in a nearby archeological site, whilst the seat is dedicated to the Sofoklis hymn of love to Antigone.

The village council decided in 2009 to rearrange the area around the village's church to include the football pitch and the surrounding green areas. The crisis though obliged them to restrict the works only in one small part of the whole area till further notice. So under the different scope of works in 2015, we decided to use the area under the existing mature trees because of the shading to introduce sculptural elements with some basic children's toys to revamp the looks and create some activity.

This is a refurbishment of an existing warehouse storing carobs into the new premises of this cooperative bank in Yeroskipou village

5000m2 of high private nursing, the first modern private hospital in Paphos, fully insulated, and with exterior solar protection to minimize energy consumption. The passive systems introduced to protect openings manage to regulate internal temperatures to lower heat levels so that air clim systems use less energy to perform higher efficiency.

Located on a busy commercial road with showrooms on either side of the avenue, the design aimed to be an open space designated for any commercial activity.BMW Cyprus was interested to move their showroom to this busy road and was much interested in renting out this particular space when they recognized the flexibility offered by the architecture itself.

All interior furniture including the dining table with chairs,the TV and music cabinet,the low coffee tables and a bar type division furniture to include plants and the kitchen high table have been designed by the office after a request by the client to try to match architecture and furniture.......

SCENARIO:

Create an interior within an existing shop that facilitates the process of making, displaying, and selling a variety of bombonieres. These items are gifts that are given out on special occassions, such as at weddings and christenings, to the guests. They usually come with 5 Jordan almonds, which for weddings, symbolises health, wealth, happiness, fertility and long life.

CONCEPT:

The items on display are often presented in gift boxes and then wrapped with ribbon. This notion of wrapping informed the first sketch, the idea of creating a singular form that folds and wraps the interior of the shop.

The initial sketch proposed a volumetric element that is inserted into the existing shop and wraps around the perimeter of the interior, creating a sculptural piece that facilitates and unifies various uses; as work-bench, display, storage, and signage.

The sculptural element allows the central floor space of the shop to remain clear of any additional display units, improving the circulation around the interior, allowing visitors to the shop with ample space to view and select items of interest.

The various recessed slots in the walls are specific to the scale of the items that are produced by Lisa Gerdes within the shop, creating a symbiotic relationship between the display and the displayed.

The colour red was chosen for the sculptural element in order to create a dramatic and bright interior that encouraged passers-by to visit the shop out of curiosity. 

This listed neoclassical building used to function as a hotel,one of the few in Paphos in the '70.The COOP Bank decided to buy and renovate it into their main premises operating in the district of Paphos.The building went through an extensive renovation and anti-seismic reinforcement.The Bank now hosts the branch that deals with the recovering of debts due to the 2008 crisis and the interior space has gone through a severe alternation that has changed the original space and details.

The use of an empty atrium in the Town Hall of Paphos Municipality became a necessity after the new mayor decided to centralize most of the functions which were scattered all over the town in various premises, into the main building. To divide the areas we had to either avoid the columns, but the space was limited or to collide against them. To achieve this we used frameless safety glass cut with a laser machine so as to reach the columns capitals and bases by 10MM of distance, allowing movement of the various components.

Designed as open plan per floor so as to provide flexibility to match with potential office use and or apartment.