Apartment Building in Limassol

The building is located in a central residential district of Limassol; it extends on three levels and includes seven apartments, six out of which are one-bedroom studios and the seventh is a three-bedroom condo on the last floor.

The distribution of the residential units follows a conventional typology, with all the apartments placed on the floors, allowing the creation of an enclosed pilotis on the ground level, accommodating all shared and secondary uses in a free-form plan. The circulation core is centrally placed, reducing the circulation surface and increasing the layout of the units. Parking space is provided underground.

The main design principle is the segmentation of the building mass in four smaller volumes, subtracting vertical slices from all four sides of the initial envelope. This way, the building de-escalates and adapts to the scale of its vicinity, reducing ground cover and facilitating natural lighting and ventilation of the central circulation core. Employing an integrated architectural vocabulary, all four volumes are raised and juxtaposed, creating a perpetual conversation of solids and voids in-between.

The building shell is designed independent from the loadbearing structure, providing the opportunity of free development for the apartment interiors. The outside shades, beside their main function, further become an abstract mechanism in the design of the outer envelope. Attached in places beyond the obvious, they confound the relation between the floors and their included programs, reinforcing the geometric, monolithic features of the volumes and creating an ambiguity concerning the building scale and use.

The building acquires high energy efficiency, mostly by employing passive means. The folding shades allow natural lighting and protect the spaces from solar overheating, both indoors and at the outdoor covered areas. Combined with a properly heat-insulated shell, living conditions are flexible and adaptable to seasonal change, according to the time of the day and to the needs of the tenants. Planted surfaces on the ground floor slab cover 25% of the property in local shrubs, reducing the building’s thermal mass. Two planted ground inclinations penetrate the ground floor and basement, allowing natural lighting and ventilation in the underground spaces.

 Sofronis Marcou Architects

Creative Photo Room

Sofronis Marcou