Polytechnic School of Cyprus Twenty seven European architectural firms and syndicates from Cyprus, Greece, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain and elsewhere shortlisted to participate at the international tender for the new complex of the Polytechnic School of Cyprus. The entire surface area spans approximately 22.000m². Eighteen proposals were submitted, judged and shortlisted for three awards and two accolades. The first prize was awarded to a syndicate of three firms:
i) Chrysanthos I. Chrysanthou and associate architects and landscape architects ii) Heracles Papahristou architects iii) Kotsiopoulos and associate architects
The second was awarded to Ignacio Garai Zabala (IDOM, Spain), while the third to Gavriilidis (Cyprus) and A.N. Tombazis (Greece) Associates and two accolades to Betaplan – Xenopoulo/Hatzinikolaou (Greece, Cyprus) and Konstantino Marathefti (Cyprus).
Winning Project The complex will consist of three academic departments organised into wings- the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and Technology Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering- the School’s central administration and communal areas. All main facilities face towards the North and the South, while beginning from the ground level upwards the 6 floors are split into the research laboratories, the majority of the post-graduate areas, the lecture halls and the Department reception and administrative areas. Office spaces are located above the partially covered pedestrian area and form three distinct volumes that identify each department. A central aspect of the project is the belt that forms the main public zone and consists of the main public spaces and the areas of the School’s central administration. Through its geometry, the folds and the resulting spaces filled with greenery a link is created between the floors and establishes the area as a point of human interaction. This area is characterised by the layer of 2m wide blinds that run parallel to each other but at different inclinations. This structural element controls the area’s microclimate naturally and –in combination with the value of the microclimate and its contribution to the production of energy through the photovoltaic systems- constitutes in itself a spatial experience for pedestrians crossing the complexes’ central zone. The designers intention was to highlight the university’s dual character, the rigor of the organization and classification of knowledgeon the one hand and the freedom to exchange ideas and of human interaction.