Transparent dome

On the northeastern edge of the University of Cyprus campus in Nicosia, an artificial hill rises from the terrain, completing the natural landscape shaped by Aronas Hill and the Kalogeros river. Seamlessly integrated into its surroundings, it appears less as an intervention and more as a quiet geological inevitability – an architectural gesture that feels as though it has always belonged there.

Design Philosophy

Beneath this constructed topography lie the Information Center and the Library of the University of Cyprus, named after Stelios Ioannou in recognition of the decisive donation by his widow, Ellie Ioannou, which set the long-envisioned project into motion. What emerges is not merely a repository of knowledge, but a landmark that redefines the relationship between architecture and landscape.

Designed by Pritzker Prize laureate Jean Nouvel, the complex embodies the French architect’s enduring preoccupation with light, materiality and contextual integration. Rather than imposing a monumental object onto the campus, Nouvel conceived a 15,700 m² structure that dissolves into the earth. The building unfolds across five levels, two of which are embedded underground, while the remaining three are contained within the 40-metre-wide artificial hill.

Custom Structure

The dome-like membrane that envelops the structure is rendered in an abstract composition of natural hues, reinforcing its dialogue with the Cypriot terrain. Transparent yet technologically advanced, the envelope allows daylight to penetrate deep into the interior while incorporating sophisticated solar protection systems that enhance the building’s bioclimatic performance. The result is an architecture that is both visually restrained and environmentally responsive.

A pivotal element of this strategy is the heliostat: a 24-metre-high, five-metre-thick conical structure clad in louvers. Acting as a light-harvesting device, it captures and redirects sunlight into the heart of the building, channeling it even to the lowest levels. This sculptural mechanism not only reinforces the project’s environmental agenda but also dramatizes the interior spatial experience.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the reading room at ground level. Arranged around the perimeter of a central atrium, 31 glazed study cubes function as intimate enclaves within the larger collective space. Bathed in filtered daylight, they form a rhythmic constellation of transparent volumes – quiet sanctuaries for concentration within an open, communal setting.

Context Integration

The building has quickly assumed the status of an architectural reference point in Cyprus, particularly for younger generations. Its planted landscape alternative – the constructed hill rather than a conventional green roof – demonstrates a deliberate departure from predictable sustainable tropes. Instead, the project proposes a more immersive integration of architecture and site, where enclosure, terrain and climate operate as a unified system.

As an institution, the library houses an extensive collection spanning the full spectrum of scientific knowledge, including approximately 600,000 volumes, 40,000 digital titles and 10,000 audiovisual items. It stands as a contemporary ark of knowledge – both protective and open – where physical and digital media coexist within a spatial framework defined by light and earth.

The interior further reflects the Ioannou family’s longstanding engagement with art. Significant works tracing the historical continuum of Cyprus are displayed alongside pieces by contemporary Cypriot artists, embedding cultural memory within the architectural narrative. In this synthesis of landscape, technology, knowledge and art, the Stelios Ioannou Library transcends its institutional function, positioning itself as a spatial manifesto for learning in the Mediterranean context.

The post University of Cyprus Library was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The post Goethe-Institut Athens was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

EKEP was founded in 2018 as a transmitter of high-quality cultural commodities on the field of books and visual arts.

Located in Athens opposite the Kallimarmaro Stadium in a 1960’s high-end apartment, EKEPs space should reflect its high-quality background while at the same time propel an equal dialogue with the unique vintage qualities of the existing space.

Programmatically apart of the required offices, the new space should mainly house the 20.000+ books of EKEPs special book collection and create old paintings archive, preservation & restoration lab, a reading/studying room, a meeting/dining room, and a display corner for its limited book editions.

Minimal, full height libraries with continuous linear shelves running from on room to the other offer the illusion of a large, unified space while creating a warm atmosphere through its layout and materiality.

High quality craftsmanship and passion was a key role to this project as the contradiction of the contemporary design with the top-quality vintage architectural details was a real challenge. All the new furniture were designed from scratch in high construction detail to meet in balance with the existing vintage furniture of the foundation.

Athens Creative

The post EKEP was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL) is New York’s new central circulating library, built within the 1914 shell and steel frame of the Mid-Manhattan Library which it replaces, the 16,722 m² building is topped with a spectacular angular roof and public rooftop amenities to make a new urban icon on Fifth Avenue.

SNFL is a new-generation library for all New Yorkers, with special facilities for young users, adult learning, and business. It offers the perfect contemporary complement to NYPL’s world-famous Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (SASB), located across Fifth Avenue from SNFL. SASB opened in 1911, designed by architects Carrère & Hastings in a glorious Beaux-Art style, and receives over 1.7 million visits a year as the mothership of NYPL’s reference collections.

Mecanoo and Beyer Blinder Belle’s concept was to leverage the synergy of SNFL and SASB and bring them together as NYPL’s Midtown Campus. New features at SNFL reflect this harmony between the buildings: long tables that recall the impressive scale of those in SASB’s Rose Main Reading Room, ceiling artwork in the Long Room that echoes the neo-classical paintings set in SASB’s ceilings, and the use of classic materials including natural stone, terrazzo, and oak.

SNFL’s ground floor is arranged around an internal street that runs beneath a floating linear canopy of wood beams, from the Fifth Avenue entrance to the welcome desks. Located on one side are elevators, stairs, and a mezzanine balcony. On the other side, a rectangular opening in the floorplate reveals the lower ground floor, which houses a Children’s Library and Teen Center. The Children’s Library play area enjoys natural light, and the Teen Center has a dedicated staircase and study and media rooms decorated with bold and whimsical commissioned murals by artist Melinda Beck. An internal window in the lower ground floor allows visitors to see SNFL’s book-sorting machine in action.

SNFL has an annual circulation of two million items, and this sheer volume generates challenges in access, organization, and storage. The design solution offers more space, more books, more seats, and lower shelves. The heart of the library is the Long Room, a new space that truly brings the idea of a library into the old structure, which was originally designed as a department store. A triple height void has been cut into it, 9m (31 feet) wide and rising 26m (85 feet) from the second story to a vibrant new abstract ceiling artwork by Hayal Pozanti.This dramatic linear atrium separates three floors of flexible, daylit reading areas on one side and five levels of book stacks on the other, a creative and efficient solution to balancing the need for a browsable collection and the desire for more public reading room space. Book stacks are a vertical means of storing books dating back to the nineteenth century, and here they are revived to give open access for library users. Through the library’s 40th Street windows, passers-by will see the northern end of the book stacks, visible as a continuous vertical wall of book spines welcoming New Yorkers into the space to browse.

The Long Room’s atrium wall at the southern end is deep red, and perforated with new windows to bring light from a pocket park to the south. Its distinctive look assists wayfinding. Ramps gently slope to connect the different floor heights of the book stack levels and reading areas. The reading areas extend from the atrium to the Fifth Avenue facade, and have bespoke reading tables assembled in situ, many supported by the building’s original steel frame. These oak-surfaced tables stretch up to 20 meters (66 feet) in length. Readers at these tables sit in chairs designed in collaboration with Thos. Moser exclusively for NYPL branch libraries.

Above the Long Room, the fifth and sixth floors host the Business Center and the Pasculano Learning Center facilities. SNFL’s vertical arrangement of programs improves the user experience and journey of learning. The materiality of the library contributes to that user experience, for example in terrazzo flooring and travertine presented in the elevator banks.

SNFL now delivers to the Midtown cityscape a sensational new public roof attraction and a striking sculptural addition. Elevators and stairs continue to the seventh floor, which is built at the original building’s roof level. This new floor has pitched wood slat ceilings and contains a flexible 268-occupant conference and event center. An L-shaped roof terrace runs above the 40th Street and Fifth Avenue facades and includes a roof garden and an adjacent indoor café. It is Manhattan’s only free, publicly-accessible roof terrace and offers staggering Midtown views, including across Fifth Avenue to the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building and surrounding skyscrapers.

Above the seventh floor, a dramatic new roof slopes up to cover mechanical equipment, reaching 56m above street level. Its angled pitches, and a patinated copper-colored aluminum surface, are inspired by Manhattan’s Beaux Art copper-clad mansard roofs, two 1904 examples of which are visible from the terrace. As a new native New Yorker, the form also nods to the tapering spires of New York’s art deco skyscrapers and faceted facades of its newer towers. This spectacular roof is to be ‘a Wizard Hat for all New Yorkers!’

Mecanoo , Beyer Blinder Belle

John Bartlestone , Max Touhey

The post Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The design brief started with a premise from the client: A space for many books. Immediately, the architects’ imaginary drifted to the many classical renaissance libraries, with sliding stairs that reach the book stacks. The intervention designated a high space, with a clearly established hierarchy between the interiors.

The volumetric composition corresponds to the functional differentiation of the interior spaces, creating a roof as a restless mass with different heights. The roof also figures itself in a fifth façade.

The density and weight of the monolithic cover roof needed to be subverted and the idea of a levitating mass was introduced, resting upon slender wooden frames and glass. The resulting feeling of compression reminds users of their own scale as humans and evokes the ancestral importance of the shelter.

Time, always an important architectural component, becomes essential in the design of this project. The built elements – especially those in concrete – record the passage of time through their formwork texture. This formwork, similar in its variations to the roof skyline, features protrusions and recesses, generating changing shadows during the different hours of the day and giving a dramatic appearance to the facades. As time passes, the textured concrete will naturally age and will be more integrated in the rural surroundings. The same will happen to the wooden base, which will age beautifully, adding to the impression of the house.

Spaceworkers

The post Casa da Agrela was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.