This Multi-Residential Project occupies a prominent site in Geroskipou, Paphos District, which is strongly characterised by its elevated topography and immediate proximity to the Mediterranean coastline. Framed by the urban edge of Geroskipou to the north, Paphos airport to the east, and the open coastline to the south, the site presents a unique opportynity to create a transitional landscape where architecture mediates between the area’s context, the site’s ecology and the region’s beachfront.
The vision aspires to establish a cohesive development in which architecture, landscape, infrastructure and topography form a unified composition. The Master Plan is guided by the natural contours of the site, ensuring that the placement and orientation of all buildings maximize sea-views, while integrating sensitively with the terrain. Most of the Project’s density is comprised by low-rise villas, which together with their gardens are strategically distributed in the site, achieving proper privacy without severing the visual and spatial continuity of the Project.
Overlooking the development, the Club House serves as a perfomative epicentre of communal life – as it accommodates shared amenities (such as cafe, spa, gym, etc.), while offering panoramic views across the entire site and the distant horizon. Another key component of the Project is the Network of Private Open Spaces, which adhere to the spatial logic of the building’ placement – in stepping naturally with the slope – thereby minimising cut/ fill operations. At the same time, these Open Spaces are planted with indigenous vegetation, with limited water demands, thereby establishing a resilient landscape that mediated between private gardens and communal green spaces.
The architectural disposition of the Project seeks to establish a robust horizontal differentiation between the ground and the first floor. A thick extensive slab separates these two layers, manifesting a third architectural element in the overall composition, which provides shade for exterior spaces. Seen in their multiplicity throughout the overall development, these horizontal slabs register the smooth inclination of the site: Architecture measures the Landscape.
On the ground floor the emphasis is on surfaces (opaque and glazed) which serve the needs according to the level of privacy required on each elevation. On the first floor the emphasis is on volumes which allow the building to appear as an assembly of rooms, adhering to the logic and organisation of Cypriot Vernacular Architecture.
In terms of materiality, the Project deploys a palette of locally sourced materials, which coordinate the architecture with its context, while planted terraces and shaded verandas enhance the buildings’ environmental integration – thereby creating an interesting sequence of both indoor and outdoor living.
The resulting Project is a landscape-driven spatial organisation that harmonized built from and natural terrain, seeking to cerate the conditions where sea, topography, and architecture inform each other in foring a coherent, enduring and contexutally-responsive development.