LARNACA AGORA
Larnaca, Cyrprus
2011
The scheme establishes a new urban condition that restructures the historical and commercial centre of Larnaka. The new municipal market square, market building and multi-storey parking are not conceived as autonomous objects in the urban landscape but as relational objects, containing a standardized and defined ‘void’.
The market square constitutes the re-formulation of the urban field as defined by its limits -the existing buildings and streets-, the new municipal market building and the oblique juxtaposition of the parking building. The three-dimensional folding of the square’s surface creates a dynamic vertical public space, defined by the field of the market, the ascending staircase and the programmed roof of the parking building. More than just an extension of the public square, the roof can host outdoor screenings, lectures, concerts, exhibitions and games, constituting a three dimensional public space: the unfolding of a unique urban panorama.
At ground level, the municipal market’s field is defined by the slightly elevated platform and the presence of six pine trees and lighting posts. During working hours, the platform will be activated by canopies and products, producers and buyers, workers and wonderers.
The parking building due to its height and volume becomes a landmark, nevertheless negotiates with its urban context through the chamfering of its edges as a clear gesture towards the surrounding buildings and their smaller scale. Thanks to the perforated copper-yellow cladding façade, day and night, the natural and the artificial lighting will transform the typical dark and unfriendly space of a parking garage into a space for exhibiting and promoting the ‘status symbol’ of the everydayness – the parked vehicles.
The market building is defined by a ‘passage’ and a ‘stoa’ below a single roof, the folds and peaks of which correspond to the scale of the context and spatial particularities of a market. The municipal gallery is accommodated on the upper level along a circular route as a ‘gate’ and bridge between the square and the ‘passage’ of the market. The big window framing the view towards the city, its double height section, the manageable qualities of the penetrating light and the dramatic relief of the roof establish a unique space for exhibiting art.
Both new buildings are clad by a ‘filter’ of copper-yellow, perforated anodised aluminium panels, some fixed, some open-able, a reference to the colour and materiality of the Cypru’s archetypal landmark: copper. At the parking building, the skin is ‘inflexible’ and protective, yet by being perforated allows the diffusion of natural and artificial light depending on the hour of the day, from the outside to the inside and vice versa.
At the municipal market building, the filter becomes skin and roof at the same time, a climatic moderator which corresponds to the orientation, the articulation of the two volumes it houses and the alternating requirements for different qualities and quantities of natural light and ventilation.
The new building complex is very economical with regards to the consumption of natural resources and use of natural light, efficient technologies and renewable energy. On the south facing sides of the market’s roof, integrated photovoltaic elements [BiPV] collect solar energy for the production of electricity and the illumination of the entire development while at the same time offering sun protection for the roof elements below.
Larnaca, Cyrprus
2011
text
The scheme establishes a new urban condition that restructures the historical and commercial centre of Larnaka. The new municipal market square, market building and multi-storey parking are not conceived as autonomous objects in the urban landscape but as relational objects, containing a standardized and defined ‘void’.
The market square constitutes the re-formulation of the urban field as defined by its limits -the existing buildings and streets-, the new municipal market building and the oblique juxtaposition of the parking building. The three-dimensional folding of the square’s surface creates a dynamic vertical public space, defined by the field of the market, the ascending staircase and the programmed roof of the parking building. More than just an extension of the public square, the roof can host outdoor screenings, lectures, concerts, exhibitions and games, constituting a three dimensional public space: the unfolding of a unique urban panorama.
At ground level, the municipal market’s field is defined by the slightly elevated platform and the presence of six pine trees and lighting posts. During working hours, the platform will be activated by canopies and products, producers and buyers, workers and wonderers.
The parking building due to its height and volume becomes a landmark, nevertheless negotiates with its urban context through the chamfering of its edges as a clear gesture towards the surrounding buildings and their smaller scale. Thanks to the perforated copper-yellow cladding façade, day and night, the natural and the artificial lighting will transform the typical dark and unfriendly space of a parking garage into a space for exhibiting and promoting the ‘status symbol’ of the everydayness – the parked vehicles.
more text
The market building is defined by a ‘passage’ and a ‘stoa’ below a single roof, the folds and peaks of which correspond to the scale of the context and spatial particularities of a market. The municipal gallery is accommodated on the upper level along a circular route as a ‘gate’ and bridge between the square and the ‘passage’ of the market. The big window framing the view towards the city, its double height section, the manageable qualities of the penetrating light and the dramatic relief of the roof establish a unique space for exhibiting art.
Both new buildings are clad by a ‘filter’ of copper-yellow, perforated anodised aluminium panels, some fixed, some open-able, a reference to the colour and materiality of the Cypru’s archetypal landmark: copper. At the parking building, the skin is ‘inflexible’ and protective, yet by being perforated allows the diffusion of natural and artificial light depending on the hour of the day, from the outside to the inside and vice versa.
At the municipal market building, the filter becomes skin and roof at the same time, a climatic moderator which corresponds to the orientation, the articulation of the two volumes it houses and the alternating requirements for different qualities and quantities of natural light and ventilation.
The new building complex is very economical with regards to the consumption of natural resources and use of natural light, efficient technologies and renewable energy. On the south facing sides of the market’s roof, integrated photovoltaic elements [BiPV] collect solar energy for the production of electricity and the illumination of the entire development while at the same time offering sun protection for the roof elements below.
credits
| project description | public market hall, parking and square competition entry |
| location | Larnaca, Cyprus |
| built area | 8.500 m² |
| contsruction cost | 11.000.000 Euro |
| design team | Stephan Buerger, Demetra Katsota, Thanassis Manis, Mladen Stamenic |
| client | Municipality of Larnaca, Republic of Cyprus |