Pre-Finalist International Architecture Competition
“The New Cyprus Museum is the place where history is experienced and “cityness” is exercised. It is a bioclimatic translucent canopy. It is a low-rise building. It is a shade. It’s the Garden.”
The New Cyprus Museum consists of a series of indoor and outdoor spaces, all organized and sheltered by a bioclimatic translucent canopy. The canopy is equipped with a light control system distilling the natural light to the interior spaces. Moreover, the bioclimatic canopy offers shade to the exterior spaces and protects them against the strong summer sun of Nicosia. The Museum is designed as a low rise building, a total of 7 meters height, with the only protruding structures above the canopy, being the exhibition spaces, in the form of cocoon structures, inspired by the Neolithic settlements of Cypriot history. These structures offer a variety of typology in relation to size, shape and flexibility for the display of the artifacts of the Museum.
All enclosed spaces are linked together with a sequence of gardens. These gardens are named after important myths of the Cypriot ancient history. The central garden, the garden of Aphrodite, is a tribute to the classical period of Cypriot history. This central open space acts like a social hub bringing together visitors and citizens of Nicosia, to meet, interact and have access to the cultural and entertaining services of the Museum (restaurants, cafeterias and museum shops).