Nydia Mansions is a quality, low-rise residential complex in the Agios Andreas area, Nicosia, designed to respond to the aesthetic and social requirements of our time. The site was considered a landscape, rather than just a plot, and one that would be manipulated by bending, tearing, stretching, folding and unfolding. The first effect of this manipulation resulted in a succession of hard outer skins, or shells; the second effect was the insertion of individual framed boxes within each of the shells. The resulting sculptured residential landscape emphasizes the relationship between the individual and the whole. Whereas the initial remit called for three individual apartment buildings on three blocks, these were eventually combined, ultimately creating a sense of diversity with a collective unity.
One of the more important elements of the project is the variation of heights throughout the overall section of the complex. Nydia Mansions includes a three-storey block with tall internal sections of 3,30 m, a two-storey block with the same sections, a three-storey block with lower internal sections of 2,60 m, and a three-storey block with sections of 2,60 m supported by pilotis. This block, which is raised significantly, made possible the placement of parking spaces under the pilotis and allowed the penthouse to use the roof of the neighboring block as a veranda. The effect of these combinations enables the complex to express themes of change and diversity. These themes are reinforced by the unification of the three blocks with different characters (floor apartments/duplexes), by varying coverage (90 m2 – 200 m2), and by the oppositional orientation of the individual residences (most ground floor units open onto an internal courtyard, while those above ground open onto the street).
Two main communal entrances to the complex create sculptural voids, metallic vertical circulation spaces which have been left open to create a sense of transparency and discontinuity, and to inspire a dialogue between the built and the “unbuilt”. This relationship is also expressed in the open-plan internal spaces, which extend outwards, forming deep verandas. These verandas, in turn, are separated only by floor-to-ceiling glass doors and glass balustrades, both transparent elements.