At the centre of Nicosia , facing the medieval walls and the moat that enclose the old part of the city, White Walls rises 17th floors above ground. The 10.000- square metres building includes retail spaces, offices and apartments.
The White Walls has been designed by Pritzker-Prize winning architect Jean Nouvel and as with all of his buildings it is rooted in the specificity of its location and a unique response to the climate of Nicosia, its history and topography.
On the south façade, large planting areas on each floor run the length of the building so as to create a vertical “green” screen modulating the sunlight that reaches the interior of the apartments. A natural brise soleil protects the apartments during the summer months, while during the winter months, when the plants shed their leaves, it allows as much sunlight as possible to reach the interior of the apartments.
The massive concrete walls on the east-west elevation are negated by numerous perforations, an ethereal reference to the pixels of a highly enlarged image on a computer screen. The perforations are sometimes overflown by vegetation from the internal gardens and at other times act as openings to the rooms behind.
On the north elevation large balconies open up the building to the view of the medieval city and allows the occupants to enjoy the temperate climate of the island.
A duplex apartment occupies the top two floors of the building. It is organised around a central courtyard, a typology common to traditional Cypriot architecture. Three large louvers set at different angles reminiscent of an “exploded” hipped roof protect the apartment from the intense summer sun while retaining views to the sky.
White Walls has been named Best Tall Building Europe 2016 by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). It has been selected among a large number of iconic European buildings, including the Headquarters of European Central Bank in Frankfurt, The Allianz Tower in Milan, The Grattecielo Intesa Sanpaolo in Torino, the Allianz Tower in Istanbul and numerous other landmark buildings.
The reasoning of the CTBUH award included the fact that the White Walls has single-handedly transformed the urban silhouette of Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, drawing upon its context to deliver a residential-office tower that is unmistakably Mediterranean, yet global influential with its highly successful environmental considerations.
Location: Nicosia, Cyprus
Built: April 2015
Program: Retail, office, residential
Usable floor area: 6.739 m²
Gross floor area: 10.000 m²
Architect: Jean Nouvel, Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Concept Design: Philippe Papy
Studies and Construction: Elisabeth Kather
Project architects: Sony Devabhaktuni, Nobuo Yoshida
Local collaborating architects: Takis Sophocleous Architects
Structural Engineers: KAL Engineering (Lysandros Kyriacou)
Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire: Mitsides Samouel & Partners
Quantity surveyors: Nicolaou & Konnides