New Cyprus Museum

New Cyprus Museum Nicosia, Cyprus

6th Prize_ International Competition_Tense Architecture Network + Kizis Studio

The scheme develops a daring dialogue with the city, by proposing a cultural landmark. The surrounding urban fabric and the shape of the site prescribe the form of the building: the museum takes the shape of a hovering triangular sandstone prism, inspired by the characteristic building material of Nicosia, perforated by long atria and lighting slits. The proposal induces a conversation between a building complex of about 50,000 m2 and the two vital green areas of the city, the Pediaios river and the Municipal park, stressing the need for continuity of the landscape in the plot. This is achieved by the concept’s strategies: hovering and carving.

The Museum’s entrance emerges as the nodal point of movements. What is proposed is not just a landmark, but a new destination. The transformation of a flat plot into an open valley, which is gradually approaching the riverside, aims at attracting people from all around. The Museum’s body stands sur pilotis on a slope, illuminated by multiple slits and atria, providing a shaded location with a refreshing microclimate, where people are invited from the park, the river, or the city. Entering through the transparent cylindrical hall one may ascend to the central foyer. This is a vantage point offering multiple visiting options of the exhibition, organized in easily discernible open wings around it. Free corridors unravel an ascending “interior landscape” of exhibits. This overall view of the museum is complemented by various outstanding exhibits, strategically placed so as to be visible from a distance.

Visitors may select their path either by moving along a one-way circular route or by choosing specific destinations, radially arranged around the foyer. Natural movement is discreetly suggested through the architectural composition. This allows visitors to move freely. Staged space offers a balance between experiential and learning perception. “Not to be missed” exhibits, representative of each era, are visible from the foyer. The visit is organised according to the timeline, along an ascending path that reaches a peak at the end of ancient times, and the exhibition on Aphrodite's cult. Slits on the building’s skin offer visual escapes throughout, thus relieving museum fatigue. Another break is offered at the café, strategically located at the peak of the visit; it opens to a terrace offering views of the medieval city. Articulate and comprehensive exhibition spaces are tied to the architectural concept. The prehistoric period occupies an area illuminated artificially by targeted lighting within the triangle of the building. The historic period is exposed under soft natural light coming from the ceiling. Returning to the central foyer through a sloping bridge one becomes aware of the richness of the Museum’s stored collections, parts of which are selectively displayed along the wall. The visit ends with a number of thematic units of major importance which feature aspects of the history of Cypriot archaeology, while an open-air glyptothèque offers a complementary dimension of the collection.

The structural design is based on the principle of seismic isolation of the superstructure, realized in one piece and without expansion joints, thus relaxing the potential stresses caused by thermal fluctuations. The selected bearing structure is a steel construction grid based on reinforced concrete piers through triple friction pendulum isolators. Specifically: The superstructure's floor diaphragm is formed by robust steel I-beams spanning the considerable distance between the supports. Secondary transverse I-beams structurethe floor. The roof rests on steel columns of welded cross-shaped profiles, fixed on the floor diaphragm. The main beams, of triangular hollow profiles, span along the N-S direction. Perpendicular secondary latticed beams follow the pattern of the saw-tooth clerestories. The columns of the cylindrical entrance area are firmly connected to a steel ring of the superstructure and are seismically isolated at the concrete basement. The underground part of the complex is made of reinforced concrete on a slab foundation, incorporating the heads of the piers' piles.