The practice was shortlisted in an RIBA competition to submit a scheme for an inner city development of apartments and a private art gallery in Nicoosia, Cyprus.
In our scheme the museum forms a low block that continues the lines and scale of the older buildings of the street, setting back to form a landscaped public courtyard through which the apartments and museum are entered.
Above the museum, apartments are arranged as a tower surrounded by planting and open balconies with an elliptical sun shielding enclosure. the tower, which is a response to the growing pattern of towers around the site, makes the development visible across the city and creates an identifiable icon for the museum.
The galleries, which are all located on the first floor, have ceilings made of translucent glass. Visitors would become immersed in the collection in these calm and top lit spaces, and reoriented by occasional views into the courtyard.
