Casa Yiama, Nicosia

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For this private house destined to a young couple we started from a rectangular solid and continued by sculpturing out small volumes. The aim was to create a balanced relationship between the solid and the void. As a result, the outside space becomes as much important as the inside space, establishing oblique viewing relationships between the two.

The configuration of the solids that remain favour the best placement on the site, by opening the house towards the south and the small park beside though a courtyard, blocking at the same time the western sun. At the parts of the house that are most exposed to the western and southern sun we use concrete or ceramic claustra that filter the sun, while letting the western breeze run through the house. The filters, at the same time create a pleasurable atmosphere by the diffusion of incoming light. The oblique viewing relationships and the interrelation between the inside and the outside was the outcome of a request by the owners for a space that does not create isolated corners. We strengthened the central common space by creating a two-storey void, which allows the creation of viewing relations between the two levels.

At the house there is an extensive use of vegetation, as part of the filter behind the claustra walls, or as part of the various courtyards and voids that the solids create and engulf around the house. The aim is for nature to become a part of the house that defines the living conditions, as much as the built elements do.