DRW
Competition
PAPHOS, CYPRUS
2026

Rooms

International Architectural Competition for the design of affordable housing In Cyprus – Paphos.
(DISTINCTION)

Concept

Our main goal was to create a residential complex that promotes the collective dimension of social housing, while remaining flexible, anthropocentric, intimate, and of high quality. The proposal reinterprets two social and spatial archetypes, found both in the traditional and popular architecture of Cyprus and across the Mediterranean: the “courtyard” and the “central hall”.

The “courtyard” refers to the central shared garden, a typological element with social, spatial, functional and environmental benefits. Dense planting of Cypriot flora, such as carob trees, wild olive trees and mulberries, outdoor living areas, inward-facing units, and the optimal orientation, create an environment of well-being, comfort, play and pride, protecting and strengthening collective life in the otherwise indifferent, and perhaps inhospitable, suburban environment of Paphos. The garden encourages social contact, creating a point of reference in the wider neighbourhood while significantly enhancing the environmental and functional sustainability of the residential complex.

The “central hall”, this inventive multi-functional space of vernacular architecture, organises the typical floor plans of the units as a “butterfly” – with two or four rooms of the same size, and the corresponding outdoor spaces, emerging on either side. The “hall” proposes an anti-hierarchical system of accommodation and organisation of daily life, without corridors and unpleasant, usually dark spaces of distribution and circulation. At the same time, it encourages new modes of living that are emerging in Cyprus and internationally, while also assimilating contemporary approaches to the performance and reproductive work within the home.

A series of thresholds and “spaces-in-between” of multiple scales, create the necessary connections and gentle transitions between different functional units, introducing various material, environmental and social qualities. Typical such points are the main entrance at the western corner of the plot, the passage at the centre of the southeast side, the shared, semi-outdoor spaces of the staircases, the planted patios between the apartments, the fixed furniture and threshold zones within the units, and finally, the pergolas and the recreation and storage areas on the roofs.

Organisational Principles

The building consists of two, “U”-shaped, asymmetrical structures. The western corner of the building is released on the ground floor, to form the central entrance to the complex, from the main road and parking areas, and towards the generous garden of the central courtyard. Off-centre, on the southeast side, another public passage-entrance to the complex is created, introducing a dynamic, diagonal movement into and from the garden.

Six staircases are placed at the corners and centres of the two long sides of the complex, and gather auxiliary functions such as cabinets, small storage spaces, meters, bins, and electrical infrastructure. The staircases lead to the common areas of the roofs, where light metal pergolas organise areas for gathering and recreation for the residents.

Program Analysis / Units / Apartments

Our basic decision is the mixing, and not the separation, of the two types of apartments in a single building complex. At every floor small (40m2) and large apartments (62m2) share common “thresholds”, auxiliary infrastructures and facilities, thus intensifying the sense of collectivity and solidarity in the complex. Different ages, family structures, lifestyles and habits mix and coexist.

All apartments are airy and have generous outdoor spaces on the exterior facades, balconies or porches, but at the same time, with large openings, they also refer to the garden of the central courtyard. The “central hall” appears in both types of apartments. Depending on the size of the unit, it is framed by two or four autonomous spaces of the same dimensions. This central core brings together the functions of the kitchen, dining area, gathering and work area, while it is framed by the necessary auxiliary spaces of WC, bathroom, dryer, etc. Rather than being concealed, domestic infrastructure becomes the organisational centre of the home, giving it symbolic, spatial, constructional and technical significance.

Team
Platon Issaias
Theodossis Issaias
Giannantonis Moutsatsos
Alexandra Vougia
Myrto Vravosinou
Collaborators
Athina Abatziadi, Stella Dimopoulou, Eleni Madourou, Marios-Alexandros Poulimenos, Eva Stamna
Giorgos Dimopoulos / Electrical Engineer
Giannis Tsafoulias / Civil Engineer
Dimitra Kosti / Quantity Surveyor
Categories
Architecture, Domesticity, Housing, Provision

About

Fatura Collaborative – Research & Design Practice, was founded in 2009 and is developing projects across a wide range of scales, from intimate objects and performance, to architecture, urban design and planning. We are interested in architecture as social infrastructure, in developing collective equipments, in the design of spaces of care, empathy and welfare. We design and research expanding new problematics about ecology, the domestic, everyday life and the city.

Members

PLATON ISSAIAS
ARCHITECT

is an architect, researcher, and educator. He studied architecture in Thessaloniki, Greece, and holds an MSc from Columbia University and a PhD from TU Delft and The City as a Project research collective. He is Assistant Professor of Architectural Design at the School of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is the co-Head of Projective Cities MPhil programme at the Architectural Association, where he is also teaching Diploma Unit 7 with Georgia Hablützel and Hamed Khosravi. His research interests explore urban design and architecture in relation to the politics of labour, economy, law and labour struggles. He has written and lectured extensively about Greek urbanisation and the politics of urban development.

THEODOSSIS ISSAIAS
ARCHITECT

(he/him) is an architect and educator. He serves as Curator, Heinz Architectural Center, at Carnegie Museum of Art and Professor of Practice at Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture. He studied architecture in Athens, Greece, and holds a Master of Science in Architecture and Urbanism from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research focuses on architecture at the intersection of
human rights, conflict, and the provision of shelter. This interest led to his PhD dissertation “Architectures of the Humanitarian Front” (2021, Yale University), which examined a period around WWI when conflict, displacement, and territorial insecurity provoked the reconfiguration of humanitarian operations –their spatial organization and ethical imperatives.

GIANNANTONIS MOUTSATSOS
ARCHITECT

is an architect based in Lund, Sweden. He graduated in 2010 from the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens and holds an MSc in Energy Efficient and Environmental Building Design from the School of Architecture of Lund University (2015). He has practiced architecture as a freelance architect in Greece and currently in Sweden (eg. Tengbom architects), where he works on a wide range of projects including small houses, larger residential complexes as well as care, educational and industrial facilities.

ALEXANDRA VOUGIA
ARCHITECT

is an architect and an educator. She graduated in 2007 from the School of Architecture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. She holds the MSc in Advanced Architectural Design from GSAPP, Columbia University (2008) and a PhD from the Architectural Association – School of Architecture, London (2016). She is currently an Assistant Professor of History and Theory of Architecture at the School of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She has previously taught at the Architectural Association and the University of Westminster and practiced as an architect in New York and Athens.

MYRTO VRAVOSINOU
ARCHITECT

is an architect based in Thessaloniki. She graduated from the School of Architecture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2015 and holds an MSc in Environmental Architectural and Urban Design from the same institution (2023). Since 2017, she has been collaborating with a group of freelance engineers, working on a variety of residential, workspace, and small-scale digital fabrication projects. Her special interests lie in urban and architectural design practices that promote spatial justice.

COLLABO RATORS

>< FERENIKI FOTOPOULOU

>< MARIOS GERONTAS

FORMER MEMBERS

ELISAVET HASA

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