TYPE: M.Arch. II Thesis Project | LOCATION: United Nations Buffer Zone [“Green Line”], Nicosia, Cyprus | UNIVERSITY: University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) | PROFESSORS: Dana Cuff, Panos Koulermos, Jurg Lang
Despite the rest of the city’s prosperity, Nicosia’s historic core had by the mid-1990s reached the limit of irreversible decline. Dividing the walled city in two, the “Green Line” had become a dangerous non-place filled with ruined structures, an absence that threatened Nicosia with destruction. In this first proposal of its kind, the historic fabric was restored when salvageable, and complemented with groups of buildings that completed urban units of land use and volume. The interventions created a new central pedestrian route that followed the older riverbed and commercial artery of the old town. The project attempted to create a harmonious and interrelated existence between historic fabric and contemporary urban insertions, between open space and built form, and between a brilliant but also violent past and a peaceful, creative future.
TYPE: M.Arch. II Urban Design Studio | LOCATION: Imaginary sites inspired by cinematic spaces and landscapes | UNIVERSITY: University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) | PROFESSOR: Daniel Libeskind
Understanding the city, designing for its dwellers’ needs, and creating emotions through the experience of urban space were the goals of this studio. Following the viewing of ten milestone 20th century films, specific sites were composed based on cinematic space: Ten imagined cities, inspired from places, memories and desires experienced during each film viewing, were composed and overlaid on ten existing city maps. Additionally, the composition utilized lines from object breaking events created in the studio, echoing the accidental development of most contemporary urban settlements. The resulting urban quarters operate as manuals for the user: They guide the citizen in a journey of self-discovery, of the discovery that urbanites’ identities and souls are directly involved, affected, and follow a parallel path with those of the city they inhabit.
TYPE: B.Arch. Thesis Project | LOCATION: Old GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus | UNIVERSITY: University of Southern California (USC) | PROFESSOR: Graeme Moreland
Departing from post-1989 extensive global debates regarding the concept of democracy and the character of contemporary societies that theoretically operate and decide in a collective manner, the pursuit of this thesis project was a proposal for a new Parliament Building and Museum of National History in Nicosia, Cyprus, through which a re-engagement of the public with the open, democratic process was attempted. During the design process, extensive explorations dealt with the image of such a public structure, its strength in inviting and opening itself to the people and the public domain, its accessibility, its relation and dialectic with the surrounding public space, all aiding in not only inviting but also aggressively provoking citizens to enter, explore, experience and actively participate.
TYPE: Study Abroad Sketchbooks | LOCATION: Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Como et.al., Italy | UNIVERSITY: University of Southern California (USC) | PROFESSORS: Diane Ghirardo, Panos Koulermos, Achva Stein
Studying, designing, traveling and sketching across Italy and around Europe during the spring semester of third year was a significant educational experience, both architecturally and professionally. Through extended exposure to a multitude of regional cultures, on-site discussions on the relationship between historic and contemporary architecture, and designing within dense urban fabrics, a heightened awareness and knowledge of the interconnected world of urban culture was attained. The series of journals and sketchbooks from that term has remained a valuable reminder of attempts at varying drawing techniques, of fieldwork travels to specific buildings and cities, and of existing, proposed and imaginary urban design projects.