CYPRUS PARK

Latsia, Cyprus
For Groundlab

2012

The concept of the park is based on the existing and traditional terraces of Cyprus and, more specifically, Latsia. These terraces not only allow for the management of the slope and water but link the project’s programme, as an environmental centre, to its spatial design. By consolidating the existing terraces, which define the park’s configuration, the terraces generate an intrinsic spatial relation between the park activities, the landscape and the views. Moreover, the terraces have been designed so a minimum amount of earth will be moved and so people with reduced mobility will have easy accessibility.

They are also the foundations for a sustainable water management system, essential for the maintenance of a park in a Mediterranean climate, that collects rainwater from the roofs; in the winter, it treats the water that is used in the buildings through a natural wetlands system and distributes it through the drainage patterns, creating an enjoyable and natural cooling water landscape for the Latsian people.

This makes it not only sustainable but also ecologically attractive for the birds whose migration routes pass every year over Cyprus and the neighbouring National Park of Athalassa.