AWARD-WINNING architect Zaha Hadid has defended her controversial plans to remodel the heart of Nicosia.
Nicosia Mayor Eleni Mavrou was in London on Thursday night to present plans for the redesign of the capital’s historic focal point, Eleftheria Square, along with the project’s architect Zaha Hadid.
The event was held at the new premises of the Cyprus High Commission in the plush surroundings of St James Square.
Mavrou noted that Eleftheria Square, having served for over a century as the heart of the capital, “continues to be the most important link between the historic centre and the contemporary city”. The digging currently under way at the site is the “first step towards its transformation into an area that is both functional and beautiful”.
The mayor described Hadid as “an authority in the field of architecture” whose “groundbreaking remodelling of Eleftheria Square has created an uninterrupted flow” between the areas within and outside the old city.
Mavrou, conscious of vocal resentment towards the project from certain quarters back home, highlighted that the award for the project was “not given to a name but to an idea and an architecture”.
The Iraqi-born architect noted that she has a strange association to Cyprus, given her many Cypriot students in the past and those now working in her office.
Hadid said the new design would do more than just connect places, but also people. The opening up of the moat and its redesign will provide a room in the city for people to move freely, she said, adding that the evolution of a place didn’t just depend on its design, but on the people too.
Having lived in Beirut, the architect highlighted the importance of reflecting the “layers of history” in a place, rather than letting them disappear.
She noted the “stunning light” of the Mediterranean would have a great impact on the project, even in the shaded area of the park under the new bridge.
Asked why she did not visit Cyprus before designing the project, Hadid said there was no fixed rule on this and that it depended on the project.
“Sometimes it’s better when I don’t see it first, and when I start the project quite abstract. If I go, I might change my mind and start again,” she quipped, noting that she was known in her circles as the “Option Girl”.
“I want 20 options because I think there’s always a better solution.”
Hadid highlighted that she could respond well to the project because of her team’s enhanced repertoire, and the years of research, observations and ideas on architectural designs, as well as her associates’ continuous visits to the site and their local knowledge.
Hadid praised the two Cypriots in her office who played an integral role in the new design, Christos Passas, the Project Architect, and Saffet Bekiroglu.
Passas noted that the moat has been neglected, divided and unused to date. The new project will reunify all its parts and create access “for people to see where they want to go and just go”. The design’s fluidity and the cool, shaded areas under the bridge will allow for 10-20 different types of users, as well as the traditional open public events, gatherings and concerts, he said.
Former mayor Themistoclis Dervis had the original curve of the bastion knocked down and rebuilt a few metres further back to make space for the new part of town to be connected to Ledra and Onasagorou streets in the 1930s.
This original part of the 16th century bastion has recently been discovered by the Antiquities Department, and will be incorporated into the new design, adding value to the space, said Passas.
The Cypriot High Commissioner, Alexandros Zenon, described Hadid as a “great architect” who creates an edifice in every project she takes on. He acknowledged, however, that not all where in favour of the project, saying: “Many in Nicosia are excited about this project, most of them, enthusiastic.”
Former Nicosia mayoral candidate and archaeologist Anna Marangou who leads a lobby group entitled ‘Nicosia Citizens against the Transformation of Eleftheria Square’ has sent letters to various European institutions and UNESCO objecting to the plans. Marangou has labelled the project an “imposing concrete monstrosity”.
The project’s supporters argue the material used will ensure that the country’s hot weather will not be a problem, highlighting the large open yet shaded spaces created by the bridge over the park.
The High Commission’s Cultural Counsellor Dr Niki Katsaouni said finding the best urban design that catered to everybody’s needs while integrating the old with the new was liking trying “to solve a riddle put by a sphinx”.
One Cypriot who attended the presentation asked whether any colours could be added, to which Hadid suggested creating a “red square”.
The mayor quickly intervened to add: “Colour is a sensitive issue in Cyprus.”
John Outram, a British architect married to a Cypriot, used to have an office overlooking the square when it was called Metaxas Square in 1961. He argued the design was not dramatic enough.
“I’m looking for a neutrality that’s more powerful than race/religion/ethnicity. This fluidity and flatness is more of an erasure of identity,” he said.
Another Cypriot noted that every intervention into a space always creates a trauma. Directing his gaze to Hadid, he said, “I think female intervention minimises trauma, except in love of course”.
ELEFTHERIA Square was not part of the original construction of the Venetian walls and first took the form of a bridge constructed during the British colonial era, erected in 1882. Hadid’s architectural concept to redesign the square beat another 46 designs in a Europe-wide competition in May 2005. The Antiquities Department has since excavated the site below the Nicosia Municipality where remains of the original bastion of the Venetian Walls were uncovered. These must now be incorporated into the Square’s new design before the tender process for construction of the project can begin. The budget for the re-development project has been set at €8.5 million, most of which has been secured through EU funds.
Zaha Hadid is the first female recipient of the Pritzker Prize, the highest award in architecture. Her more famous completed designs include the BMW Central Plant Building in Leipzig, the Tram Station and Car Park in Strasbourg, and the Zaragoza Bridge Pavillion in Spain.
She is currently working on a master plan design for the One-North project in Singapore and has won the competition to design London’s Olympic Aquatic Centre for 2012.
