Systems of Care
On Reclaiming Nicosia's Obsolete Urban Fabric
M. Kathidjiotis (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
J.H. Lüchinger – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / A)
R.R. van den Ban – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / AE+T)
Aleksandar Staničić – Mentor (TU Delft - Situated Architecture)
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Abstract
Situated in Nicosia, Cyprus, a city long marked by division, the project focuses on the obsolete sites scattered throughout its historic center and the reclamation of their decayed structures. Abandoned after the city's division and often hidden behind walls, these remnants continue to fragment both the city and its communities. The project asks: how can reclaiming and reusing the city's deteriorating fabric become a catalyst for cooperation across Nicosia's communities?
At its core, the project proposes the creation of a reclaimed material warehouse, a material testing workshop, a city archive and library, all situated on one of Nicosia's obsolete sites. Together, these spaces form a hub for reintroducing decayed materials into the city's material cycle, fostering vernacular practices of labour, care and collective engagement that reconnect people to their surroundings and to one another.
The building grows in phases, mirroring the process of material reclamation. Gardens and courtyards serve as connective elements, weaving the building's phases together and linking the formerly obsolete site to its surroundings. Composed of reused urban fragments, these courtyards mediate between antiquity and the present and ground people in the city's material history.
Storytelling guides both design and research to breath life into the forgotten fragments of the city. Models, drawings and writings are used to reconstruct the stories embedded in them and imagine the stories they could tell. In doing so, the project reimagines Nicosia's future through its ruins, and it invites its communities to acknowledge their shared past and imagine a shared future.