Teaching and Experimenting with Architectural Design

360 EAAE no 35 Teaching and Experimenting with Architectural Design: Advances in Technology and Changes in Pedagogy

The notion of complexity is considered as the coexistence and interdependence of
various systems of different things that influence the final architectural outcome.
The aim is to contribute to the architectural culture that would feed a new role
of the architect in the contemporary society. Which is this new role and how the
architect could keep herself/himself creative and innovative? What could be the role
of a “project” oriented education in such a context instead of the actual “object”
oriented one? Such an attempt was made by the author through the design studio of
the second year in the Department of Architecture^1. It is important to mention that
this course is taught only once so far. Any observations and conclusions could thus
only be on the modest side.

Case Studies 1 to 4: Superimposition of the X-small onto the X-Large

Case Study No 1:

“Melissa Pastry Shop” in Nicosia old city centre (image 01). It is a small pastry shop
that opened in the 1950s and run by Mr Kyriakos and his mother.

Case Study No 2:

“Flying Coffee Shop”, in Nicosia old city centre (image 02). A tiny coffee shop, whose
owner, Mr Giorgos, has transformed the traditional coffee delivery, very popular in the
eastern Mediterranean countries, by servicing his clients in the area by a motorbike
and not on foot.

Case Study No 3:

Mr Argyros’ tailor shop, in Nicosia old city centre, (image 03). It is a tailor shop that
opened in the 1950s by Mr Argyros, who is now in his early 80s. He has stopped
working as a full time tailor due to luck of work. He is still in a 3 X 4 metres room
with all tailor’s accessories but practicing the neighborhood’s “muktaris” (a sort of a
neighborhood chief, responsible for state certificates)

Case Study No 4:

“Orphanides Hypermarket, in the periphery of Nicosia, (image 04). It is a large scale
shopping centre that serves a large part of Nicosia agglomeration. It has a ground floor
for parking and above a generic floor for a shopping centre and a supermarket.

The cases studies No 1 to No 3 refer to the most traditional way of living and working
in the old city centre. There are extra small activities where families or single per-
sons run the business while living most of their time in the working place. The case
study No 4 refers to a contemporary condition in the urban periphery. It is in fact, an
extra large activity with generic characteristics. The presence of these two extreme
conditions in the city of Nicosia is indeed, one of the side effects of the globalised
processes that the Cyprus urban environment is undergoing.
One could study in fact, a scenario of superimposition of the X-small (case stud-
ies No 1 to No 3) onto the X–Large (case study No 4). How can the level of complexity
generated by such superimposition be managed in architectural design and why should