Nicosia's Places of Transition // Transitional Spaces

This project examines Nicosia's in-transit condition and post-conflict history, exploring displacement, memory, and identity. Beginning with the study of the inaccessible Old Airport (1968) that resides in the buffer zone —a modernist "non-place" (Augé) transformed into a place of memory after the 1974 Turkish invasion. Using the airport as a paradigm, the study examines how generic spaces can generate identity in post-conflict contexts, linking this to Nicosia's current ‘conflict’ situation arising from refugee flows.

The project proposes an open-ended urban infrastructure to address the transitional experiences of refugees and displaced people in Cyprus. It aims to transform generic spaces and abandoned buildings, relics of past conflicts, into places that foster multiple identities, and social cohesion. As Rem Koolhaas argues ‘ultra-modern, generic spaces are not bound to pre-existing identities’. Instead, they offer the potential to create new narratives. The purpose of this project is to create unfinished “generic spaces” as caring infrastructures that will be re-appropriated, complemented and transformed by their multinational users. The proposal envisions flexible spaces with light structures, enabling refugees and locals to customize and adapt based on their needs. These flexible, “generic” spaces will adopt multiple identities through the re-appropriation and mis-use of their inhabitants. Programmatic activities include the “Bypass Festival,” where control, in its transportive sense, that refugees and non-refugees experience daily, is bypassed. It offers refugees a platform to share their cultural narratives and engage with locals. The project also integrates urban and vertical food production sites, fostering local economic support and social engagement. Food, central to both refugee and Cypriot cultures, becomes a means of connection. Another element is the “Multicultural Background Orchestra,” which blends music as an intercultural medium with intimate public spaces, creating a scenery for daily activities while fostering connections. By transforming abandoned and generic spaces into multicultural environments, this proposal aims to construct an alternative narrative for Nicosia—one that prioritizes social cohesion and intercultural dialogue.