Nominator: Christos Pavlou

Nominator's statement

Studio scaλēta architecture approaches every project as a unique exploration. By precisely coordinating the elements that shape space, the studio transforms ideas into carefully crafted environments. Involved from concept through construction, the practice aims to create architecture that conveys atmosphere, energy, and emotional depth.

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LIVING BEHIND “MANTROTOICHOS”
In collaboration with Ioanna Evagorou.​
The project seeks to redefine the concept of "mantrótoichos" (the traditional fence wall) not as a barrier but as a privacy filter, integrated into the detached housing typology of the island. Set back from the street, the house remains largely closed to the outside, using limited openings and narrow slits to protect privacy while defining outdoor space as an extension of the home. Access is through the garden, blurring the boundary between public and private. A rising wall marks the entrance and continues to shape the upper floor and the main bedroom’s private patio.
At the core of the ground floor lies a central courtyard, partly open and partly covered, around which daily living unfolds. Glazing and sliding doors ensure visual continuity and spatial fluidity between interior and exterior.
The upper floor is divided into parents’ and children’s zones, organized around patios and filtered openings that bring light, air, and greenery inside. White surfaces, exposed concrete, wood floors, polished cement circulation areas, and glass blocks create a protective yet warm shell, supporting natural light, ventilation, and spatial permeability.HABITATION PRISMS
 The house's ground floor follows a “Π”-shaped plan, organizing the living room, dining area, and kitchen around a central patio, while the more intimate spaces are contained within the pentagonal prism of the first floor, which rests on the cubic volumes below. The patio forms the heart of daily life, with open ground-floor spaces arranged around it, visually connected yet subtly separated, allowing activities to flow seamlessly between interior and exterior.
The living room faces south and is naturally cross-ventilated through a high northern opening, while the dining-kitchen area, oriented southeast, benefits from ample daylight. A centrally placed metal staircase acts as a suspended sculptural element, marking the transition between communal and private zones while filtering summer sunlight.
The first floor is organized along a north–south axis, with the master bedroom to the south and additional bedrooms to the east. A large curtain wall brings diffused light and views to the office, while skylights ventilate the sanitary spaces. White exterior surfaces highlight the building’s sculptural form, while interior materials and color accentuate depth and geometry.
LANDSCAPE CUBED
1st prize in the Architectural Competition for Larnaca Salt Lake Environmental Information Center.
In collaboration with Haris Aristodemou, Constantinos Kelpis, Marios Kyriakou and Yiotis Tsangaris
The proposal focuses on the enhancement of an urban “threshold” between the city and the Larnaca Salt Lake, currently inactive and disconnected. A network of walkways is introduced to reconnect these two poles and organize the park as a unified, living landscape. Along the main axis, the Environmental Information Center of the Larnaca Salt Lakes is positioned — a building of exposed, pale pink reinforced concrete that acts as a filter between urban noise and the park’s tranquility.
A continuous outer shell “embraces” the interior spaces, lifting at points to form entrances and semi-outdoor areas. The entrance unfolds around a seasonal water basin that references the Salt Lake and creates a new microclimate. The building is organized into two zones — a visitor zone and a secondary activities zone — with flexible, permeable spaces and alternating visual connections to the natural environment. Patios with planting and water “frame moments of the landscape”, enhancing both the bioclimatic performance and the visitor’s spatial experience.