‘Diffused Aeropolis’,
Larnaca, Cyprus

Tutors: Socrates Stratis

2011-12
The aim of the studio was the design of a ‘diffused aeropolis’. The studio concentrated on the creation of multiple urban connections between airport and city, to take advantage of the increasing importance of airports to their hosted cities. Plus, to avoid creating isolated enclaved urban environments, (aeropolis) which usually come with airport activities. A potential ‘diffused aeropolis’ is the area around the Larnaca International Airport. Its proximity with the natural reserve area of salt lakes and with the sea, creates additional environmental challenges. In fact, the airport was literally placed on the lakes by the Colonial British and then adopted by the Republic of Cyprus and largely extended in the late 1970s to replace the inactive International Nicosia Airport that was frozen in the buffer zone after the Turkish invasion. The students were invited to propose new mediating ways for the edges between the natural reserve are, the sea, the urban agglomeration and the airport infrastructure. They proposed forms of urbanity that allow new synergies and proximities even of conflictual uses, diminishing negative impact and managing conflicts as part of their design