The object of this study is to create an integrated design proposal for the construction of a new sports centre for the Cypriot athletic team of APOEL (Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias – “Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia”), focusing on creating a proprietary football headquarters in Nicosia, where “Makareio Stadium”, in Nicosia, is now located.
At a first level, the proposal concerns a built-up gentrification and redesign of the location, giving a new aura to the area, by creating a central, regional park and, thus incorporating therein the various sports’ activities required.
The city of Nicosia, that has developed in only one axis, due to political circumstances, is suffocating and is developed in an unbalanced way, creating dead zones in older cores of interest. Knowing the tendency of the city to expand by leaving large “regional voids”, the proposal is responding to the exploitation of this “void” that the area of Makario and the municipality of Makedonitissa in general has to offer.
The area around “Makario Stadium” can be characterised as a mixed-use area, since the Cyprus International Fair is located on the northern boundary of the plot, while the other sides border with built-up areas. This fact leads to a more anthropocentric approach to the design that aims to the functionalism and the service of the residents in the wider zone. It is necessary for the residents to create regional parks that will operate as a visual ‘gateway’ from the structured web and that will revive parts of the city.
The design proposal could not also ignore the trend of the society, by recording the views of the citizens within the official referendum that took place on the part of the municipality, that concerned their opinion on the redevelopment of an old sporting space (old “GSP” stadium), inside the core of the city. The results highlighted the need and willingness of the citizens to create mainly new spaces of greenery, parking lots, low buildings and sports facilities.
Based on the trend of the society, the respect for the “neighbourhood” consists the basic principle for designing the proposal and is applied both on the general concept, as well as on the partial design of the open and closed spaces in order to enhance the image of the “neighbourhood”, and also to increase the free and communal spaces, in the benefit of the public interest and the quality of life.
The proposal includes the replacement of the current “Makario” Stadium with a football stadium, with a capacity of 18,000 spectators, designed based on the specifications of UEFA that will be used by the team for both football matches and training sessions. There is also a proposal for re-constructing a swimming bath, basketball, tennis and archery fields, building offices for the team, hospitality areas, shops and a parking building. Also, after exhortation from the CSO (Cyprus Sports Organisation), the current building offices of the organisation, the indoor stadium “Tassos Papadopoulos – Eleftheria” and finally, the training centre “Evangelos Florakis” are included and kept in the design.