UNIC Department of Architecture launched its first ever Virtual End-of-Year Exhibition
A “live” online Opening Ceremony launched the Department’s highly anticipated 2020 End-of-Year Exhibition, offering visitors the chance to navigate the incredible 2019-2020 student work online
In a “live” online opening ceremony last month, the Department of Architecture of the University of Nicosia (UNIC) launched its first ever virtual End-of-Year Exhibition. During the ceremony, which doubled as an info session, participants were introduced to the vibrant events, activities and creative output of the Department, as well as to the strengths of its interior design and architecture programmes.
The End-of-Year Exhibition is the most important and anticipated annual event of the Department, typically taking place in its bespoke premises, the Architecture Research Centre (ARC). This year, the Department responded innovatively to the current situation by setting up a virtual exhibition space – an online duplicate of the ARC building – to host the 2019-2020 work.
Commenting on the development, the Head of the Department, Associate Professor Markella Menikou, noted that this was indicative of the Department’s resilience and resourcefulness. She then went on to present an overview of the achievements of the Department throughout the year, which among others included Professor Yiorgos Hadjischristou’s Cyprus State Architecture Award 2019 in the category “Outstanding Architectural Project”.
Assistant Professor Angela Kyriakou Petrou briefly introduced the architecture programme structure, focusing mainly on the architecture design studio. She highlighted the successful completion of the Spring 2020 Semester design studios, which took place entirely online, in which international experts from around the world were invited to participate in reviews/exams.
The Interior Design and Computation Design & Digital Fabrication (CDDF) programmes were introduced by Associate Professor Anna Efstathiou and Assistant Professor Michalis Georgiou, respectively. Mr Georgiou noted that the new MSc in CDDF started running in Fall 2019, in collaboration with the university of Innsbruck in Austria. In December 2019, an intense 2-week workshop was held in Nicosia, during which international students of the Master programme had the chance to apply knowledge and experiment with digital fabrication, and to participate in a series of field trips and lectures. The output of the workshop, a digitally fabricated prototype titled X-Max, is currently being showcased in Eleftheria Square.
Professor Yiorgos Hadjichristou presented a series of extra-curricular events that took place during 2019-2020, including a two-week construction workshop in Platres, in collaboration with the Cyprus Architects Association and with the participation of the Mediterranean Association of Architects. During the workshop, Cypriot and International students alike designed and constructed a series of timber structures that were inserted permanently in a key location of the mountain resort.
The Opening Ceremony culminated in the presentation of 5 honours design studio projects by the best graduating students and an award ceremony where faculty members presented awards to students with high academic performance.
Just before the official launch of the virtual exhibition, Michalis Georgiou presented details regarding the making of the exhibition and thanked the incredible team of students and external collaborators involved in the process.
You can view the 2020 Virtual End-of-Year Exhibition Opening Ceremony here. And you can embark on a virtual journey through the online duplicate of ARC and navigate the 2020 End-of-Year Exhibition here.
