Geometric determination of the typical reinforced concrete house in Cyprus from the post-war period until 2016

¹ Department of Architect Engineers, Frederick University, Nicosia, Cyprus
² School of Architecture, Engineering, Land and Environmental Sciences, Neapolis University Pafos, Cyprus

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Abstract

The invasion of 1974 and the occupation of 40% of Cyprus territory by the Turkish invaders created a huge number of 200,000 refugees who had to be immediately housed in the free part of the island. This event led, over the following decades, to a large development in the construction sector, resulting in the creation of a very large housing stock, which was built quickly with the aim of immediately covering the housing needs of the refugees.

In this study, the typologies of the houses built during this period were geometrically examined. The analysis of the geometric data aims to determine, with the best possible accuracy, the most populous type of house constructed in Cyprus during the post-war period, which also constitutes the core of the enormous volume of the housing stock that exists on the island today.

In a study published in an article in the journal Energy and Buildings by Panagiotou et al., the authors dealt with the characteristics and energy behaviour of the housing stock in Cyprus, based on Directive 2002/91/EC (EPBD). Among other findings, the authors refer in their publication to some conclusions concerning the geometric determination of the dominant house type composing the island’s housing stock, which is the detached single-family house with an average area of 172.9 m².

In the present study, to enable the geometric determination of the typical Cypriot house, an extensive analysis of the housing stock data on the island was conducted. The research presented below is based on the data published annually by the Statistical Service of the Republic of Cyprus and focused on the entire building stock as recorded from 1980 to 2016.

As a conclusion of this study and the analysis of the habitable stock of the Republic of Cyprus, the geometric data of what is called the “typical house” of Cyprus during the examined period are presented.