A project focused on care and serenity

The Cyprus Anti-Cancer Society, set up fifty years ago in Cyprus’s capital Nicosia, cares for cancer patients and helps them fight the disease while improving their quality of life. Founded in 1971, the society recently decided to expand and refurbish its offices and palliative care centre in order to create a unified complex in terms of its organisation and layout. The intention was to design a building that would convey a feeling of serenity and create a calm and pleasant environment for patients, family members and staff.
With the addition of support areas and more rooms for inpatients, the centre now offers 26 single rooms and a range of services including physiotherapy, aromatherapy and emotional and psychological support. Completed in 2019, the project harmonised the sections built during different phases of construction and integrated them into a single contemporary-looking envelope while clearly distinguishing between their various functions. The three levels of the building and its elevations have been interpreted in different ways. The basement level where the testing and diagnostic services are located is dominated by a sense of solidity, while on the two upper levels housing the patient rooms and offices the architects sought to create a sensation of emptiness and lightness, with windows and arcades that open onto the interior garden. As the architects from the local practice J+A Philippou Architects Engineers explain, they drew inspiration for the garden from monastery cloisters and designed the interior spaces in such a way that the garden would be accessible from almost all the patients’ rooms and visible from the offices. They chose to use only white for the walls on the south side to act as a backdrop for the vegetation and the play of shadows. White is also one of the main colours used in the interiors, tempered by beige, light blue and grey tones to create a delicate colour palette. The materials in the interior spaces were chosen not only to help create a sensation of visual and tactile comfort but also for their ability to ensure the maximum hygiene. Panaria Ceramica contributed to the project with its Trilogy porcelain tile collection, chosen in the Sandy Grey version with a Soft finish, 60x120cm size and 9.5 mm thickness. Inspired by the elegance of marble and its varied veining and colour characteristics, this porcelain tile was chosen to bring a touch of sober elegance to the ground floor reception area, where it is used on the floor and the reception desk wall, as well as on the staircase leading up to the office level. These Sandy Grey slabs in a Soft finish contrast delicately with the white walls but were also chosen for their functional characteristics. Produced using Protect® technology, they are capable of eliminating 99.9% of bacteria from their surfaces and therefore have an effective hygiene function, an important consideration in hospitals and healthcare facilities that need to guarantee the maximum safety and hygiene for their patients and guests. In addition to their high level of functional performance, the aesthetic quality of these surfaces helps to create a pleasant, relaxing and welcoming environment.