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Koutsoftides Architects
Koutsoftides Architects, a small, design-oriented firm, represents the majority of the ArchiCAD user base.
Its founder, Costas Koutsoftides’s aim was never to grow big in size and profit, but to design what he likes and to do it in the highest quality possible. Awarded with the Republic of Cyprus architectural award, listed as one of the world’s 101 upcoming practices in Wallpaper, and representing his country at the Barcelona and Venice biennales, proves that this approach is not only satisfying but also successful.
Costas Koutsoftides
Now expanded to three employees with Koutsoftides’s son joining the design team and working together with a group of consultants, Koutsoftides Architects provide clients with full service from interior design to quantity take-offs, structural and MEP engineering, landscaping, and more. The scope of work they do is simultaneously creative and realistic, proposing an architecture which is contemporary, fresh, and healthy, and aims for high standards of construction. The practice takes environmental issues seriously and invests a great deal of effort in energy saving solutions. Their approach makes it evident that they don’t have a specific specialty, but take on every task that interests them, from furniture design to urban scale projects. A large share of their work comes from successful national or international competitions as regular participants.
A recent competition entry for the Cyprus News Agency, explaining insulation and air circulation,
©Koutsoftides Architects, Christos Constantinides, architect
ArchiCAD Implementation
The practice passed from the drawing board to ArchiCAD 4.1 in 1990, making them a very experienced ArchiCAD office by now. Today, using versions 12, 13 and 14 on numerous completed medical, commercial, retail, office, refurbishment, renovation and interior projects, Costas Koutsoftides says „Being a ‘one man show’ for over 12 years, I believe that if I wasn’t using this powerful tool, it would have been impossible to respond to the increasing amount of work that started coming to the office.”
A submitted sheet of a recent competition entry for the Dasoupolis Liceum in Nicosia,
© Koutsoftides Architects, Christos Constantinides, architect
Mr. Koutsoftides considers himself a “very good” level user with his knowledge reaching 75% of the program’s possibilities. He did invest into some local training but he believes that the best lesson is the exchange of problems with other ArchiCAD users. “After all, ArchiCAD is all about teamwork.” He also considers the obtainable online information extremely useful, helping to solve problems or understand how certain tools work.
“I got ArchiCAD 4.1 in 1990, and I have insisted on working with it, believing that one day, GRAPHISOFT would develop it to the standards that it is today. My wish came true with version 12. The additional tools, such as SEO and profile manager, allow us to explore more and more design options. Clients are more satisfied because they can explore their buildings and make decisions faster. For an average house, we need one week to complete the preliminary drawings with a full set of interior and exterior renders. For the latter, the office mainly uses Artlantis or Cinema4D, which both work seamlessly with ArchiCAD.
“The exchange of documents with other platforms has become easier, so more complete documentation can be produced amongst the other disciplines that we work with.”
“Without ArchiCAD, it would have been impossible to respond to my client obligations, considering that for a long time I was working on my own. My productivity has increased 100%; we save valuable time for site inspections, and we can attack several projects at the same time because we can produce work and persuade clients in a very short amount of time. ArchiCAD has contributed towards implementing our projects with our clients and has allowed us to operate as a profitable practice over the years.
Projects
The Mauve Pier Laboratory, 2009
Renders of the Mauve Pier Laboratory, © Koutsoftides Architects
One of the best examples showing how much ArchiCAD means when it comes to delivering projects in time is Koutsoftides’s 2009 award winning entry for the Mauve Pier Laboratory in the Harbour of Paphos, designed and submitted in three days. With construction starting next year, this project can certainly be called a success story.
Serving as the Facility Provision for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, the corten steel building is in a sensitive area, so it adopts a nautical vocabulary that recalls ship building and natural sea fauna (like seaweed).
All steel parts are de-constructable, so the entire structure can be relocated if necessary.
The shaded external areas facilitate air circulation during the day to capture and extract the hot air. The double-skin construction components and the vents located in the upper vent corridor allow air to circulate naturally around the clock.
Figures explaining the natural air circulation and a render showing the building in its environment
© Koutsoftides Architects
Zephyros Villa, Paphos - 2008
Photo: © Koutsoftides Architects
The scale and quality of this Paphos family villa represent the majority of the practice’s projects.
“The shadow of your project is captured in the landscape, so you must first hearken it,” said Renzo Piano. From the early stages of the development of the sketches we had these words of the great architect in mind. We tried to extract those elements, which would contribute to and reflect these thoughts; thus, building and landscape become one: to receive at any time of the day and night -- regardless of the season -- the glorious sun, the Zephyros, the majestic blue sea and the mysterious silver moon of August, as when we were kids going camping and enjoying nature. The goal is for the users to be able to embrace all the elements under one…permanent camping tent!”
Photo: © Koutsoftides Architects
