LandmArch Proposes an Interactive Installation for the City of Pafos in Cyprus

 

Pafos is a timeless, cultural hub where different cultures and traditions “intersect”. It is known as the place of “birth” of Aphrodite, and its rich history, culture and the arts, particularly the art of mosaics. These make Pafos a place rich in opportunities for further promotion of comparative advantages and enhancement of the quality characteristics, to a wider audience. Consequently, Pafos can and should acquire a strong identity, which can make it instantly recognizable. 

 

“City-branding” can be defined as the process in order to create “cities-reference points”, which will be immediately apparent to the public for which they are intended, and in parallel, will favorably affect their perceptions on them…This is made possible through visual, verbal, and behavioral expression”. 

 

For a city, «branding» is referred to all actions that have been decided in order to transform it from a simple map location in an attractive destination. A prerequisite for a successful creation of a “city identity” is to highlight its history, quality and culture. The careful selection of the location, which will intensify the feeling of “belonging” and present the landmark’s greatness, offering a full visual contact from everywhere in the city, is the “key” for the brand’s proper promotion. 

 

To achieve that a “place” becomes a reference point and an attractive destination requires a proper design and the use of interactivity, in conjunction with the use of technology and the active participation of all social operators, the active “carriers” of the city`s new identity. 

 

Venus is a symbolic figure with a deep conceptual value. Its name means “emerging from the foam.” Goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite as a symbol, could be associated with the idea of rebirth, regeneration, fruiting, and light. Our proposal is an interactive installation, made of translucent plates and rods, which imitates the surface waves of the sea, that are always in constant motion. It is a symbolic, visual and conceptual “continuity” of the sense of the wave movement, and a idea between the real and the imaginary. 

 

Each plate is of different color, ranging from deep blue to white, representing the depth and the top of sea waves. As mosaics do, so these plates symbolize both the diversity and the coexistence, aiming in union and integration.  The rods will be spaced sufficiently for someone to walk among them. The construction will be accompanied by floor lighting.  The sense of movement, sound and colors will give the necessary immediacy and liveliness to the area, creating a place of interest. 

 

During the day, the sun will reflect on the floor the colors of the plates, creating moving, surface shades, as a kaleidoscope does. During the night, the lights will illuminate the plates from above, projecting in the sky colorful rays, in constant motion. This view will be extended in such a height, so that the exact position of the installation can be apparent from everywhere.  Finally, the movement and integration of people in this installation will resemble the emergence of Venus from the sea foam.