European distinction Greek architecture group.

AREA's "Glow Box" has received the 3rd Prize in the architecture competition for the offices of the new Cypriot News Agency. The competition which ended on September 25th, drew 49 proposals from Cyprus, Greece and abroad. AREA (S. Daouti, G. Mitroulias and M. Raftopoulos) along with Engineer consultant N. Rossis proposed a model contemporary office environment that can also act as a landmark for the developing area around it. A continuous yet permeable ceramic skin circumscribes four intensely planted courtyards that disrupt the homogenous suburban block, enlivening its interior. At the top, a translucent U-glass platform houses the News Room, the Agency's most important function and glows with a soft but powerful light that dominates the horizontal expanse surrounding it. These two qualities, permeability and translucence, symbolically underlie the News Agency's role in absorbing and emitting information.

The competition winners are:

1st Prize: Iraklis Papachristou (Cyprus)
2ο Prize: Anna Poulou and Maja Leonelli (Cyprus, Italy)
3ο Prize: Styliani Daouti, Girogso Mitroulias, Michaeljohn Raftopoulos (Greece)