![AZ Awards 2022 Finalist: Eleftheria Square by Zaha Hadid Architects](https://az-media.production-001.dev/awards/2022/06/U_INTER_EleftheriaSquare_01-1600x900.jpg)
Built in the Middle Ages, the Venetian Walls and dry moat in Nicosia, Cyprus, mark the boundary of the city’s ancient quarter. This project is envisioned as part of a larger urban renewal scheme, transforming previously inaccessible areas into civic plazas, parks and promenades, and creating a new green belt around the Mediterranean capital. The architects used the moat’s fluid geometries to inform the placement of features like the grand upper-level bridge at the centre of the square as well as benches and gardens; it also created a passive rainwater drainage system that, in concert with newly planted trees, will help to preserve the walls’ foundations for centuries to come.
![AZ Awards 2022 Finalist: Eleftheria Square by Zaha Hadid Architects](https://az-media.production-001.dev/awards/2022/06/U_INTER_EleftheriaSquare_05.jpg)
Eleftheria Square is envisioned as part of a larger urban renewal scheme, transforming previously inaccessible areas into civic plazas, parks and promenades.