Phos is a hillside villa on the Troodos mountain range in Nicosia, designed by Iqona Architects as a single private residence carved into the slope. At 190 sqm, it is compact but not modest the plan uses the gradient rather than fighting it, stepping the volume down the terrain in a way that keeps every main space oriented toward the view. Stone retaining walls, dark metal frames, and full-height glazing are the primary materials. Nothing decorative.
CATEGORY | Residential
CLIENT | Iqona Architects
COMPLETION | 2025
Troodos does most of the work. The pine forest and the particular quality of light at altitude give the site a mood that renders rarely manage to fake. This one does. The architecture stays low, the roofline barely breaks the treeline, and the stone walls read as a continuation of the rocky ground rather than something placed on it. At ground level, the terraced garden dissolves the boundary between the built and the unbuilt.
Phos is not trying to be large. It is a house for people who chose a specific hillside for a reason, and the design respects that logic. The relationship between the private interior and the outdoor terraces is the real project — not the facade. IDAA developed the visualization working across the wide establishing shots that place the villa in its mountain context and the closer reads that show the materiality and the quality of the outdoor space.
