Melkonian Educational Institute - Headmaster Mansion, Nicosia

Melkonian Educational Institute - Headmaster Mansion, Nicosia

The Melkonian Residence is a listed historic building located in Nicosia. The building was constructed in 1926 and it comprises part of a larger complex of buildings, consisting of two 3-floor structures (used as orphanage and school) and a single one-story residence (the Headmaster Mansion). The entire complex may be described as a hybrid structure with reinforced concrete slabs, beams and columns and load-bearing masonry walls.

The Headmaster Mansion masonry walls comprise of locally quarried bioclastic limestone. The average results of tests on concrete specimens collected in-situ are summarized below:

• Apparent Density (by vacuum saturation): 2195 kg/m³
• Open Porosity (by vacuum saturation): 18%
• Compressive Strength (EN 12390-3): 15.2 MPa

The aforementioned tests for the characterization of the monument's building materials were carried out in 2020, in the framework of the postgraduate course "CON 500 Capstone Design Project" of the interdisciplinary and interdepartmental MSc program "Conservation and Restoration of Historic Buildings and Sites" of the University of Cyprus. Sampling and testing was carried out by staff of the Building Materials and LEDRA Laboratories of the University of Cyprus and by students of the graduate program.

University of Cyprus - Ledra and Building Materials Labs & The Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ΕΤΕΚ)

https://www.scientific.net/KEM.919.108

University of Cyprus - Ledra and Building Materials Labs & The Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ΕΤΕΚ)

University of Cyprus - Ledra and Building Materials Labs

University of Cyprus - Ledra and Building Materials Labs

Photos taken by Ioannis Ioannou, University of Cyprus - Ledra and Building Materials Labs