Implications of ideology on school buildings and cultural pluralistic context of Gazimağusa, North Cyprus

Abstract

This paper aims to answer the pertinent question: What are the implications of ideology on school buildings and the culturally pluralistic context of Gazimağusa in Northern Cyprus? It traces the social and communication qualities of architecture to restructure the architectural identity of schools and the cultural patterns of this city during the British Period (1878–1960). The colonialists relied on education as an ideological tool for perceiving social and economic stability through training a new, educated middle class to replace the existing traditional authorities: Ottoman leaders and Church structures. Their failure to recognize the diverse cultural layers of the context led to unsustainable outcomes. An interpretative case research approach that involved descriptive and historical techniques was utilized to investigate this situation. Ideology had two separate but related consequences in the context chosen at both urban and architectural scales. Resulting in a cultural shift from intrinsic to extrinsic living that contradicts previous cultural alignments of the place. The urban syntax for communal life shifted to exclusivity, and cultural coexistence was divided between Turkish and Greek Cypriots on the one side; on the other, schools copied a globalized character of transformation. Based on contextual perceptions, the study advocates for a creative cultural mix of local and global concepts. The island went through modernization, hosting the two communities under British Colonial Rule who were both struggling with the colonizers on one hand and experiencing ethnic and political clashes on the other; they formed the conditions for a wide variety of school buildings. Within this context, the paper highlights school buildings as an ideological space, symbol, and tool of nationalism and colonization/decolonization.