Abstract

Turkey: Modern Architectures in History offers a journey through the iconic buildings of Turkey that begins with the end of World War I, when the new Turkish Republic was born out of the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, includes its democratization in the midst of the Cold War’s competing ideologies, and concludes with the present day, in which Turkey continues to be dramatically transformed through globalization, economic integration, and a renewed appreciation for its Islamic and Ottoman heritage.   Sibel Bozdogan and Esra Akcan explore modern institutional masterpieces and architect-designed buildings through the decades. Their focus includes informal residential plans, and they discuss how these have evolved from small settlements to colossal urban quarters that exist at a slippery threshold of legality. This richly informative history of Turkey’s built environment goes beyond typical surveys of Western modern architecture and is unique in tackling the issue of the modern and contemporary periods that are often omitted in studies of Islamic art and architecture.   Offering a perceptive overview of modern Turkish architecture, this book places it within the larger social, political, and cultural context of the country’s development as a modern nation in the twentieth century.
Sibel Bozdogan is professor of architecture at Istanbul Bilgi University and a part-time lecturer in architectural history in the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Esra Akcan is assistant professor of architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago.