Ambivalent politics and modernist debates in postcolonial Cyprus

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Oliver P. Richmond, ‘Decolonization and Post-Independence Causes of Conflict: Mapping the case of Cyprus’, in, Hubert Faustmann, Nicos Peristianis, eds, Britain in Cyprus Colonialism and Post-colonialism 1878–2006 (Mannheim, Germany, Bibliopolis, 2006), p. 557. Ibid., pp. 535–559; Nikos Peristianis, ‘Cypriot Nationalism: Dual Identity, and Politics’, in, Y. Papadakis, N. Peristianis, G. Welz, eds, Divided Cyprus: Modernity, History and an Island in Conflict (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2006), pp. 100–120. Joseph S. Joseph, ‘The London and Zurich Agreements’, in Britain in Cyprus, op. cit., p. 458. The document with the suggested amendments was entitled: ‘Suggested Measures to Facilitate the Smooth Functioning of the State and Remove Certain Causes of Intercommunal Friction’ and was included in ‘Makarios Memorandum to the Turkish Cypriot Vice-President Dr. F. Kucuk’, cited in ‘The London and Zurich Agreements’, op. cit., p. 462. For a description of the events that followed the Greek Cypriot President Makarios' constitutional amendments see Stavros Panteli, The Making of Modern Cyprus: From Obscurity to Statehood (New Barnet, Interworld, 1990). For an analysis of the dividing line through the Nicosia city centre, for example, see Yiannis Papadakis, ‘I Leukosia/Lefkosha meta to 1960: ena potami, mia gefyra kai mia Nekri Zoni’ [‘Nicosia/Lefkosha after 1960: a river, a bridge and a Dead Zone’], in, Nikos Trimikliniotis, ed., To Portokali tis Kyprou [‘The Orange of Cyprus’] (Athens, Nisos, 2005), pp. 265–293. ‘Re-Organization of The Turkish Cypriot Administrative System’ (Nicosia, Press and Information Office, PIO, 29th December, 1967); accessible online at http://www.piopressreleases.com.cy/. ‘Address of H.B. Archibishop Makarios at the ceremony held in the House of Representatives for his investiture as president of the Republic of Cyprus’ (Nicosia, PIO, 28th February, 1973), p. 3. Ibid., p. 4. ‘Second Development Plan: Address to the House of Representatives by the Minister of Finance, Renos Solomides, on April 8, 1968’ (Nicosia, PIO, 8th April, 1968). ‘Address by the Minister of Finance, Renos Solomides at the Pancyprian Civil Servants Trade Union Congress held today’ (Nicosia, PIO, 7th April, 1968), p. 3. ‘Second Development Plan’, op. cit. Press release of the announcement of the competition prizes by the President of the jury, P. M. Kazamias (Nicosia, PIO, 6th June, 1973). ‘Master Plan for Government Offices: The Brief: For the Use of the Architects Selected to Submit Plans and Proposals’, Public Works Department (henceforth PWD) Archive, n.38/68/3 (Nicosia, PWD, 14thJune, 1972), pp. 60–62. ‘Second Five Year Development Plan: Summary’ (Nicosia, PIO, 6th June, 1973), p. 30. ‘Report of the Ministerial Buildings Committee’, PWD Archive, n.38/68/3 (Nicosia, PWD, 8thSeptember, 1969). The international call that initially publicised the competition used an even more general title: ‘Group of office buildings in Nicosia, Cyprus, for various Ministries and Government departments.’; ‘Appendix A-Draft Letter to Embassies and High Commissions in Nicosia’, PWD Archive, n.38/68/1 (Nicosia, PWD, 27th January, 1968), p. 12. ‘Address by the Minister of Finance Renos Solomides, op. cit., p. 1. See, for example, Sibel Bozdogan, Modernism and Nation Building: Turkish Architectural Culture in the Early Republic (Seattle, University of Washington Press, 2001); Panayiota Pyla, ‘Baghdad's Urban Restructuring, 1958: Aesthetics and Politics of Nation-Building’, in, Sandy Isenstadt, Kishwar Rizvi, eds, Modernism and the Middle East: Politics of the Built Environment (Seattle, University of Washington Press, 2008); Alona Nitzan-Shiftan, ‘Capital city or spiritual centre? The politics of architecture in post-1967 Jerusalem’, Cities, 22:3 (June, 2005), pp. 229–240. ‘Report of the Ministerial Buildings Committee,’ op. cit., p. 10. The Government House was constructed between 1933 and 1937, and the colonial government's search for a ‘Cypriot motif’ included a British component: expressed, as Michael Given points out, in the ‘enormous sculpted royal coat of arms’ at the entrance and the ‘medallions on the sides of the porch show the royal British lion and the two lions of Richard the Lionheart, first British ruler of Cyprus’; Michael Given, ‘Architectural Styles and Ethnic Identity in Medieval to Modern Cyprus’, in, Joanne Clarke, ed., Archaeological Perspectives on the Transmission and Transformation of Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean (Oxford, Oxbow Books, 2005), p. 211. See also Kenneth W. Schaar, Michael Given, George Theocharous, Under the Clock: Colonial Architecture and History in Cyprus (Nicosia, Bank of Cyprus, 1995), pp. 75–79. In a recent interview, the director general of the Ministry of Transport and Works at that time contended that the young Republic's first President personally opposed the removal of colonial symbols from the façade (interview by Panayiotis Kazamias with Petros Phokaides, Nicosia, 3rd June, 2011). The letter sent to the UIA was signed by A. K Anastasiades on behalf of P. Kazamias, PWD Archive, n.38/68/1 (Nicosia, PWD, 7th February, 1968). Letter by Pierre Vago, UIA Secretary General, to Panayiotis Kazamias, PWD Archive, n. 38/68/1 (Nicosia, PWD, 22nd February, 1968). Letter from P. Kazamias to P. Vago, PWD Archive, n. 38/68/1 (Nicosia, PWD, 12th April, 1968). The representatives of the local Association met the ad hoc Committee's President, P. Kazamias, on February 14th, 1968, and submitted a written declaration of their views, on February 19th, 1968. The Association also met the Minister of Transport and Works and the Minister of Finance. Letter sent by F. Kolakides, President of Association of Architects and Civil Engineers to the General Director of the Ministry of Transport and Works, PWD Archive, n. 38/68/1 (Nicosia, PWD, 19th February, 1968). Ibid. Ibid. This was evident from the very fact that the Committee's clear priority had been to announce the competition in international, rather than local fora; and from the statement by the ad hoc committee's President that ‘it is doubtful that Cypriot architects have a general knowledge and experience’: a view P. Kazamias expressed in a letter to the Minister of Transport and Works, PWD Archive, n. 38/68/1 (Nicosia, PWD, 23rd February, 1968). This opinion was first recorded in a letter from P. Kazamias, dated February 23rd, 1968, summarising the views of the Ministry of Transport and Works to the General Director of the Planning Bureau. This was reaffirmed by the General Director of the Planning Bureau in his response on March 14th, 1968, where he summarised the discussion between the Ministry of Finance and the representatives of the local Association, PWD Archive, n. 38/68/1 (Nicosia, PWD, 23rd February, 1968; 14th March, 1968). The submissions were as follows: 111 from the United Kingdom, 15 from Cyprus, 14 from Canada, 10 from Greece, 9 from the Lebanon, 8 from Italy, 8 from Sweden, 6 from Poland, 5 from Germany, 3 from Israel, 2 from France, 2 from Austria, and single entries from Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Finland, Romania, Ireland, Egypt; ‘Report of the Ministerial Buildings Committee,’ op. cit. Ibid., p. 6: the invitation to A. Ling (1913–1995) came from the Minister of Finance on March 1st, 1968, with the justification that he would ‘act as adviser for the selection of Architects […] in the event of the Committee finding it difficult to make the choice’. Ling's critique of Giedion, prompted Van Eyck to support Giedion's emphasis on architectural expression. In agreement with Van Eyck's reaction (and against Ling's), Le Corbusier exclaimed ‘finally, imagination comes into CIAM!’: see Eric Mumford, The CIAM Discourse on Urbanism 1928–60 (Cambridge, Mass., The MIT Press, 2000), pp. 172, 179. ‘Report of the Ministerial Buildings Committee’, op. cit.: Ling initially selected 28 firms and then, upon communicating with the Minister of Finance, he narrowed the list down to five names as his personal choice, over and above the Greek and Cypriot architects. The Council of Ministers' decision was made on April 3rd, 1968: letter from P. Kazamias to the General Director of Planning Bureau, PWD Archive, n. 38/68/2 (Nicosia, PWD, 4th January, 1969). The final list included three names from the ad hoc committee's list of fifteen; two names from Arthur Ling's five personal favourites; and four names from the list of six partnerships between international and local architects. One more team was included that did not appear on the above lists, that probably came from a longer list Ling had previously compiled. This was the partnership of Kalogeras, Koulermos and Amourgis from Greece with Fry, Drew and Partners from the United Kingdom. The shortlists were completed by January 4th, 1969, but it took almost three years to notify the finalists to prepare their proposals for the second phase of the competition (April 4th,1972) and almost one year more for the delivery of the entries (February 22nd, 1973). Government officials participating in the jury were: the Director General of the Ministry of Transport and Works (P. Kazamias); the Director of the Department of Public Works (Em. Symeonides); the Director of the Department of Planning and Housing (C. Ioannides); the Representative of the Accountant General (Th. Theophilou); the Representative of the Planning Bureau (K. Spatharis); the Public Works Department Senior Architects Office (X. Ioannides). ‘Announcement of the Competition Prizes by the President of the Jury and General Director of the Ministry of Transport and Works (Nicosia, PIO, 6th June, 1973). G. Candilis (1913–1995) studied architecture in Athens and practised in Paris between 1945 and 1952, collaborating with Le Corbusier. He practised in North and Central Africa in 1952–55 with Shadrach Woods and the engineer Henri Piot. Upon his return to Paris, Candilis set up a practice with Alexis Josic and Woods. This partnership dissolved in 1969, but Candilis continued practising as an architect and planner in the Middle East and taught in Paris. Quoted from the jury's General Comments, ‘Master Plan for Government offices in Nicosia: Limited Competition, Report of the Selection Committee’, PWD Archive (Nicosia, PWD, 25th May, 1973). Ling's ‘Town and Country Planning Report’ on Cyprus included: ‘The Island Plan, five Local Plans, and eight Area Schemes’: cited in ‘Address by the Minister of the Interior and Defence, E. Komodromos, during the presentation to H.B., the President of the Republic, Archbishop Makarios, of the Town and Country Planning report for Cyprus’ (Nicosia, PIO, 19th February, 1971). For example, ‘Lecture by Professor Arthur Ling, Ledra Palace Hotel, 22/09/1967: Town Planning in Cyprus’ (Nicosia, PIO, 22nd September, 1967). The jury's comments on what eventually won the Second Prize: ‘Master Plan for Government offices in Nicosia: Limited Competition, Report of the Selection Committee’, op. cit. Ibid.: quoted from the jury's comments on the Third prize winner, Studio Valle from Italy with Leptos-Davidian Design Group (Entry 183934). Ibid.: quoted from the jury's comments on the proposal of The Architects Collaborative with Kolakides and Associates (Entry No 868420). Ibid.: quoted from the jury's comments on the Second prize winner, James Cubitt, Fello Atkinson and Partners with Economou, Diamantis from Cyprus and Ove Arup and Partners (Entry No 465877). Ibid.: quoted from the jury's comments on the First prize winner. Ibid. J. Bonnington, ‘Architect's approach to architecture’, RIBA Journal (August, 1973), pp. 405–411. Ibid., p. 411. Quoted from the jury's comments on the First prize winner: ‘Master Plan for Government offices in Nicosia: Limited Competition, Report of the Selection Committee’, op. cit. J. Bonnington, op. cit., p. 409. The proposal was published in ‘Kuwait National Assembly competition’, Building Design, n. 137 (9th February, 1973), pp. 16–17 and John Bonnington, ‘A New Arab architecture: Middle Eastern work of the John S. Bonnington Partnership’, Middle East Construction, v. 3, n. 7 (July, 1978), pp. 90–94. J. Bonnington, ‘Architect's Approach to Architecture,’ op. cit., p. 410. Quoted from the jury's comments on the First prize winner: ‘Master Plan for Government offices in Nicosia: Limited Competition, Report of the Selection Committee’, op. cit. Ibid.: quoted from the jury's recommendations to the winners. Ibid. Alan Colquhoun exposed the connections between mega-structures and bureaucracy and other forms of power in ‘Plateu Beaubourg’ (1977): Alan Colquhoun, Essays in Architectural Criticism: Modern Architecture and Historical Change (Cambridge, Mass., The MIT Press, 1981), p. 117. For a critique of mega-structures and the connection to the idea of flexibility, see Felicity D. Scott, Architecture or Techno-Utopia: Politics After Modernism (Cambridge, Mass., The MIT Press, 2007), pp. 2, 291. ‘Competition: Government Offices, Nicosia, Cyprus’, Architects' Journal, v. 157, n. 26 (27th June, 1973), p. 1536.

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