The influence of Mediterranean modernist movement of architecture in Lefkoşa: The first and early second half of 20th century

The twentieth century modern architectures in Lefkosia in North Cyprus are changing especially in residential building. This change is occurs based on the client's orders or because of the dilapidated condition of the buildings. Identify the characteristics of modernist architectural movement will help in identifying these buildings and recognize the changes applied on them. The paper aims to reach the rationale understanding about the norms of modern architecture in Lefkoşa in the twentieth century. The methodology is based on analyzing the residential buildings designed by local architects and “Ahmet Vural Bahaeddin” selected as one of the famous modernist architect in the twentieth century in North Cyprus. Residential buildings from Milan and Rome in Italy, as well as Baecelina in Spain selected for analysis. The paper tries to demonstrate the presence of vernacular elements in modern architecture in Lefkoşa. Two vernacular elements were studied, i) the patio (outside and inside interrelation), and ii) the façade materials (exposed stone) as vernacular elements in “Mediterranean modernist architecture”. The paper delineated the influence of the “Mediterranean modernist movement” on modern architecture in Lefkoşa in the 20th century. The findings show that there is influence by Modernist movement of architecture in other Mediterranean cities in Italy and Espain on the modern architecture in Lefkoşa. The results contribute evidence to promote our understanding regarding the modernist architecture in Lefkoşa. CONTEMPORARY URBAN AFFAIRS (2017) 1(1), 10-23. https://doi.org/10.25034/1761.1(1)10-23