Modernism and Nation Building

Architectural historian Sibel Bozdoğan recounts the cultural history of modern Turkish architecture and its connections with European modernism, from the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Era in 1908 to the end of Kemalist one-party rule in 1950. Drawing on official propaganda publications, professional architectural journals, and popular periodicals of the time, Bozdoğan examines Turkish architectural culture within a broad political, historical, and ideological context. She demonstrates how modern architecture—especially through representative public buildings and the idealized modern house form—became the primary visual expression of the Republican revolution. She also illustrates Turkish architects' attempts to "nationalize" modern forms by legitimizing them on a rational and scientific basis and showcasing their compatibility with Turkish building traditions.

In an era when Turkey's modernity project is being critically re-evaluated in many respects, such a comprehensive examination of Kemalism's architectural legacy is highly pertinent and thought-provoking... This excellent book, which engagingly presents the relationships between social history and spatial organization, is not only immensely interesting for architecture students and researchers but for all social sciences and humanities.