Design Journal_Museum of Multi-Perspectivity

1

THE MUSEUM OF MULTI-PERSPECTIVITY THESIS STUDIO STUIO LEADER BY

CONTESTED STATES AND THE ARCHITECTURE IN BETWEEN HEATHER MITCHELTREE AND MITCHELL RANSOME HAORAN WANG 743428

*

2

Figure 1. Ransome, M. Cover page: US Embassy in Cyprus.(2018). Nicosia.

CONTENTS

04

Thesis Statement

06

27

10

32

Calendar of Contestation The Role of Museum

12

Museums in Cyprus

14

Multi-Perspectivity of Observation Design Parti

38

Sketch Design

Lens of Multi-Perspectivity

16

Concept Design

67

Refined Design

16

Design Statement

17

Design Strategy

20

Multi-Perspectivity of Division

23

Multi-Perspectivity of Confrontation

93

Bibliography

3

THESIS STATEMENT Due to its prominent geographic positioning on

thesis hopes to capture the dialectics of conflicts

historic trade and migration routes, Cyprus has had

and division; challenge and reflect on the role of

a long and turbulent history of contestation. Created

museums as architectural mediators between the

in 1964 to prevent further inter-communal violence,

socio-political history, present, and possible futures,

the buffer zone divides the island nation, and the

eventually create a system of experience that forms

National capital Nicosia, into northern and southern

the narratives of multi-perspectivity.

sections. Since its implementation, the Buffer Zone has become a physical manifestation of conflict and division, and a symbolic representation of the construction of identities of difference1.

Focusing on how both individual and collective memory reverberate within contexts of loss, contestation, division and conflicting claims of statehood and national identity, this thesis aims to explore how the architecture of the museum might serve as a testing ground for multi-perspectivity and narrative plurality.

By examining, extracting and re-imagining the narratives of multi-perspective memories, this

1. Mitcheltree, H., & Ransome, M. (2020). Contested States: Creating affective encounters with spaces of Conflict and Identities of Difference. Inflection: Boundaries, Vol 07., 122-131.

4

5

Figure 2. Ransome, M. Nicosia Airport. (2018). Nicosia.

A CALENDAR OF CONTESTATION

Throughout centuries in Cyprus’s history, its

ethnic coexistence between Greek and Turkish

geographical

brought

communities. Noted back to the Ottoman rule,

different conflicting interests and invaders to the

when the city of Nicosia started to show a pattern

island. Multiple empires’ constant competition to

of Orthodox community live in the southern part of

control and occupy the island left layers of historical

the city while Muslim in the north, two communities

traces in Cyprus.1 (a timeline shown in figure 4)

coexisted

and

strategic

position

in

harmony

and

ethnically

mixed

communities appeared. The phenomenon indicated In contemporary times, the competition turns into

that the states of consciousness influenced modern

part of the imperialist antagonisms2. British, Greece,

identity conflicts more than ethnic origins did3. This

Turkey and arguably more all became stakeholders

states of consciousness need to be examined in

of this turbulent period of the history of contestation.

order to understand how it shaped the perception of

As Tziarra stated that factors including the “energy

statehood and national identity.

discoveries, geopolitical antagonisms and new (im)balances of power, new (human) security imperatives, along with the increased interest in the area from external powers” still have a significant political impact on Cyprus. British, Greece, Turkey and arguably more all became stakeholders of this turbulent period of the history of contestation.

However, there was a significant phenomenon of

1. Tziarras, Z. (2019). The New Geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean: Trilateral Partnerships and Regional Security.

2. Steven, L. (2004). Politics and National Security: The Battles for Britain. Conflict Management and Peace Science Vol 21.4, pages 269-286.

3. Paschalis M. K, “From coexistence to confrontation: the dynamics of ethnic conflict in Cyprus”, in Cyprus Reviewed, ed. by Michalis Attalides (Nicosia: New Cyprus Association, 1977), pp 35-70 (37).

6

1878-1960 BRITISH PERIOD ----1960 REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS

750-325 BC ARCHAIC AND CLASSICAL PERIOD

7 2500-1050 BC BRONZE AGE

325-58 BC HELLENISTIC PERIOD 7000-3900 BC NEOLITHIC AGE

330-1191 AD BYZANTINE PERIOD

1050-750 BC GEOMETRIC PERIOD 3900-2500 BC CHALCOLITHIC AGE

58 BC – 330 AD ROMAN PERIOD

1571- 1878 AD OTTOMAN PERIOD

1192-1489 AD FRANKISH (LUSIGNAN) PERIOD

1489-1571 AD VENETIAN PERIOD

8

Figure 5. Collage: A calendar of Contestation. By Author.

The collage made from a collection of book pages about Cyprus History after 1878. The conflict events were labeled as black to show a scale of the struggle and contestation Cyprus has suffered. For the Republic of Cyprus , it has only one third of its independence without forms of contestation and division.

1967

1955

Greek Cypriot guerrilla organisation EOKA launched campaign against British rule

1914

UK annexes Cyprus at outset of World War I Cyprus becoame a British corwn colony

1900

World War II..agitation for enosis subsides. Returns after the war

1930

1950

London-Zurich aggrements pave way for Cyprus independence.

Archbishop Makarios III, a Greek Cypriot. wins first presidential election.

...UK assumes administration of Cyprus from Ottoman Empire

1923

Greece and Turkey recognise British sovereignty under Treaty of Lausanne

1960

Republicc of Cyprus become independent..treaties establish Greece, Turkey, and UK as guarantors of its independence.

Figure 6. Timeline of the Republic of Cyprus, by Author.

The timeline of the conflict events labeled in the figure 5, collage: A calendar of contestation.

Customs agreement signed with European Community

Makarios claims union with Greece no longer feasible

1980

Intercommunal fighting... creation of UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus

Greek Cypriots riot for Enosis (Union with Greece)

9

1987

1970

1963-1964

1931 1878

Turkish Cypriot community declares itself the independent Turkish Republich od Northern Cyprus recognised (only) by Turkey

1959

1939-1945

1925

1983

Continoued violence leads to major confrontation between Greece and Turkey, US mediation diffuses the crisis

1974

1977

President Makarios died

Turkish military forces incade and occupy northern one-third of island and declared the “Turkish Federated State of Cyprus� in 1975

2000 1992

Cyprus remains divided into two areas separated by the UN buffer one, issue continues to be addressed by Various international forums

THE ROLE OF MUSEUM

It is essential to learn the “sense of the past”, as it

a sense of inclusion and exclusion of collective

is still existing and determining present and future

memory, contribute to making and legitimising

transformations. Moreover, the museum has the

claims of statehood.

potential to act as an architectural medium for

be mechanisms of authority to reshape identity and

this issue. It has a crucial role in negotiating the

memory. In Cyprus’s situation, the ongoing division

meaning of our past, help define current identities,

dominates the rhetoric of both sides and influences

and influence the way we approach the future.2 They

the selection of historic truths to be memorised and

function as institutions that articulate, negotiate,

passed on to future generations.3

1

Therefore, museums could

visualise and present individual and community narratives within the symbolic realm.

Papadakis found that Greek Cypriots were primarily interested in the events of 1974 and in documenting

Whilst there is a body of architectural and social

the atrocities against them committed by the Turkish

theory that examines the socio-political role of the

army, whereas Turkish Cypriots were interested in

museum, little has been written on the link between

collecting evidence of atrocities committed against

the architecture of museum in sites of contestation

them in the 1960s and in 1974.4

and its impact on memory, culture and identities of difference. Museums are actively involved in socio-political culture. Through selectively curate their collections, exhibitions narratives and the interpretation strategies, museums construct

1. Iliopoulou, E. (2016). The Social Space of Conflict: Multiple Divisions and Everyday Dynamics in the Old City of Nicosia. (PhD). Technische Universität Berlin.

2. Bounia, A., Stylianou-Lambert, T. (2016). The Political Museum: Power, Conflict, and Identity in Cyprus. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.

3. Ibid 4. Papadakis, Y. (2006a). Disclosure and censorship in divided Cyprus: Towards an anthropology of ethnic autism. In Y. Papadakis, N. Peristianis & G. Welz (Eds.), Divided Cyprus: Modernity, history and an island in conflict (pp. 66-83). Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

10

11

Figure 7. The First exhibition of the Struggle Museum, housed at Iras Street, southern part of Nicosia.

From The National Struggle Museum. Retrieved from: http://www.nicosia.org.cy/en-GB/discover/ museums/national-struggle-museum/

MUSEUMS IN CYPRUS

This thesis does not aim to examine the history of

in the forms of propaganda, and sometimes “used

museums in Cyprus or find a solution to the political

for political ends to justify aggression, dependency

situation in Cyprus. However, prior to exploring

or injustice”.

3

the potential of a new museum in Cyprus and its impacts, it is critical to analyse and understand

Cypriot museums have the difficult task of telling

how museums in Cyprus and their narratives were

the story of an island from two different angles,

shaped by politics and conflicts, as well as how

departments from two sides usually have no

politics are interwoven in all facets of museums

communications. On the one hand, there is the

from their establishment to their narratives.1

Greek Cypriot version, focusing on the long-standing Greek presence on the island and the Greek origins

There has been a public and governmental

of Cypriot civilisation. On the other hand, the version

expectation that museums should be agents of

narrated by the Turkish Cypriots claims their right

social change in the West since the late-twentieth

to be part of an island whose history has been long,

century.2 It is believed that museums have the

heterogeneous, and multi-cultural. Unfortunately,

responsibility to contribute to life-long learning

these two narratives usually are not found together

agenda for the community. However, this role

in any one museum in Cyprus. When it came to

of museums is challenged when access to the

events of the inter-communal violence, museums

museum is limited, or the museum was curated in

presented

one-sided historical narratives. For instance, the

narratives and different attitudes on “separation

disadvantage of the one-sided narratives could take

and co-existence, hero and enemy, us and others.”4

selective,

sometimes

conflicting

1. Bounia, A., Stylianou-Lambert, T. (2016). The Political Museum: Power, Conflict, and Identity in Cyprus. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.

2. Hiba Qassar (2020): Politics, identity and the social role of museums in Syria, Museum Management and Curatorship, DOI: 10.1080/09647775.2020.1723131.

3. Tumarkin, M. (2013). Traumascapes: The Power and Fate of Places Transformed by Tragedy. Australia: Melbourne University Publishing.

4. Bounia, A., Stylianou-Lambert, T. (2016). The Political Museum: Power, Conflict, and Identity in Cyprus. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.

12

National Struggle Museum

Museum of Barbarism

Lapidary Museum

Historical

The aim of this museum is to commemorate the struggles undertaken by Turkish Cypriots from 1878 to the present day. The museum is located inside a military camp; access to the public is free, but controlled at the gate of the military camp.

History

This is a historical museum documenting the murder of a Turkish Cypriot family allegedly by Greek Cypriots in 1963 during the intercommunal troubles.

Archaeology

The museum consists of architectural fragments of ancient buildings and it is housed in a Venetian building, close to St. Sophia. It’s significant in identity creation process for North-side community.

13

Cyprus Museum

The Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios Mansion Struggle Museum

Archaeology

Ethnography

History

The Cyprus Museum is the first, biggest, and most important archaeological museum in Cyprus. It exhibits archaeological findings from the tenth century BCE.

Located in a stone-built eighteenth century house (built in 1793), typical of city architecture during the Ottoman period. The house has been restored and furnished with furniture of the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century (not the original furnishings of the house). The exhibition presents the story of the Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios family, the restoration of the house, and artifacts from the Byzantine, the medieval, and the Ottoman periods.

This museum was initiated two years after the end of the 1955-59 struggle against the British with the aim to commemorate and document the liberation struggle of eoka.

National Struggle Museum

Minstry of Foreign Affairs and Defense

Military

Minstry of National Education and Culture

Department of Antiquities and Museums

Turlish Cypriot Authorities (northern part)

Museum of Barbarism

Lapidary Museum

Historical

The aim of this museum is to commemorate the struggles undertaken by Turkish Cypriots from 1878 to the present day. The museum is located inside a military camp; access to the public is free, but controlled at the gate of the military camp.

History

This is a historical museum documenting the murder of a Turkish Cypriot family allegedly by Greek Cypriots in 1963 during the intercommunal troubles.

Archaeology

The museum consists of architectural fragments of ancient buildings and it is housed in a Venetian building, close to St. Sophia. It’s significant in identity creation process for North-side community.

14

Cyprus Museum Minstry of Communication and Works Greek Cypriot Authorities (southern part)

The Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios Mansion Minstry of Education and Culture

Figure 8. Collage of museums in Nicosia, Cyprus. From left to right: (Southern Part) Cyprus Museum, The The Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios Mansion, Struggle Museum; (Northern Part) National Struggle Museum, Museum of Barbarism, Lapidary Museum.

Pictures from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_museums_in_Cyprus.

Archaeology

Department of Antiquities Ethnography

Cultural Servicea Struggle Museum

History

The Cyprus Museum is the first, biggest, and most important archaeological museum in Cyprus. It exhibits archaeological findings from the tenth century BCE.

Located in a stone-built eighteenth century house (built in 1793), typical of city architecture during the Ottoman period. The house has been restored and furnished with furniture of the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century (not the original furnishings of the house). The exhibition presents the story of the Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios family, the restoration of the house, and artifacts from the Byzantine, the medieval, and the Ottoman periods.

This museum was initiated two years after the end of the 1955-59 struggle against the British with the aim to commemorate and document the liberation struggle of eoka.

LENS OF MULTI-PERSPECTIVITY Who controls the past controls the future.

viewpoints are employed3. The use of multi-

Who controls the present controls the past.

perspectivity can challenge the validity of one-

- George Orwell

sided historical narratives, bring a more complex, inclusive and richer understanding of the past.

Through the analysis of the last three chapters, it is clear that two elements are prominent and shaped

The concept of multi-perspectivity can be seen in

within Cyprus’s museums and socio-political

many other mediums. For literature, “Mosaic Novel”

situation: power and conflict. Crimp1 claimed

adapted this mode of storytelling in which individual

that museums are institutional articulations of

chapters of short stories share a common setting or

knowledge and power. Heywood2 backed this idea

set of characters to tell a linear story from beginning

that museums have the “authority” to control,

to end, with the chapters refracting a plurality of

articulate, and present narratives of past, present,

viewpoints and styles. In the field of architecture,

and future and thus influence perceptions, values,

the principles could be transformed into aspects

and behaviour.

including what is worth preserving, what is studied and by whom, what is chosen for the exhibition, and

Therefore, it is critical to introduce the concept of

how it is interpreted. The concept design will start

multi-perspectivity. Multi-perspectivity is the lens

with the spatial translation into the listed categories.

for questioning the truth. It is conceptually related to the notion of perspective and point of view, most commonly used as an essential aspect of narration or as a mode of storytelling in which multiple

1. Crimp, D. (1983) ‘On the Museum’s Ruins’, in H. Foster (ed.), The Anti-Aesthetic, 43-56, Port Townsend: Bay Press 2. Heywood, A. (2013). Politics (4th ed.). Houndmills, Busingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

3. Mausfeld, Rainer (2011). “Intrinsic Multiperspectivity: Conceptual Forms and the Functional Architecture of the Perceptual System.” W. Welsch et al. (eds.).

15

16

CONCEPT DESIGN DESIGN STATEMENT This thesis will propose a new national museum of Cyprus located in the Buffer Zone. By examining, extracting and re-imagining the narratives of multiperspectivity, transforming the perception of time and memory into architecture and interventions.

This will create a space to intersect and merge museums narratives of the two ethnic communities and minorities, questioning what aspects of history and cultural heritage are highlighted or silenced and where conflict is located; encouraging visitors to question the construction of the museum narratives and to interact and engage with space in the urban socio-political heritage.

17

18

Figure 9. Conceptual Diagram. By Author.

DESIGN STRATEGY The green line has bisected the island since 1964

would be space and interventions in different scales

to

violence.

generated from intersecting, interplaying, separating

This buffer zone divides the island nation, and

and merging different elements, to provide multi-

the National capital Nicosia, into northern and

perspectivity and narrative plurality.

prevent

further

inter-communal

southern sections even today. Within Nicosia and the Buffer zone, architecture serves as a witness to the multi-layered historical narratives and geopolitical influences within the region; the city sits as a testimony to the waves of conflict and lived experiences its inhabitants.

The Buffer zone is perceived in different ways: wall, fence, border, frontier, site of trauma, site of memorial, permanency and provisionality. The design proposal will start with the site analysis of the moat near Paphos Gate, defining and extracting the characters of the site and then develop a spatial response to each character. The final outcome

19

SITE ANALYSIS

20

100m

Figure 10. Site Map. By Author.

200m

21

Created in 1964 to prevent further inter-communal violence, the buffer zone divides the island nation, and the National capital Nicosia, into northern and southern sections.

The cyclical shape of an embrace and the linear shape of a cut or rupture coexist, turning the Old City of Nicosia from a closed entity in the middle of Cyprus into a contested place on the edge of two different states and worlds. In this configuration, the borderline represents the peak of both separation and contact between the two sides.

Figure 11. Site Mappingxs. By Author.

The Venetian Walls constitute a common historical reference, which both sides employ in their symbols and maps of the city.

It defined inside and outside in spatial terms

MULTI-PERSPECTIVITY OF DIVISION Wall, a significant element of the Buffer Zone and the chosen site, usually refer to the structure forming a 22

long rampart or enclosure for defence. Whereas the moat is a long narrow site going along the Venetian Walls, it also becomes a layer of invisible wall, contributing to the definition of the Buffer Zone and the division. Wall defined “inside” and “outside”, represented social differentiation and geopolitical configurations; and categorised individuals and groups.

In Nicosia’s situation, is the wall (enough) to divide the city ? Is it possible to reunite the city by demolishing the wall?

Figure 12. The Vennatian Wall of Nicosia Old City, Photography By Viya Z. (2018). Edited by Author.

In order to interpret the element through the lens of multi-perspectivity, it is important to explore 23

how to challenge the perception of the wall. For example, the fence is one of the characteristics of the Buffer Zone. Wall and fence share similarities as they both create a sense of defence and boundary, however, the fence has a character of provisionality, gap, a sense of visibility and creates a sense of meeting point while the wall is solid and permanent.

Interestingly, communities from two sides read the Buffer zone differently. When southern side sees it as a provisional fence, northern side sees it as a solid wall the defines the border.

Figure 13. Fall of Berlin Wall in 1989. From https://www.teahub.io/viewwp/ibTToi_berlin-wall-wallpapers-high-quality-fall-of-the/ Figure 14. US-Mexico Border. From https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/460765-the-us-mexico-border-situation-is-an-opportunity-not-a-crisis

24

Figure 15 Collage: Divide, Wall, Intervention. By Author

MULTI-PERSPECTIVITY OF CONFRONTATION When the Venetian Wall and the Buffer Zone bisected the city into two opposing sides, an 25

ongoing confrontation was created both visually and physically. Spatially, the chosen site(the moat) functions as a border and frontier sitting in between the Greek community and Turkish community. As discussed in the last chapter, two sides see the Buffer zone differently, and the different perceptions reflect the political positions.

Border defines the boundary and claims the territory, while frontier is about remoteness and understood by what it is distant from1. The moat has a layer of dimension compare to border or frontier. As part of the buffer zone, the moat creates a mutual space, functioning as a cushion between the border and frontier. Therefore, the spatial response has the potential to separate and merge the elements of border and frontier, as well as the space in between.

1. Bakirtzis, N. (2017). Fortifications as Urban Heritage: the case of nicosia in cyprus and a glance at the city of rhodes. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, Vol. 62(Special Issue: National Narratives and the Medieval Mediterranean (2017)), pp. 171-192. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26787024

Figure 17. The Paphos Gate and the Bastion. Photography By Viya Z. (2018). Edited by Author.

The Paphos Gate as a frontier, opposed to the Turish claimed Bastion. A sense of confrontation seen in this photography.

Legal architecture often has a strong sense of symmetry, as a symbol of balance and justice.

26

However, it can also be interpreted as polarization and confrontation. A spatial arrangement like this is usually associated with power, conflict and authority. The spatial arrangement of the Buffer zone also reflected on how International law defined the Buffer zone: “A defined area controlled by a peace operations force from which disputing or belligerent forces have been excluded, mutually accepted and externally enforced�. 1

Figure 18. Parliament of Australia. Retrieved from: https://www.aph.gov.au/Visit_Parliament/Whats_On/ Parliament_in_action

1. Katz, E. (2017). Between Here and There: Buffer Zones in International Law. The University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 84(No. 3 (Summer 2017)), pp. 1379- 1424.

Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26457109

The border intervention “ The Pink seesaws� was designed architect Rael San Fratello and Virginia 27

San Fratello. It became a visual sensation when it was installed at the border fence between the US and Mexico on 27 July 2019.

Rejecting

the

model

of

border

fence

and

confrontation, the installation punched through the fence and transfer the space of confrontation into engagement.

Figure 19. The Pink seesaws installation by Rael, S F. Installed across US-Mexico Border. From https://www.dezeen.com/2020/05/29/us-border-seesaw-virginia-san-fratello-rael/

Shirin Neshat’s Turbulent (1998)

The video installtion was created in 1998 and portrayed two male and female performers; Shoja Azari as the male, and Sussan Deyhim – an Iranian composer and vocalist, as the female. The two characters in the video create a powerful musical metaphor for the inherent in gender roles, cultural power, and injustices in Iran.

Figures 20. Shirin Neshat – Turbulent, 1998, black-and-white video installation, installation view, Lahore Biennale, 2018, photo from: Usman Saqib Zuberi/ lahorebiennale.org

28

29

MULTI-PERSPECTIVITY OF OBSERVATION The moat is situated in the lower ground, surrounded by the Venetian walls and landscape. It 30

created a spatial relationship of observation. Unlike division and confrontation, observation usually only has one active party while the other part tends to be more passive. Especially at the site with a height of difference, higher land usually means a dominant viewpoint, even has a sense of hierarchy and surveillance. However, a few architectural elements in the moat provide the potential to develop the idea of multi-perspectivity.

The Venetian wall generates a layer of observations to look down to the moat, and the viewpoint also points to the Greek side horizontally. At the same time, the UN watching tower overwatches the moat and the two sides with a sense of authority and surveillance. At the same time, the auditorium setting in the moat creates another counter-layer of observations where the moat, the Venetian wall and above potentially become the stage (for observations).

Figure 21. Viewpoints and their screen at the moat. Photography By Viya Z. (2018). Edited by Author.

31

Figure 22. UN Watch Tower in the Buffer Zone, from : https://www.gettyimages.ae/detail/news-photo/children-playing-in-a-public-park-close-to-a-watchtower-of-newsphoto/887510858 Figure 23. Achniotis, P (2020). UN Watch Tower through the window of a Turkish Cypriot residential house. Nicosia.

32

Figure 24. Viewpoints conceptual diagram. By Author.

DESIGN PARTI re-imagining

to the aspects of the division, confrontation and

the narratives of multi-perspectivity and the

observation; create a space to intersect and merge

characteristics of the Buffer zone in the last

museums’ narratives of the two ethnic communities

three chapters, now this thesis will transform the

and minorities, questioning what aspects of history

perception of time and memory into architecture

and cultural heritage are highlighted or silenced and

and interventions. It is sensible to note that besides

where conflict is located; encouraging visitors to

the socio-political and spatial qualities of the

question the construction of the museum narratives

site, the Buffer zone is also a space of collective

and to interact and engage with space in the urban

memory and “ traumascape”. Tumarkin stated that

socio-political heritage.

After

examining,

extracting

and

“traumascape are places remind us that the past cannot simply be erased or simply reconstructed”, and that “traumatised people do not experience time as a liner, the past enters the present as an intruder, ..tramascapes become much more than physical settings of tragedies: they emerge as spaces where events are experienced and re-experienced across time.”1

Therefore, this proposal will carefully transform the perception of time into architecture following a path of traumatised memory; address the response

1. Tumarkin, M. (2013). Traumascapes: The Power and Fate of Places Transformed by Tragedy. Australia: Melbourne University Publishing.

33

34

Figure 25. Design Parti Diagram. by Author.

35

10m

Figure 26-29. Conceptual Design Diagram series. By Author.

20m

36

37

10m

Figure 30-33. Conceptual Design Diagram series. By Author.

20m

38

SKETCH DESIGN DESIGN METHOD The idea of Multi-Perspectivity is to break the

conditions of the space in order to clearly create the

boundary of space and time, present different and

mechanisms of perspective.

sometimes conflicting narratives together, evoke the questioning of truth, validity and authorities.

This will start with developing a logic with the rational

This strategy is mostly seen in literature, the mosaic

to the site further (build upon the characteristics of

novel, such as The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins,

division, confrontation and observation), creating

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, La Bibliothèque

a series of perspective views through the site

nomĂŠdienne by Alferd Boudry. How the literature

with different lenses and scales in order to create

telling a single, linear story through multiple

forms with the idea of multi-perspectivity and

perspectives provides a paradigm for museum

break the strong sense of axis in the site. Then,

exhibition curation and narratives.

the diagrammatic exploration of adjacencies and programmatic flow will be examined in the forms to

However, the idea of multi-perspectivity is not as common in terms of the spatial arrangements in architecture, especially in the architecture of the museum. Therefore, it is important to identify what kind of spatial experience could evoke and form the narrative of multi-perspectivity. In sketch design, this thesis will keep examining, extracting and reimagining the concept from precedents of both arts and architecture, then further develop the spatial

test the experience.

39

Cyprus (Nicosia) Long and turbulent history of contestation.

Layers of historical traces.

Division and conflicts due to multiple socio-political factors.

40

Museum

Mechanisms of authority to reshape identity and memory

Cypriot museums have the difficult task of telling the story of an island from two different angles, they presented selective, sometimes conflicting narratives and different attitudes on “separation and co-existence, hero and enemy, us and others.�

Multi-Perspectivity

Reject the mode of one-sided narratives

Inspired by the idea of Mosaic Novel, a novel in which individual chapters of short stories share a common setting or set of characters with the aim of telling a linear story from beginning to end, with the chapters refracting a plurality of viewpoints and styles.

Spatialisation Approach

Employ multi-perspectivity to provide space to inquire and investigate

Space of Movement

Space of Versatility

Space of Depths

41

Figure 34. Sketch. Sense of Axis break down. By Author.

42

Figure 35. Sketch. Sense of Axis break down(with site). By Author.

43

Figure 36-38. Sketch. Spatial Arrangement testing on portion of the site. By Author.

GESTURE AND FLOW As shown in figure 39 and 40, the two iterations both play with perspectives and off the strong 44

senses of the existing axis in the site. However, iteration 1 is trying to provide and reveal multiple perspectives through movements while iteration 2 is creating a junction of multiple spaces for one viewpoint. Neither of the two iterations serves the idea of multi-perspectivity well; however, it indicates that gesture on individual space (Form), the spatial relations of space in-between (Connection), and the flow that connects all individual spaces (Flow) are the elements need to be examined and developed.

Figure 39. Iteration 1, 3D testing Model on a portion of the site

Figure 40. Iteration 2, 3D testing Model on a portion of the site

MUSEUM (Politic Mechanism)

HOW IT IS INTERPRETED (Spatial Response)

Figure 41. Diagram. Multi-perspectivity and its spatial response. By Author

Present narratives of the past, present and future

Shape

Multiple narrtives seen from one view point Multi-Perspectivity

One narrtive seen from multiple view points

identity and memory

In order to capture multiple narrtives for one view point, the elements of time and movement need to be applied.

The spatialisation strategy learn from futurism.

The spatialisation strategy is to capture the projections from multiple view points, and present together regardless the restriction of time and location. Cubism fits well in this category.

45

GESTURE AND FLOW - Precedents Study In terms of the exhibition space, multi-perspectivity reject the model of solid “white box”. For a static 46

viewpoint, the exhibition space needs to create a sense form presenting visitors with different, and potentially conflicting systems of orientation, without confusion. Through overlapping and cutting through from one space to another, it produces a certain complexity involving depth perception and viewpoints. On the other hand, the revealing of the space behind and beyond encourage visitors to investigate and move around. “Form no longer bears the absolute, eternal truth, but is now raised as a question.”1 At the same time, the process of questioning and investigation requires movement.

As a result, form, transition and flow work together, creating a system of experience that forms the narratives of multi-perspectivity.

Figure 42. Gordon Matta-Clark, Bronx Floors, 1973, gelatin silver print © Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark. Courtesy The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York.

1. Walker, S. (2009). Gordon Matta-Clark: Art, Architecture and the Attack on Modernism

47

Figure 43. Museo Canova in Possagno, windows are cut away from the walls as skylights. By Carlo Scarpa.

48

Figure 44. Yale Center for British Art, entrance to the starecase cut into the view of atrium. By Louis Kahn.

49

Figure 45. Photograph: Millet, L (2015) Brion Vega cemetery. Designed By Carlo Scarpa.

50

Figure 46. The new Cultural Center Casal Balaguer, designed by Flores & Prats with Duch-Pizá. photograph by Adrià Goula.

51

Figure 47. Splitting, 1974. Black and white photo collage by Gordon Matta-Clark. Edited by Author

52

Figure 48. Koudelka, J. (2009 ). Israel-Palestine-Israel-Palestine. Study model render and sketch by Author

53

Figure 49. Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum by Safdie Architects. The movement flow cuts through and breaks the visual perspective axis.

54

Figure 50. Jewish Museum Berlin, by Daniel Libeskind. The Design was based on three layers of insight, three layers of axises. Form and flow work together to create the spatial experience.

55

SKETCH DESIGN Iteration 3

56

10m

Overall Form Axonometic Diagram

20m

57

Overall Form Site Plan

10m

20m

58

10m

Ground Floor Axonometic Diagram

20m

59

Ground Floor Plan Diagram

10m

20m

60

South Entrance Perspective View

61

North Entrance Perspective View

62

Interior Perspective View

63

Interior Perspective View

64

Interior Perspective View

65

Interior Perspective View

66

67

REFINED DESIGN MUSEUM OF MULTI-PERSPECTIVITY

FINAL DESIGN APPROACH Through the experiments in three sketch design iterations, the final design tends to explore and challenge the mechanisms of perspective. The form is generated from the rational to the site. Following a series of perspective views through site, the design extract on the strong axis of the site, then create different systems which can intersect, interplay, seperate and merge. The design highlights the interstitial spaces as the form connects different parts of site, as well as both sides of the moat together.

68

69

Axonometric View The Museum re-directs, breaks and merges the axis of the site.

10m

20m

70

Axonometric View of Axis 1 Entrance from the Bastion Research Centre Lecture Theatre 10m

20m

71

Axonometric View of Axis 2 Museum Permanent Galleries Shops Loading Zone and Office 10m

20m

72

Axonometric View of Axis 3 Multi-Perspective Viewing Platforms Reflecting Water-Way Memorial 10m

20m

73

Axonometric View of Axis 4 Entrance - Reception Centre Cafe Viewing Bridges

10m

20m

74

Site Plan 10m

20m

14 12

13 75

10 7

8 9 6

4 1. Art Installation 2. Entrance 3. Foyer 4. Cloaking and Toilets 5. Museum Gallery 6. Public Gallery 7. Event Gallery 8. Cafe 9. Shop 10. Loading Bay and Office 11. Research and offices 12. Lecture space 13. Research Event Space 14. Fountain 15. Sculpture garden

5

3 2

5 5 6

1

Site Plan and Ground Floor Plan

15 10m

20m

76

Section 10m

20m

77

Section 10m

20m

78

Render of institial space

79

80

81

Render of institial space

82

Render of institial space

83

Render of institial space

84

Render of institial space

85

Render of Interior

86

87

WILL REDO THE BOOKLET

Art Installation Testing This set of prototype is testing the spatialisation of the memory of absence. Traumatised memory does not experienced time as liner. The past sometimes enters the present as an intruder.

Memory is also semi-autobiographical, very specific about time and space, period or neighbourhood or nation.

If the shadow indicates existence, what could the juxtaposition of shadow and absence mean?

88

Art Installation Testing

89

This set of prototype is testing the spatialisation of the memory of absence.

Traumatised memory does not experienced time as liner. The past sometimes enters the present as an intruder.

Memory is also semi-autobiographical, very specific about time and space, period or neighbourhood or nation.

If the shadow indicates existence, what could the juxtaposition of shadow and absence of it mean?

Art Installation Testing This set of prototype is testing based on the idea of previous testing of shadown and exsitence. The idea is further explored through the spatiality of threshold, scale and perspectives. The straight projection of the angled perspective overlayed wth the physical model, creates a sense of mutli-perspectivity.

90

Art Installation Testing

91

This series of works is testing the effects of distortion and multi-exposure on drawings.

Using the element of UN Buffer Zone watching tower, to establish a dialogue between perception and reality.

92

BIBLIOGRAPHY •

Bakirtzis, N. (2017). Fortifications as urban heritage: the case of nicosia in cyprus and a glance at the city of rhodes.

Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, Vol. 62(Special Issue: National Narratives and the Medieval Mediterranean (2017)), pp. 171-192. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26787024

•

Games, S. (1986). Dream Cities. Lebbeus Woods: Origins. AA Files, No.11(Spring 1986), pp.82-88. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.com/stable/29543497

•

Hartner, M. (2014). Multiperspectivity. The Living Handbook of Narratology.

•

Iliopoulou, E. (2-16). The Social Space of Conflict: Multiple Divisions and Everyday Dynamics in the Old City of Nicosia. (PhD). Technische Universität Berlin

•

Kalliopi Fouseki, T. S. G. a. G. S. (2020). Heritage and Sustainable Urban Transformations (T. S. G. a. G. S. Kalliopi Fouseki Ed.). 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN: Newgen Publishing UK.

•

Kanekar, A. (2006). The Seduction of Destruction Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review, Vol. 18(Fall 2006), pp. 77-78. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.com/stable/23566031

•

Katz, E. (2017). Between Here and There: Buffer Zones in International Law. The University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 84(No. 3 (Summer 2017)), pp. 1379- 1424. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26457109

•

Kitromilides, P. M. (2020). Insular Destinies: Perspectives on the history and politics of modern Cyprus. 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN: the Taylor & Francis Group.

•

Mitcheltree, H., & Ransome, M. (2020). Contested States: Creating affective encounters with spaces of Conflict and Identities of Difference. Inflection: Boundaries, Vol 07., 122-131.

•

Neil Spiller, N. C., Massimo Mucci, Joseph Altshuler, Julia Sedlock, Anna Andronova, Kirsty Badenoch, Adam Bell, Kyle Branchesi, Matthew Butcher, Bryan Cantley, Pablo Gil Martínez, Ryota Matsumoto, Tom Ngo and Syd Mead. (2016).

Drawing Futures-Speculations in Contemporary Drawing for Art and Architecture. 288. (Vol. 07), 122-131.

93

•

Opie, C. A. C. a. A. (2010). When places have agency: Roadside shrines as traumascapes. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Vol. 24(No.1 February 2010), pp.107-118.

•

Papadakis, Y. (2006). Nicosia after 1960: A river, a bridge and a dead zone. GMJ: Mediterranean Edition, (2006).

•

Pullan, W. (2011). Frontier urbanism: the periphery at the centre of contested cities. The Journal of Architecture, v.16(1). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/13602365.2011.546999

•

Tziarras, Z. (2019). The New Geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean: Trilateral Partnerships and Regional Security.

Retrieved from Hausmanns gate 7 Oslo:

•

Walker, S. (2009). Gordon Matta-Clark: Art, Architecture and the Attack on Modernism

•

Weizman, E. (2017). Forensic Architecture: Violence at the Threshold of Detectability. The MIT Press.

•

Woods, L. (1984). Architecture, Consciousness and the Mythos of Time. AA Files, No.7(No.7), pp.3-15. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.com/stable/29543413

•

Stradling, R. (2003). Multiperspectivity in history teaching : a guide for teachers. Council of Europe.

•

Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert , A. B. (2016). The Political Museum. Power, Conflict, and identity in Cyprus. 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN: © 2016 Taylor and Francis.

•

Tumarkin, M. (2013). Traumascapes: The Power and Fate of Places Transformed by Tragedy. Australia: Melbourne University Publishing.

94

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Ransome, M. Cover page: US Embassy in Cyprus.(2018). Nicosia.

Figure 2. Ransome, M. Nicosia Airport. (2018). Nicosia.

Figure 3. Collage: Mapping of Nicosia, by Author.

Figure 4. Collage: Perspective Timeline, by Author.

Figure 5. Collage: A calendar of Contestation. By Author.

Figure 6. Timeline of the Republic of Cyprus, by Author.

Figure 7. The First exhibition of the Struggle Museum, housed at Iras Street, southern part of Nicosia. From The National Struggle Museum.

Retrieved from: http://www.nicosia.org.cy/en-GB/discover/museums/national-struggle-museum/ Figure 8. Collage of museums in Nicosia, Cyprus. From left to right: (Southern Part) Cyprus Museum, The The Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios Mansion, Struggle Museum; (Northern Part) National Struggle Museum, Museum of Barbarism, Lapidary Museum. Pictures from: https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_museums_in_Cyprus.

Figure 9. Conceptual Diagram, by Author.

Figure 10. Site Map, by Author.

Figure 11. Site Mapping, by Author.

Figure 12. The Venetian Wall of Nicosia Old City, Photography By Viya Z. (2018). Edited by Author.

Figure 13. Fall of Berlin Wall in 1989. From https://www.teahub.io/viewwp/ibTToi_berlin-wall-wallpapers-high-quality-fall-of-the/ Figure 14. US-Mexico Border. From https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/460765-the-us-mexico-border-situation-is-an-opportunitynot-a-crisis Figure 15 Collage: Divide, Wall, Intervention. By Author Figure 17. The Paphos Gate and the Bastion. Photography By Viya Z. (2018). Edited by Author.

Figure 18. Parliament of Australia. Retrieved from: https://www.aph.gov.au/Visit_Parliament/Whats_On/Parliament_in_action

95

Figure 19. The Pink seesaws installation by Rael, S F. Installed across US-Mexico Border. From https://www.dezeen.com/2020/05/29/usborder-seesaw-virginia-san-fratello-rael/ Figures 20. Shirin Neshat – Turbulent, 1998, black-and-white video installation, installation view, Lahore Biennale, 2018, photo from: Usman Saqib Zuberi/lahorebiennale.org Figure 21. Viewpoints and their screen at the moat. Photography By Viya Z. (2018). Edited by Author.

Figure 22. UN Watch Tower in the Buffer Zone, from : https://www.gettyimages.ae/detail/news-photo/children-playing-in-a-public-parkclose-to-a-watchtower-of-news-photo/887510858 Figure 23. Achniotis, P (2020). UN Watch Tower through the window of a Turkish Cypriot residential house. Nicosia.

Figure 25. Design Parti Diagram. by Author.

Figure 26-29. Conceptual Design Diagram series 1. By Author.

Figure 30-33. Conceptual Design Diagram series 2. By Author.

Figure 34. Sketch. Sense of Axis break down. By Author.

Figure 35. Sketch. Sense of Axis break down(with site). By Author.

Figure 36-38. Sketch. Spatial Arrangement testing on portion of the site. By Author.

Figure 39. Iteration 1, 3D testing Model on a portion of the site Figure 40. Iteration 2, 3D testing Model on a portion of the site Figure 41. Diagram. Multi-perspectivity and its spatial response. By Author Figure 42. Gordon Matta-Clark, Bronx Floors, 1973, gelatin silver print © Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark. Courtesy The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York.

Figure 43. Museo Canova in Possagno, windows are cut away from the walls as skylights. By Carlo Scarpa.

Figure 44. Yale Center for British Art, entrance to the starecase cut into the view of atrium. By Louis Kahn.

Figure 45. Photograph: Millet, L (2015) Brion Vega cemetery. Designed By Carlo Scarpa.

Figure 46. The new Cultural Center Casal Balaguer, designed by Flores & Prats with Duch-Pizá. photograph by Adrià Goula.

Figure 47. Splitting, 1974. Black and white photo collage by Gordon Matta-Clark. Edited by Author Figure 48. Koudelka, J. (2009 ). Israel-Palestine-Israel-Palestine. Study model render and sketch by Author Figure 49. Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum by Safdie Architects.

Figure 50. Jewish Museum Berlin, by Daniel Libeskind.

96