Mid-Century Modernism in Turkey

Mid-Century Modernism in Turkey studies the unfolding of modern architecture in Turkey during the 1950s and 1960s. The book brings together scholars who have carried out extensive research on post-WWII modernism in a global context. The authors situate Turkish architectural case studies within an international framework during this period, providing a close reading of how architectural culture responded to ubiquitous post-war ideas and ideals, and how it became intertwined with politics of modernization and urbanization.This book contributes to contemporary scholarship to reconsider post-war architecture, beyond canonical explanations.

Meltem Ö. Gürel is an Associate Professor and the Founding Chair of the Department of Architecture at Bilkent University, where she has been teaching since 1994. She received her Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Gürel also served as the Chair of the Interior Architecture and Environmental Design Department at Bilkent. She practiced architecture in the US (1990-94) and taught at UIUC’s School of Architecture as an adjunct professor (1997). She published a number of essays in edited volumes and in leading journals including Journal of Architecture, Journal of Architectural Education, Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, Journal of Design History, and Gender, Place and Culture. Gürel’s research focuses on cross-cultural histories of architectural modernism with an emphasis on society, gender and culture (especially in mid-twentieth century Turkey), culture-space relationship, and design education.