1 REVITALIZATION OF HISTORICAL PRIMARY SCHOOL BUILDING IN LOURIJINA VILLAGE IN CYPRUS Sevinç Kurt 1 1 Cyprus International University Abstract: The primary goal of this study is to develop a strategy for preservation and re- construction of the traditional buildings of Lourijina village in Cyprus. For this aim, basically the old primary school is taken up as a case study which the methods of conservation, renovation and revitalization of the physical environment are investigated. The old primary school building includes almost all characteristics of the traditional stone architecture of Cyprus and is one of the most important public buildings with its construction in the village. The research process includes these steps: 1. The identification the original characteristics of the village and the documentation of the existing situation; 2. Investigation of the historical buildings of the village; architectural heritage of public buildings and traditional houses. 3. Developing of the policy for the rehabilitation and the revitalization of the village. 4. Emphasizing the children’s activities which will be helpful for architectural and social development of the village. 5. Finally, preparing a proposition for the re-use of historic primary school building as a cultural and social centre for the children. The research is focused on the ideas of the preservation and protection of the natural and built environment; the highlighting of the cultural traditions; the maintenance and protection of architectural heritage of the village and sense of place. The research method is a case study, and aiming to propose a solution to revitalize this area. Keywords: Preservation; adobe; traditional buildings 1. Introduction The primary goal of this study is to develop a strategy for preservation and re- construction of the traditional buildings of Lourijina village in Cyprus. For this aim, basically the old primary school is taken up as a case study which the methods of conservation, renovation and revitalization of the physical environment are investigated. The old primary school building includes almost all characteristics of the traditional stone architecture of Cyprus and is one of the most important public buildings with its construction in the village. The research process includes these steps: 1. The identification the original characteristics of the village and the documentation of the existing situation; 2. Investigation of the historical buildings of the village; architectural heritage of public buildings and traditional houses. 1 Lecturer, [email protected]Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Non-conventional Materials and Technologies (NOCMAT 2009) 6-9 September 2009, Bath, UK
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REVITALIZATION OF HISTORICAL PRIMARY SCHOOL BUILDING IN LOURIJINA VILLAGE IN CYPRUS
Sevinç Kurt 1
1 Cyprus International University Abstract: The primary goal of this study is to develop a strategy for preservation and re-construction of the traditional buildings of Lourijina village in Cyprus. For this aim, basically the old primary school is taken up as a case study which the methods of conservation, renovation and revitalization of the physical environment are investigated. The old primary school building includes almost all characteristics of the traditional stone architecture of Cyprus and is one of the most important public buildings with its construction in the village. The research process includes these steps:
1. The identification the original characteristics of the village and the documentation of the existing situation; 2. Investigation of the historical buildings of the village; architectural heritage of public buildings and traditional houses. 3. Developing of the policy for the rehabilitation and the revitalization of the village. 4. Emphasizing the children’s activities which will be helpful for architectural and social development of the village. 5. Finally, preparing a proposition for the re-use of historic primary school building as a cultural and social centre for the children.
The research is focused on the ideas of the preservation and protection of the natural
and built environment; the highlighting of the cultural traditions; the maintenance and protection of architectural heritage of the village and sense of place. The research method is a case study, and aiming to propose a solution to revitalize this area. Keywords: Preservation; adobe; traditional buildings 1. Introduction
The primary goal of this study is to develop a strategy for preservation and re-construction of the traditional buildings of Lourijina village in Cyprus. For this aim, basically the old primary school is taken up as a case study which the methods of conservation, renovation and revitalization of the physical environment are investigated. The old primary school building includes almost all characteristics of the traditional stone architecture of Cyprus and is one of the most important public buildings with its construction in the village. The research process includes these steps:
1. The identification the original characteristics of the village and the documentation of the existing situation; 2. Investigation of the historical buildings of the village; architectural heritage of public buildings and traditional houses.
Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Non-conventional Materials and Technologies (NOCMAT 2009) 6-9 September 2009, Bath, UK
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3. Developing of the policy for the rehabilitation and the revitalization of the village. 4. Emphasizing the children’s activities which will be helpful for architectural and social development of the village. 5. Finally, preparing a proposition for the re-use of historic primary school building as a cultural and social centre for the children. The research is focused on the ideas of the preservation and protection of the natural
and built environment; the highlighting of the cultural traditions; the maintenance and protection of architectural heritage of the village and sense of place. The research method is a case study, and aiming to propose a solution to revitalize this area. 2. Identification the original characteristics of the Lourijina village
The village is located between Nicosia and Larnaca. In the past, tradesmen and other people who were passing on this route, stay in the village one night at the big public house (khan) which is placed in the village centre with its guest rooms for the visitors and the stables for camels and horses.
Lourijina, as Turkish Cypriot village, was the largest village of the country before 1974 conflict. But, after that time, the village’s population was decreased by 1/15 ratio during the last 35 years. Although the buildings were neglected and some of them were abandoned or destroyed, there are still some well-built standing buildings which reflect the characteristics of traditional architecture. The village plan is organically developed in a large area as seen in the figure 1. It is surrounded by the agricultural land where villagers are still doing farming.
Figure 1. Location of Lourijina Village Figure 2. A general view of Lourijina Village
There are several types of buildings in the village according to their purpose of use:
Houses, religious buildings (chapel, mosque), social buildings (traditional cafés, market) educational buildings (primary and secondary schools), and health buildings (hospital). The architectural style of the houses is traditional one.
The construction material of these buildings is mostly adobe blocks which are produced by the villagers themselves. However some houses which are belonged to the rich people are made of stone. All the buildings were formed concerning the effects of heat and light of the sun. There should be sunny and shaded outdoor areas around the building during the day time. The windows have deep reveal and relatively small. Indoor ventilation is provided by the location of the door and windows. Almost every building has its own open space; a courtyard, a garden, a terrace… Generally the civil buildings are one or two stories. Public buildings are more than one story.
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3. Investigation of the histor ical buildings of the village ; There is a notable architectural heritage of public buildings and traditional houses in the
village. Traditional and local characteristics can almost be seen in all of the buildings. There are mainly two groups of buildings according to the construction materials and techniques: Buildings which were made of mud brick and buildings which were made of stone blocks.
Figure3. A vacant stone house with an mud brick annex
Figure 4. A vacant mud brick house
As seen in the figures 3 and 4, the vacant stone buildings are much better condition
than the unused adobe ones. There were there churches, one hospital, a few cafes, and three school buildings in the village in the past. Some of them were destroyed during the conflicts, but two historic school buildings are still standing. The oldest school which was built in 1924 still in use and was restored by the Municipality of Lourijina last year so it is in good condition now. Although this old elementary school was built in mid thirties and used until mid eighties, it is in bad condition and needed to be repaired.
Figure5. Old School Building
Fig. 6. Exterior view. Fig. 7. Interior view 4. The development of the policy for the re habilitation and the revitalization of the village
Buildings, spaces, places and landscapes charged with spiritual and religious value represent an important element of stable and humane social life and community pride. Conservation, rehabilitation and culturally sensitive adaptive reuse of urban, rural and architectural heritage are also in accordance with the sustainable use of natural and human-made resources. Access to culture and the cultural dimension of development is of
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the utmost importance and all people should be able to benefit from such access.” (The Habitat Agenda).
History and nature have provided the essential quality to the character of the environment of Lourijina village, which is a mixture of natural, historical and cultural features. Despite its corrosion and demolished look, the scale of the environment remained quite good on the whole since the huge buildings are never constructed. The main roads which connects village to Nicosia and Larnaca, are partially in Cypriot side and Turkish side after the conflicts. This transportation problems and other after war situations with the feeling of living on the border made the villagers to leave their village.
Recently peace negotiations are getting denser. There is a hope that the negotiations will result in reunification of Cyprus. It seems that the conflicts will be resolved. Therefore the villagers started to return their homes. The population of the village started to rise again. This situation created the necessity to rehabilitate old buildings and acquire a general understanding to revitalizing of the environment. The respectful attitudes to the environmental, natural and cultural resources are vital. The strategy for the rehabilitation of the village should consider of the restoration, maintenance and protection of the natural and built environment. For this reason, first of all public buildings and communal open places should be restored and renovated.
The rehabilitation of old primary school gives a massage to the community that vitality of the village will be possible in the future. A draft program is prepared for the production of a strategy to revitalize Lourijina village. The strategy should be appropriate to these criteria (Country Studies, Cyprus):
*the preservation and protection of the natural and built environment *the highlighting of the cultural traditions *the maintenance and protection of architectural heritage of the village *the conversion of old places to traditional tourist lodgings, restaurants, workshops and cultural spaces *prevention the excessive amount of building construction *protection of village from high density of the buildings *designs considering environmental conditions and climate *sense of place *green building (Battle & McCarthy 2001) *human scaled neighbourhood *ecological land use *sustainable architecture *ecological infrastructure *biodiversity *reuse of treated effluent; *hazardous waste management; *control/monitoring and combating soil and air pollution; *rehabilitation of sites *Health and welfare of animals *flora preservation
5. The children’s activities for architectur al and social development of the village
Revitalizing historic places and restoring symbolic buildings is a way of showing respect to the built environment and cultural heritage. Historic places and buildings need to be used and to live in not to be abandoned. For this reason, old primary school should be renovated as a gathering place for the children, again. Children are enthusiastic about
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many things and they give vitality where they live. They play, they run; they do creative explorations in their surrounding environment while they learn.
Since the population of the village decreased by 1/15 after the conflict, the existing primary school is enough to serve children of village, now. But in a near future the needs will be changed. Until then, this old primary school building can be used as a cultural and social place for them. This kind of arrangement requires a sequence of principles (http://conservationeconomy.net) which will be adoptable to the old building and its site in order to obtain sustainable space which is convenient to the environmental and traditional design conditions. 6. A recommendation for the re-use of historic primary school building
For the revitalization of the old primary school of Lourijina, it is suggested that a design approach should be constituted concerning form, function, material use, construction techniques, historical and traditional values. It is strongly recommended that, the old school building should be restored according to its original design. As seen from figure 8 to figure 15, the appearances of existing building can be helpful to find the original form and construction details of the structure. While restoring the building according to this drawing, the interior and exterior connection and landscape design should be considered also.
New functional annexes can be added to the building. The traditional use of following architectural patterns (Alexander et al, 1977) will be suitable for designing the exterior area and new formations:
*Positive outdoor spaces which give each one some degree of enclosure; surround each space with wings of buildings, trees, hedges, fences, arcades, and trellised walks, *Low rise structures which are not higher than the existing building, *South facing outdoors; *Sunny and shaded places;*Arcades which can be used to connect the activity places to one another in order to provide shaded area for the children; *An outdoor room with columns, sliding canvas roof and fences or sitting walls around it; * Thick walls which have depth; *Climbing plants on sunny walls; *Paving with cracks between the stones (grass and small flowers can grow between the stones); and *Use of soft colours which reflect the sunlight.
As a conclusion, the old school building should be restored considering its original design. The outdoor arrangements and the new structures should be done according to traditional design principles which were clarified above.
References: THE HABITAT AGENDA, Section IV C – 8 (Article 152), 2nd United Nations Conference
on Human Settlements (Habitat II), Istanbul, 1996 COUNTRY STUDIES, CYPRUS. Federal Research division, Library of Congress,
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cytoc.html (available at 7.7.2009) BATTLE G. & MCCARTHY C. Sustainable ecosystem: and the built environment
Chichester: Wiley-Academy, 2001. THE PATTERNS OF CONSERVATION ECONOMY, http://conservationeconomy.net (available at 7.8.2009) ALEXANDER, C., ISHIKAWA, S., SILVERSTEIN, M., JACOBSON, M., FIKSDAHL-
KING, I. AND ANGEL, S. (1977); A Pattern Language, New York: Oxford University Press. Alexander, C., Neis, H., Anninou, A. and King, I.
