June 2013
language barrier, we creating many different events and we enjoy our time. I advise to our community to join us because Turkish Cypriots are not a lot in our Association. There is no difference between us we do not separate people we give services to all Cypriots.”
Zerrin Turgut“ I joined to Association after the new building opening, before a while ago we had getting services from other organisations but now we cooking in there, we have car services for elderly people, we do trips to see around, in this beautiful building we socialise and we making many friends too. It is important to pay more attention that what we do in there because we don’ t separate people for us the Cyprus people are Cypriots.”
Eleni Melenau“ It hasn’ t been long time that we join to Association, its really nice to join there we meet people we have new friend and they help us in many different areas. We call people to come around. I want to unite the Cyprus my message is to people is peace!.”
Georgia Konstantinou“ After Photo give me a call me and friend we joined to Association, I am here twice a week, we get together with Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, we getting socialised and have chat in there. I would like to ask all Turksih and Greek Cypriots to join this club because we are all Cypriots which we mixed together for a good time and get to know eachother on a
friendly basis.
Chirstou Charalambos“ This organisation starts about 1983, I wasn’ t the first member but I have joined to Association within the first year, we come together we chat and socialise in our Association, also we get help and support as well. We are happy to ask both communities to come here, there is no difference we are all human and Cypriots, come join us for a good time.”
Photo Kouzoupis“ From my experience, from Cyprus an over here since 1975 in London, we don ' t have any divided line. London is open for everybody. We can get together, much more easy. Without any tragedies and we can give back the massage to cyprus that in London cypriots can live and work together. In London cypriots can live and work together and enjoy together their lives. They enjoy together the associates ' s, their services. Why not to do in Cyprus. Why that diveded line has to be there. In the Enfield Cypriot Association there Cypriots from both communities. There Turkish Cypriots which is refugees, there Greek Cypriots which is refugees because the moving of the people in the Cyprus in 1974. They has damage Cypriots both communities. That is no good. That ' s bad. We have to change that. And I belive that, my generations has a target to bring the peace in Cyprus. So, we can live and work together in cyprus and we do it for a childeren.
Communes are intentional communities consisting of a group of people who share property, resources, common interests and ideologies. The core concerns of such communities are a non-hierarchical structure of living, sharing possessions and resources, communal economy and consensus decision-making. These communities usually choose ecological ways of living as well. Contrary to common misconceptions these communities are well-ordered and financially maintained but they are formed around different ideologies that contradict today’ s common lifestyle. This makes them appear as‘ extreme’ and‘ marginal’ to many. The communes vary in different types as well. The‘ glue’ that holds a group of people together might be a certain belief, a spiritual leader, a political ideology, a life style or a desire for a more shared, sociable lifestyle. People might also choose to live together because it is more economical or more ecological. From the architectural and planning point of view, communal housing communities are made up of adjacent private‘ homes’ with shared facility areas that may include kitchens, dining rooms, laundries, childcare facilities, offices, gyms, guest rooms and other areas depending on the type of communal living model. Interaction between the households and neighbourhoods provides social, economic, practical and environmental benefits by sharing certain activities. My interest in Architecture began at an early age during frequent visits to my uncle’ s Architecture & Construction Company and has been nourished by a childhood full of art and craft materials which resulted in various art competition prizes. It didn’ t come as a surprise to anyone that I was accepted for the BA Architecture Course at the University for the Creative Arts in England right after high school. During my year-out work experience things have fallen into place for me. While working in Cyprus I became exposed to a gender equity perspective. Consequently, I became a feminist activist of YKP-fem( New Cyprus Party – Feminism). Yet, it was not until 3rd International Women’ s Conference:‘ Toward Cities for Women’ in Diyarbakir, Turkey that my interest in merging my two pursuits, architecture and gender equity, flourished. Throughout my participation in the conference, I questioned the issues such as how gender discrimination happens in the streets and at public venues, what private and public buildings represent and who‘ owns’ these places, the reasons why women and LGBTTQ( Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Transgender, Queer) do not feel safe in some public venues or simply in the street. It was at this point that my interest in gender equity became firmly wed to my interest in town / urban planning and architecture. Right now I am a 5th year( final year) architecture student and during the last two years of my education, which is the period after my year out experience, I have been questioning how architecture influences spaces that reinforce or break down the domestic sphere of women and the role of planning and architecture in designing public buildings and streets, with the help of feminist ideology. Just like the Schindler house and the Narkomfin building that I mentioned last month, for my final year design thesis I proposed to break the architectural rules of
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News the traditional domestic space in order to deconstruct the domestic sphere of women. Therefore my design thesis is a study of an intentional community based on a communal way of living
Zerrin and it emerged as a reaction to gender roles inside today’ s overly privatised, energy consuming houses which has
KABAOĞLU become commonplace as a result of the
Industrial Revolution. I followed the same ideology of Rudolf Schindler, the architect of the Schindler house, but I used a different methodology for my thesis. Therefore the design thesis became an experimental project based on study and modification of the existing Span and Bovis houses of New Ash Green, in order to create communal housing and neighbourhood prototypes. The recipe for communal living on a small housing scale is simple. First I used an existing span house model by Eric Lyons which is a traditional semi-detached rural house consisting of the typical set of spaces such as the living room, kitchen, dining room, bathroom, bedrooms and a garage. Then I used three of these houses and joined them together and merged the domestic activity area and tools into one big multifunctional shared space. In comparison with the existing three semidetached houses, the amount of basic domestic appliances such as cooker, washing machine, fridge, and toaster are reduced by 1 / 3. Therefore, the initial outlay on equipment is less. Moreover related to this, the running costs are reduced as well. This saves each resident’ s money. Secondly, three households will share domestic activities such as child care, cleaning and cooking. For example, if meals are communally prepared then each resident will only cook a few times a week. This saves each resident’ s time. And finally, with the new house layout, there are two empty rooms left in each house which used to be the dining room and the kitchen. What can be done with these spaces depends on the wishes of the residents. These rooms might be used as personal creative spaces for residents of the house; possibly a room for personal space, creativity, to produce … not a bedroom for sleeping or being intimate but a room to do stuff while we are awake. Therefore the standard house typology changes in a commune as; the more private units consist of bedroom, bathroom, living room and personal creative room and shared units such as the kitchen, dining room and laundry room etc... On a larger scale, it is important to consider the possibility of communities that are planned, owned and managed by the residents. The green areas between the houses might become shared outdoor areas with the same logic. So I created new tools and spaces such as long picnic tables and shared sheds as a part of the‘ street furniture’ for better shared use of the outdoor areas. Today, living in a cohouse is an option for those who wish to live this way. Fellowship for Intentional Community( FIC), a non-profit making organization in the United States, nurtures connections and cooperation among communitarians by providing publications, referrals, support services and sharing opportunities among intentional communities, eco villages and cohousing groups worldwide. However none of these communities are a part of the system. They are mostly independent mini communities that are trying to survive outside traditional systems. However these communes provide a self-conscious example of how a socialist society would function and they are the germs for the development of mass, socially complex communist communes. Socialists believe that when capitalism ends communism will came to its own. Throughout history, from the walled cities of early settlements, the castles of monarchy to detailed buildings of the Renaissance and shopping malls and private housing under today’ s capitalist rule, architecture has played an important role at every stage of civilisation and political state. Communism will not be an exception.
Communes