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Aphrodism: (Re)Generating the Cypriot Buffer Zone, the Parliament of a Re-United Cyprus

Part 2 Project 2023
George Christofi
Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) | UK
Aphrodism assesses the United Nations’ Buffer Zone in Cyprus, examining the architecture and segregated nature imposed by Cyprus' major powers, Greece, and Turkey. The project challenges the repressiveness of borders, by invoking the myth of Goddess Aphrodite's birth; employing mythology as a critical pedagogy to address sociocultural injustice. Aphrodism transforms the border into a United Parliament, resolving frictions between the island's two communities, the Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots, healing Cyprus from the 1974 civil war scarring.

The architecture analyses socio-political research, using local stone in a newly defined Cypriot-Gothic architecture, independent of nationalistic influences. The revived aqueducts and border represent unification, offering practical solutions for desalination and water transportation, safeguarding the island's future by addressing climate change issues, preventing communal and environmental desertification.

Pyla village within the Buffer Zone exemplifies cohabitation between Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot residents. Pyla’s model of cohabitation inspired the development of Aphrodism and is adopted as a political model for a united parliament, serving as a platform for citizens to debate and legislate for reunification.

Aphrodism provides an infrastructure for resolving communal conflicts through land cultivation and community-building activities. Aphrodism heals Cyprus's divided genealogy, reclaiming it as the land of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, fertility, and pleasure.


Tutor(s)
Ms Elizabeth Dow
Mr Jonathan Hill
2023
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