Architectural Reflections of the Political Thresholds During Interwar Years (1914-1945)

Abstract

This thesis claims that political power and ideology have the ability to transform the building forms of architecture and that power uses architecture as the ideological symbols of the regime in the interactive relationship of 'Architecture and Politics'. The study examines this relationship in Russia, Germany, Italy and Turkey which are experiencing political thresholds during the' Interwar Years' (1914-1945). The architectural reflections of political thresholds have been discussed through architectural trends, styles, built environment and urbanism. Formal and conceptual analyses and readings have been performed in order to determine the architectural transformations and variations that are parallel to political developments, architectural trends before and after the political thresholds have been analyzed comparatively. The concepts that exist similarly both in political ideologies and architectural end-products have been studied with the aim of finding the interaction between 'Architecture and Politics'. These analyses have led to a conclusion that political interference, transforms architectural trends due to its ideologies; monumentality, grandeur, axiality, symmetry order and hierarchy as a result exist in the created architectural language due to this political interference.