October 3rd - World Architecture Day was celebrated on Zahra Street...

As we approach the end of 2022, members of the architectural community of our island have been both organizers and participants of a beautiful event. This year, they celebrated World Architecture Day, which coincides with October 3rd 2022, with the opening of a library and cafe, which is very special for the Chamber of Architects.

Celebrated for the first time in 1985 by the International Union of Architects (UIA) in parallel with the United Nations ' Habitat day, World Architecture Day has been celebrated with various events in many countries every year since then, within the framework of a different theme. The greatest aim and wish of architects are to raise awareness  by bringing the problems experienced in the context of architecture in all living spaces, both at the building and city scale, to the agenda of society. This year, World Architecture Day was celebrated in many countries on October 3rd, 2022 with the theme of 'Architecture for Well-Being'. In our country, UCTCEA - Chamber of Architects organized a very special event for all its units and colleagues, and shared it with its members, bringing it to a very valuable experience: "The Chamber of Architects Dr. Behzat Azizbeyli Library and Cafe” building was inaugurated. This building, located on the famous Zahra Street in Nicosia, came to life as a very valuable asset in terms of bringing the library as a memory to all architects and society, and providing a social environment with the new cafe arrangement.

There were very emotional and meaningful moments in this event, which was undertaken by the Cyprus Turkish Architecture Foundation and UCTCEA Chamber of Architects. The night, which came to life with live music and cocktails, started with the speeches of the President of the Chamber of Architects Kozan Uzunoğlu, the President of the Board of Trustees of the Cyprus Turkish Architecture Foundation Zehra Azizbeyli, the President of UCTCEA Tunç Adanır and the Nicosia Turkish Municipality President Mehmet Harmancı. Zehra Azizbeyli, in her speech stated that Behzat Azizbeyli, as a Cypriot architect, established the Turkish Cypriot Architecture Preservation Foundation in order to preserve the texture of Nicosia. Zehra Azizbeyli thanked those who contributed to the revitalization of the foundation, the Chamber of Architects and the Cyprus Foundations Administration General Manager İbrahim F. Benter for their contributions.

President of the Chamber Kozan Uzunoğlu summarized in his speech; “The Chamber of Architects Dr. He stated that the Behzat Azizbeyli Library contains approximately six thousand professional books and periodicals and is the first library opened with the theme of architecture in our country. In addition, he emphasized that they expect the library to make significant contributions to architecture students and researchers, especially undergraduate and graduate students. Expressing his belief that the library will be enriched with professional book and document donations, Uzunoğlu said that there is also a meeting room in the library that will be used by the Editorial Board of the Chamber of Architects and can serve all members by appointment. 

In his speech, UCTCEA President Tunç Adanır congratulated those who contributed to the new arrangement of the building and explained the efforts and efforts of the board of directors of this building, which was abandoned in 2005. Adanır emphasized that the library will create an important memory for Turkish Cypriot Architecture and that this is a very valuable phenomenon. In his speech, Nicosia Turkish Mayor Mehmet Harmancı said that he believes that this building, which is an important part of Zahra street, will make important social and cultural contributions to the region with its library and cafe function, and congratulated everyone who made an effort in the new arrangement of the building.