University Times

Pitt’s Turkish Nationality Room will be dedicated in an invitation-only event March 4. Here is a preview of what’s inside.

The Turkish Nationality Room, 339 CL, is decorated with ornate textures, patterns and features that reflect Turkey’s rich and diverse history. The design is based on the main room, or basodasi, found in Turkish homes, which is entered through a vaulted gallery.

The chalkboard at the front of the classroom is hidden behind wooden doors decorated with kundekari inlay. Reflecting ornate elements found in traditional Turkish interiors, the room’s ceilings, doors and paneling are decorated with intricate kundekari and citakari woodwork.

The seating around the room’s perimeter, designed to imitate a continuous divan, facilitates face-to-face conversation and symbolizes equality. Unique tablet arms, designed in the shape of a traditional wall niche, fold down to provide writing space.

In traditional Turkish homes, the basodasi is entered by crossing a threshold step known as a seki. In the Turkish room, the transition from the ceramic-floored gallery to the classroom takes the form of an accessible ramp.

The windows that face the outer wall have leaded glass panels designed by master artisans in Turkey. The stylized tulip pattern references the imperial flower of the early 18th-century Ottomans.

Behind picture windows is a 6-by-20-foot mural depicting a view of Istanbul.

Below: The Turkish room’s entrance gallery is decorated with four tile murals that illustrate key aspects of Turkish history. To the left is a depiction of 9th-century Uighur princesses, symbolic of the importance of women in Turkish culture. To the right is a panel depicting the adoption of a new Turkish alphabet. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, is shown illustrating the Latin lettering that in 1928 replaced the Arabic script that had been used since Ottoman times.

The Turkish room is Pitt’s 28th Nationality Room. Planning for its construction began in 2001 with the formation of a committee of volunteers who raised the necessary funds for the design and construction of the room. Carnegie Mellon architecture professor Ömer Akin led the committee and is the designated architect of record for the room’s design.