spaces for living in istanbul by ARC 222 Spring 2019-20

spaces
for
living
in
istanbul
MEF FADA

This booklet is an outcome of ARC222 - Architectural History and Theory III
course taught at MEF University Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture
during Spring 2019 - 2020 Semester
ARC222 Architectural History and Theory III
Instructor Dr. Ahmet Sezgin
Page Design Ayşe Sena Nur Turhan
May 2020

Maps ..................................................................................................................................6
Buildings in the booklet on the Map of Istanbul.....................................................................6
A.Sena Nur Turhan
Map of Istanbul in 16th Century................................................................................................8
İrem Metin, Beyza Meydancı
Terminology ..................................................................................................................11
vertical nomadism, vernacular , hybrid, roof..........................................................................11
Berfu Karagöz, Zümra Ocak
communal living, residence, detached house, slum, borders.............................................13
tree, semilattice, public, semi-private, private
Didenaz Sönmez, Sümeyra Koca
Book Reviews ..............................................................................................................17
The Turkish Hayat House by Doğan Kuban...........................................................................17
Şevval Yılmaz, Zeynep Çifçibaşı
Family Dwellings.........................................................................................................19
Casa Botter.................................................................................................................................19
İpek Erişen, Satuk Buğra Sarı
Esma Sultan Mansion...............................................................................................................22
Gizem Küçük, Rengin Şeşeoğulları
Ottoman Timber Frame House................................................................................................25
Buray Kurtoğlu, Murat Kavçin
Sait Halim Pasha Waterfront Mansion...................................................................................29
Alara Küçük, Begüm Altuğ
Ceylan Apartment Building, Ağaoğlu House.........................................................................31
Beyzanur Meriç, Sena Sevinç Öztürk

Documentary Reviews .............................................................................................35
The Vast Minority .......................................................................................................................35
Buse Şahin, Hayrunnisa Mutlu
Beyoğlu’nun Üvey Evladı: Tarlabaşı .........................................................................................37
Rümeysa Betül Pirmut, Süleyman Doğuhan Coşgun
Complexes .....................................................................................................................39
Süleymaniye Complex................................................................................................................39
Selen Ağaoğlu, Dilara Atalay
Palaces.............................................................................................................................43
Great Palace of Constantinople ...............................................................................................43
Mert Can Keskin , Muhammed Geys Şenen
Topkapı Palace ...........................................................................................................................47
Kevser Aksoy, Asiye Nur Akbulut
Hotels.................................................................................................................................51
Hilton Hotel ..................................................................................................................................51
Eren Burak Kuru, İrem Arslan

Map of Istanbul
Buildings in the booklet
2
6
3
4
5
6
7
8

1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Sait Halim Pasha Waterfront Mansion
Esma Sultan Mansion
Hilton Hotel
Ceylan Residence
Casa Botter
Süleymaniye Complex
Topkapı Palace
Great Palace of Constantinople
7

8
Map of
16th century
Istanbul

9

Mansions in the Büyükdere (Melling)
Old Istanbul Paintings-Obelisk of Theodosius
Istanbul Mansions in an Engraving
10
The term 'type' comes from the shape, form
words, which means typos in greek, also,
'typology' is created by adding the word logosmeaning
science- to the term. In architecture,
these two terms merge each other and create
a new language to understand the cities and in
this language, these terms can be improved,
repetitive, copied, renewed, etc. Because of the
power of this language, cities consist of lots of
layers. These layers can be variable and
abstract according to period, type, function,
etc. All these diversity and richness create a
mapping. Mapping means is the exporting and
analysis of information. In this work, analyzes
layers combine of 16-century types, typologies
with the map of İstanbul.
sources
Karakök Cebeci Elif, Bir Geleneksel ‘Türk Evini
Geleceğe Aktarmak Erdoğan Kalay Evi Ve
Koruma Önerileri’ Journal Of Ottoman Legacy
Studies (OMAD), November, 2017,
https://www.researchgate.net
Açık Turan, ‘16-17. Yüzyıl İstanbul Evlerine
Dair’, Büyük İstanbul Tarihi, 2015
https://www.academia.edu/
’Maps of İstanbul’, Best Destination
Cityguide,2017
,http://www.orangesmile.com
’Old maps of Istanbul’ ,Wikipedia, last modified
May 15 2019,
https://commons.wikimedia.org
İrem Metin
Beyza Meydancı

vertical nomadism
vernacular
hybrid
roof
vertical nomadism
Vertical and horizontal nomadism refers to the
topographic characteristics of migrations.
Nomads need vertical migration to take advan
tage of seasonal differences, personal needs,
basic needs needed to shelter, and suitable
environments.
vernacular
Architecture is defined according to traditional,
building materials and techniques depending
on requests. it is a place-or time-specific
form of design. it's like it's not copied or
duplicated. in vernicular design, local
builders and experienced architects come
together and make a forma-tion during the
formation phase of the structure.While it is
generally applied to indige-nous and
unchanging designs, we see a harmony of
a new and traditional in some developed
countries
In this era of rapid technological progress
and urbanization in architecture, there is still
much to be learned from traditional knowledge
of local construction.
Supporting form and material oriented,
designs in Modern architecture with cultural
techniques and traditional materials will make
the design more meaningful.The fact that the
designs are completely sustainable and have
references from their environment and people
living in this region, their culture and different
design techniques is one of the features that
makes this concept stand out
The use of traditional fractals and symbols
in different geographies as a complement to
the design, use of a structural element such as
a roof as a habitable atmosphere…Hybrid
architecture, a combination of traditional
and modern concepts, allows us to remember
traditions,but also reminds us of our memories.
hybrid
The modern techniques and methods used
during the design phase are to combine
cultural techniques and materials to create a
original and traditional whole in order to
become compatible with the environment in
which it is located by taking inspiration from its
habitat.
-
11

12
roof
Roofs may vary in a broad form, either flat,
sloping, vaulted, domed or in combinations,
depending on the geography in which they are
located. Although their main purpose is to
protect against rain, sunlight, wind and
extreme temperatures; roofs can define a
habitat on their own. We can see different
adaptations of these venues in different
cultures, with different technical support, for
different reasons. For example, men's ceremonial
house is a combination of climatic reasonsand
traditional techniques, and the roof house
in Japan is an open space for its users due to
similar reasons and insufficient m².The fact
that the structural elements such as the roof
can be shaped according to the needs of its
users adds differences to the designs and can
also be transformed into living spaces
allow for different experiences.
sources
Edwards, Sarah, Vernacular Architectural and
The 21st Century:
ArchDaily,
Aug 12, 2011
Berfu Karagöz
Zümra Ocak

communal living
residence
detached house
slum
borders
communal living
is a lifestyle that a group of people produce
together and consume together that they
share responsibility for living. When we look at
Istanbul, this term can differ among different
groups even within the neighborhoods.
residence
is generally large-scale and vertical structures.
While the entrance floors are more public
spaces such as offices and shops, each unit
consists of living units that are specialized
towards the upper floors and each unit is
reserved for a different family and person. In
Istanbul, several similar residences can be
located in one area and create sites. For each
living unit, there are semi-public areas around
the residences that can be used by those living
there.
Istanbul is a city with different cultures and
different groups of people, and different living
cultures. People living in Istanbul preferred
different life units for financial reasons or
cultural reasons. This situation caused some
This situation caused some grouping and
urban borders. People with better financial
status prefer living units in the center of
Istanbul, such as residences and sites,
which are secure and have a reduced connection
with the outside.Those who have a lower
financial situation and have come to Istanbul
as a nomad generally prefer life units such as
slums. Because of this situations, classifica-tions
and separations are starting.The
invisible borders of the city begin
to emerge. While sites and residences
provide these boundaries with security
and walls, slums or neighborhoods where
low-income-people live (like Dolapdere)
indicate that they do not want to see any
foreigner there.
detached house
is living units that do not relate to a community
are individual usually have garden around it.
slum
is a poor area of a big city. Slums are generally
places where large families live and their living
conditions are not good.
13

göktürk
bahçeşehir
inside-outside
TREE
SHARE
Semi-Lattice
public
PRIVATE
co-habit
SAFETY
semi private
maslak
CONNECTION
Borders
Neighbourhood
Residence
Detached House
Slum
dolapdere
14
They are usually built without permission and
illegally. It is one of the important causes of
unplanned urbanization. Slums are usually
built in nearby areas. The slums built together
start to form slums neighbourhoods after
a certain time.
borders
are the edges that are visible and invisible,
affecting relationships such as human,
nature and life.The relationships with spaces,
private and public are the things that shape
the borders.
Because of these, public spaces become
privatized and people's perception of publicity
starts to change. We are starting to see these
boundaries and distinctions in the silhouette of
the city.
As seen in the diagram, the differences
between these groupings and living communities
are very clear. With each passing day,
the borders in the city are starting to
increase.
sources
Vladimir Gintoff, ‘’Invisible Border’’, 2016,
ArchDaily
Joy Higgs, Creative Spaces for,
(Springer Science & Business Media, 2012),
Qualitative Researching: Living Research,
https://books.google.com.tr/
Didenaz Sönmez
Sümeyra Koca

1
1
3
2
4
5
123456
12345
3456
123 234 345
34 45
2 3 4 5
6
6
12
1 2
3
123456
3456
345
4
5
6
tree
semilattice
public
semi-private
private
tree
The streets where the settlements of the
buildings are mostly intertwined can meet the
needs of the users.urban building, where it is
connected to many buildings and diversified
with a or b structures, where users can choose
it.It is an abstraction of the expression of the
tree that it has revealed.
semilattice
There are many overlapping common spaces
in the city and their use by common
people,creates highly interconnected building
clusters and as a result, users are actually
within the need in the existing space.It reveals
a city texture in which they cannot select two
buildings and use the same space.
(a)
1
2
(b)
3
4 5 6
(a) Semilattice
(b) Tree
In fact, many different combinations of the
settlement, which is the district layout tree, can
come together, but the basic logic is that the
inhabitants are actually urban centers or
because it is close to the city centers, it
makes the neighborhood fabric more
crowded, it reveals the situations in which
the number of preferences of the users is
increased and the sharing is reduced in
common. In the following example, the
numbers (b) indicate that the shares of
the users are divided, indicating that the
intersecting state is decreasing.
The semilattice scheme, one of our
choices,is more far from the planned
cities and citycentres, so, people have not
had many optionsfor their needs and the
common denominator shared by users is a
city scheme has becomemore common.
As can be seen in (A) cluster, the frequency
of intersecting space users uses common
in theirl iving arrangements is apparent
public
That you can use all the places that are
publicly separated in the city, is the
definition of use. The preferences of these
places, where they can pass the time,are
the fields that make up.
15

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Sports fields
Site passages
Sites
Dormitories
Villages
University
Tree
Borders
Neighborhood
Square
High school
Neighborhood
Parks
itle of the image: (Myriad, 10, tone of the gray;K=60)
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16
(Source of the image)
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semi-private
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than public, does not distinguish itself as quasi architecto to the order in beatae itself and vitae has enabled dicta the sunt users explicabo
much as private use.is the use of space. In to act accordingly. Usage areas show the way
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fact, this type of use may not be visible in that we all follow without realizing. Public
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private
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It is called the concept of space where
living spaces belong to the person and the
et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat sources voluptatem. Ut
frame of the borders where someone else enim ad minima Christopher veniam, Alexander, quis A nostrum City Is Not exercitationem
A Tree
does not have an intervention is sharp. ullam corporis suscipit (Architectural laboriosam, Forum, nisi April ut 1965) aliquid ex ea
Although the use of private space differs for commodi consequatur? https://www.patternlanguage.com
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each individual, it is of special use as it iusto odio dignissimos https://www.researchgate.net
ducimus qui blanditiis
belongs to those individuals.
praesentium voluptatum deleniti Didenaz atque Sönmez corrupti quos
dolores et quas molestias excepturi Sümeyra Koca sint occaecat
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Coastline

Turkish Hayat House
Doğan Kuban
‘The gateway of the house was like the forbidding entrance of a castle: the castle of the
inner life of the family. In a sense this was the meaning of harem in Turkish Hayat house:its
private interior. when the man would return home from his daily duties or idle deliberations,
he would enter a microcosm made for the woman.’
p.20
17
The Turkish community, who existed in
Anatolia for a long time, had a nomadic life, but
since the 13th century, new settlements that
gathered Turks such as lodges began to form.
After the 14th century, the Turks, who lived as a
nomad society for a long time after Byzantine
lost its power, settled in the structures here by
conquering around the Byzantine walls outside
the cities. House types were remarkably like
each other because this era was way before
the industrial revolution and people were
participating in agricultural activities thus, the
income distribution was not differing much.
These similarities showed that people’s lives
were likely to each other and the houses
formed according to the turkish-muslim
society’s needs.
“The outside world belongs to men and house
belongs to women.” was a saying that the
outside belonged to men and defining this life
as open to surprises without limits,
free, physically and socially, with whom
they can share ideas, places and lives with
other people, while the women’s boundaries
were set, the outside was forbidden
and a life just lets the women to continue
their daily lives and its needs. We can say
that the liveliest house has liberated the
lives of women with its spaces that allow
women to connect with the outside world,
to chat with other people in th eir houses, to
share by moving over these borders.As
a result of these facts, even it seems as the
Turkish living house resembles a closed
box from the outside, it contains a very lively
life in it. At the ground floor, there is the
work area of the woman who works in
agricultural and farming activities and there
is a courtyard were woman is completely
free. From this area, there is a semi-open
stair which takes us to the first floor where
the living area is.

The live behind the
The live behind the wall
18
elements of Turkish hayat house
Rooms and eyvanlar are connected to this
open gallery. These rooms, which are
luminous, cozy and having and active environ -
ment provides a great comfort of living. At
another point, the first floor becomes the place
where the relationship with the street is
established with a system where the the
outside is visible from the inside, but as a
result of the cages in the windows the inside
cannot be seen from the outside due to the
lattices in the windows. Even if the living house
is defined as an introverted life, it shows that
the sociocultural conditions of the period
affect the architecture by reading these
designs that they are not indifferent to the
outside and this situation is obligatory.In fact,
the living home system was a very flexible
system and it allowed many different sorts of
usage in the plan. In the beginning it was a
simply at shaped plan by the combination of
plan
revak and eyvan. At the following
centuries,plan has changed according to the
needs of the era. By playing with the
dimensions of life, the number of the rooms
was increased by switching to a U-shaped
plan. Urbanization was affecting the design
and we can say that this situation affected
the first eyvans with the change of their
functions. Life was narrowed and left its
place to the sofa without breaking its
connection with the outside, and the sofas
formed the center of the houses by giving
the octagonal shape in the middle area.
sources
Doğan, Kubat, The Turkish Hayat
House, Eren, 1995, pp. 11-100.
E.Şevval Yılmaz
Zeynep Çiftçibaşı

Casa Botter
20th Century
Beyoglu, Istanbul
Casa Botter at the begining of the 20th century.(Dökmeci and Çıracı 1990, drawing of Botter Apartment after Parlak)
19
While walking in the crowd of Istiklal Street,
Casa Botter welcomes people with its’ magnificent
façade nearby the Tunnel. Istiklal street
which was named Pera at that period, in the
19th and 20th centuries, was a place where
mostly non-muslim Ottomans and foreigners
lived, and where western influence was greatly
felt. This building in its’ outstanding decorations
of Art Nouveau draws peoples‘ attention,
even today.
The building was designed by Italian architect,
Raimondo D’Aranco (b.1857-d.1932) in 1900.
He was invited by Sultan Abdulhamid II. to
design Ottoman Pavilion at the II. National
Exhibition in 1893 and he worked for both
Sultan and as a freelance architect in İstanbul
until 1909.
Through this period, he designed
many different structures such as
complex, museum, mansion, fountain and
worked in the restoration of many important
structures such as the Glass Mansion
of Dolmabahce Palace. In his designs,
he combined architectural movements
in Europe like baroque with Ottoman
Architecture and became an import-ant
representative of westernization in the
Ottoman Empire.Casa Botter is a residential
building that was built for Sultan
Abdülhamids’ tailor and fashion designer
Jean Botter. The building was built on a
narrow and long plot in Istiklal Street. It has
six floors and the ground floor with its‘
high ceiling was designed as a fashion
house. Upper floors are part of the living
spaces for Botter and his family members.

5
6 7
5
5
4
3
2
1
1.Living Room
2.Entree
3.Dining Room
4.Kitchen
5.Bedroom
6.Bathroom
7.WC
Second Floor Plan drawing after Archivi Degli
Architetti
Details of Northwest Façade drawings after Encyclopedia
of Beyoglu From Past to Present, Volume II
20
In the second half of the 19th century,
apartment buildings began to be seen in
Beyoğlu region. For this reason, designing
Casa Botter as an apartment was not a new
thing. However, the buildings' typology in the
western sense with commercial space on the
ground floor and living spaces on the upper
floor is a new thing in the Ottoman Empire.
The building was constructed from cast
iron, slabs were made out of jack arch floor, the
walls were filled with brick and were coated
with marble on the ground floor, stone on the
upper floors and plaster on the mezzanine
floor. The use of different materials creates
diversity in the outlooking of the façade. Also,
with the help of these materials, high rise
structure and columnless spaces were created
and it was a new construction method for
Ottoman house buildings.
Casa Botter carries importance not only for
the new life understanding of housing
and construction method but also as the
first major Art Nouveau building in Istanbul.
Art Nouveau in Istanbul differs from
Europe with some characteristics:
Istanbul style art nouveau is generally
uncolored, the use of color is seen only in
stained glass and ornaments are seen on
the facade in clustered units rather than
ornamentation covering the whole
facade.The effects of Art Nouveau are
style mostly seen on the details of the
façade. All these details designed by the
Architect Raimondo D’Aranco are special
for the Casa Botter. The details on the
façade are inspired by natural forms such
as curvilinear lines, plants and flowers.
These forms were created by carving on a
stone and marble, shaping the cast iron
and plaster.

1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020
14
Between 1900 to 1917
used as a residential
building by Jean Botter.
Between 1917 to 1950s
used as a residential
building by Mr. Mahmud
Nedim.
In the 1950s, the floors
were divided and started
to be used as
commercial spaces.
Timeline of Casa Botter after photos at Raimondo
D’Aranco in Turchia (1893-1909) / Kayıhan Türköz
Botter Building/
With the help of the forms, the building materi
als which are bulk and cold, and the structure
which is tall and box-shaped were tried to
humanize and the plain façade became three -
dimensional. At the same time, the repetitive
use of decorations created a rhythm and a
sense of dynamism on the façade.
Casa Botter was used as a residential
building until the 1950s. It was converted into
a bank branch in 1960. From the 70s to the
early 2000s, the building hosted different
workplaces, such as an advertising agency,
clothing store and the music store. After the
music store was closed at the beginning of the
2000s Casa Botter, one of the important
-
representatives of the Art Nouveau architecture
in Istanbul, remains completely empty
and
-
In 1960 the
building was
conv e r ted
into a bank
Between the 1970s to
the early 2000s, the
building hosted
different workplaces.
Since the
beginning of
the 2000s,
the building
is completely
empty.
like many other residential buildings on the
Istiklal Street await for the renovation and
adaptive reuse.
sources
Bilal, Ebru Antika. “Genç Osmanlı
mimarlık mirasının yeniden işlevlendirilmesi
üzerine bir değerlendirme Jean
Botter Köşkü. Ms Thesis, Maltepe
University, 2019
www.walkinginIstanbul.com
Güç, Berrin Çakin. ” 19. yüzyılda inşa
edilmiş olan, Beyoğlu Botter
Apartmanın mimari tezyiatının
incelenip tezhip ve minyatür sanatı ile
yorumlanması. Ms Thesis, Mimar
Sinan Fine Arts University, 2019.
İpek Erişen
Satuk Buğra Sarı
21

Esma Sultan Konak
22
Flexible design strategies to optimize
contempo-rary programs. The multi-level
building with a bar and a restaurant on the
ground floor and a conferance/event space
on the second floor entered by a wooden
and steel curved staircase maximizes
space and circulaton required for this
facility. All these new programs are
realized transparently within the historic
fabric. What’s the architectural technicalsolution?
Structure of slender steel
columns and glass walls topped by a
space frame that contains by lighting,mechanical
and electrical systems. The
structure of the “new building” is then
connected to the concrete reinforced
brick walls of the historic building by a
system of steel brackets and rods. There
is also a practical constructive reason for
this as the glass box that is connected to
brick walls with suspension roads,
ensures two seperate structures remain
equidistant from each other the effects of
extreme weather and eartquakes.In this way
the historic urban setting of the Bosphorus
remains intact with only the ruins of the
building visible from the exterior waterway.
The brick palace was built approxi-mately
200 years ago for Esma Sultan, an
Ottoman Sultan’ s wife as a summer
palace. Destroyed fire over a century ago, the
exterior brick walls are all that remained of
the building. GAD designed a thin but
strong stainless steel structure glass box
suspended within the brick shell to create a
covered venue that constantly reminds us
the history with multiple transparent layer of
glass. The brick walls inadvertently create a
shelter for the transparent glass box from
the sun, rain and wind. The multi-leveled

23
project incorporates a bar and a restaurant
on the ground floor and a conferance.
The exciting point of the project is from
the outside, the building gives the illusion
that the palace remains in its original
state. From the inside, promote Turkish
architects and art production, informing
people about architecture in addition to
assisting students with various types of
support to ensure excellent achievement in
their education. He is continously working
towards this happy outcome.
Esma Sultan is a multi-porpose event
and exhibition space located directly on the
Bosphorus Strait in the Ortaköy district of
Istanbul. Built inside the ruins of a brick
palace that was built in 1875 by architect
Sarkis Balyan for Esma Sultan.
It is a yacht named after Esma Sultan, the
daughter of Sultan Abdülaziz, the 32nd
Ottoman Sultan. Esma Sultan was born
in Dolmabahçe Palace in 1873. Upon
the death of Esma Sultan II.Abdülhamit
gave the mansion to his daughter
Cemile Sultan in 1899. The Greek school
was used as a tobacco warehouse after
1918 and after 1922. It was sold in the
1950s and used as a carpentry
and warehouse. The building had a fire in
1975.

PLAN AND SECTİON
COLLAGE
12
24
-
The Marmara Collection bought Esma
Sultan mansion in the early 90’s. Robert’s
By staying trueto its original plan, it
restored the building without making
major changes in the building. In 2001, the
interior of the building started again in glass
-
and steel environment on Philip project
and the mansion started to be open all year
round. Esma Sultan Mansion, in its newly
designed from;ıt includes a bar, restaurant
and different lounges. It is one of the most
expensive and magnificent weddings of
Istanbul society.
Reception can provide 3000 people in
the historical atmosphere. The venue also
hosts the Istanbul International Jazz
Festival and the Istanbul International
Music Festival.
sources
www.istanbul-city-guide.com
www.gadarchitecture.com
www.architizer.com
www.share-architects.com
www.archello.com
Gizem Küçük
Rengin Şeşeoğulları

Ottoman timber frame house
Zeyrek Houses
25
The use of Ottoman timber frame houses
began to spread in the first half of the 17th
century.Timber frame houses were
preferred in rural and urban areas.The
main reason for choosing Ottoman timber
houses is that timber is a local material.Timber
is preferred because it is an
environmentally friendly, cheap, and
earthquake-resistant materi-al.Timber
species such as pine, oak, hornbeam,
chestnut, juniper and poplar were used as
tree varieties.The use of these wood varieties
varies according to the tree species
grown in the region.For example, in Safranbolu
houses, yellow pine and black pine flooring
are
used in cabinets, stairs and veneers, and
yellow pine eaves and walnut trees are
used.It was used in various parts of the
building such as wooden bearing system,
flooring and roof element in Ottoman
houses. timber system was also used on the
roof.Usually 2-3 cm thick floor boards were
used in roof beams. These floor boards
were fixed to each other with stones or
nails placed on them.Flooring boards vary in
thickness depending on the type of tree
used. Chestnut, Oak 2 cm thick Fir was
used as a 1 cm thick floorboard.It is
divided into different types by the application
of the timber sculpted as timber structural
material as forming a bearing wall or as a
timber frame.

heading
horizontal braces
diagonal braces
Ottoman Timber Frame House Details
-
Zeyrek House
-
26
Ottoman houses were used as wooden
carriers. Ottoman wooden houses gener-ally
consisted of 2 floors.Stone rubble
mixture material was generally used on the
entrance floor of the building. Timber was
used as material in vertical and horizontal
elements on the upper floor of the
building.Adobe was generally used as filling
material. Timber materials used frequently
are pine, chestnut, oak, and juniper
trees.Poplar is generally used as wooden
material in the roof. The main reason for
using stones in the entrance floor is to
protect the building from moisture and
ensure safety.The structure of the building
was formed by studding the timber beams
on the stone
used in cabinets, stairs and veneers, and
yellow pine eaves and walnut trees are
used.It was used in various parts of the
building such as wooden bearing. Second
vertical and horizontal carriers were added
to these 3 meter intervals.The remaining
spaces are filled with adobe and the walls
of the building are formed. The thickness of
the planks varied region-ally. Rough-sized
timber was used in the rural areas.In
addition, the main structure of the building
was supported by diagonal woods.Generally,
the nail jointing technique was used in
the buildings. In some places, it is also
combined with a wooden plug system.

hayat
hayat
Ottoman Hayat House Plan
-
Ottoman Hayat House
-
27
Hayat plays an important role in Ottoman
wooden houses. The entrance of the building
is provided from Hayat.Otto-man people spent
most of their time in the summer, so Hayat has
an important place for the Ottoman houses.In
addition, Hayat provided the permeability
between privacy inside and social life
outside.The living house consists of a
timber frame built on stone walls on the
ground floor. Timber floors are used at the base
of the life.Hayat consisted of a semi-open
area. 3 sides were open and the other side
consisted of the wall of the house. From here,
the entrance to the interior of the house was
provided.
The first and second struts between the
floors were horizontal joints, vertical
beams, and the vertical joints between the
posts made the structure into a lattice
shape.In this way, the box-shaped
structure makes the structure very
resistant to earthquakes. Also, the thick
floors used contribute to the fact that the
structure is resistant to earthquakes.
One of the most important building
elements in Ottoman wooden houses is
bay windows.Bay windows are formed by
going out on the front.The overhang is
usually achieved by extending the floor
beams.Stability of the cantilever or
diagonal elements on the walls is ensured.
The size of the bay windows according to
the structure.There are small bays covering
the entire facade from place to place.
The bay windows are supported with
diagonal elements.These diagonal
elements startfrom the end of the bay and
are padded to

Ottoman House Baywindow
-
Zeyrek House
-
28
horizontal planks in the structure. These
diagonal elements were decorated with
wooden motifs in wooden houses
Ottoman timber houses used wooden material
on the roof. Usually a hipped roof or gable
-
roof was used.With the extension of the roof,
it formed eaves around the building. These
eaves protected the walls of the building and
also made the roof more solid.Sometimes
these eaves were covered with floor
boards,also sometimes the top cover of the
roof would appear as if it were left.
sources
Kuban,Dogan,Turk ‘Hayatlı’ Ev,
MTR Istanbul,1995
pp.239-245
https://www.academia.edu
www.researchgate.net
wikipedia
Boray Kurtoğlu
Murat Kavçin

Sait Halim Pasha Waterfront Mansion
19th Century
Yeniköy, Istanbul
image
Collage of the Mansion
29
Sait Halim Pasha Mansion is located in the
Yeniköy district of Istanbul. It is also known as
the “Lion's Mansion” due to the two lion
sculptures on its dock. This building was built
in the last quarter of the 19th century. A
neo-classical style was used. Although the
exterior of the mansion is calm, its decoration
contains heavy arabesque elements, therefore
it resembles a small Arab palace. The
mansion was named after Sait Halim Pasha,
the son of Prince Mehmet Abdülhalim Pasha.
The first known owners of the mansion are the
Düzoğulları family. The Aristarhis family
completely demolished the mansion remain -
ing from Düzoğulları and rebuilt in 1863.
The mansion became the property of Sait
Halim Pasha's father in 1876, but it was rebuilt
to architect Petraki Adamandidis in its current
form due to the fact that the mansion was in
ruins and not the desired size. During the
reconstruction, the mansion was withdrawn a
little from the sea, no bay windows were
placed, the facades and windows were built in
a structure different from the traditional
architecture. European influences dominate
the waterside.

30
Collage of the Fire
The mansion, built by architect Petraki
Adamandidis in the second half of the 19th
century, is accessed through glazed harem
and selamlik entrances. Venetian-Gold-Japa -
nese rooms are located on the seaside. A
large dining hall on the ground floor, the walls
of the Selamlik entrance are decorated with
Kütahya tile porcelains. Murano chandeliers,
mother-of-pearl and bond veneers on the
walls and ceilings, insulated with golden
stars, still maintain their historical value.
The building was transferred to Turizm Bank
in 1968 and was used as a casino that only
serves foreigners for a while. The casino was
transferred to Hilton in 1972 due to fire
hazards, etc.
The mansion, which was renovated in 1974,
underwent a major renovation in the
1980-1984 period. In the fire that broke out in
1995, a large part of the mansion was ash and
1.7 trillion liras was spent on post-fire renova -
tion works. This restoration was completed in
2002.
sources
Aşiyan’ın Penceresinden Boğaziçi,
Unknown, Unknown.
19. Yüzyıldan Günümüze Sait Halim Paşa Yalısı,
http://www.saithalimpasa.com
Wikipedia
Alara Küçük
Begüm Altuğ

Ceylan Apartment Building, Ağaoğlu House
1933, 1938
Taksim, Teşvikiye / Istanbul
The site of Ceylan Residance
Taksim Square
Gezi Park
Ceylan Apartment Building ‘s site and exterior facade
31
Sedad Hakkı Eldem (b.1908, İstanbul - d.7
September 1988, İstanbul) who is a
famous Turkish architect; throughout his
professional life, believed in the need to
create an architecture which is unique to
Turkey by taking advantage of modern
technology and not to fully stick to
traditional architecture and western
architectural styles without renewing its
structural forms and decorations for our
culture with a selective understanding.
He has worked into a contemporary
understanding of traditional Turkish
architecture that adapts some lean
elements such as horizontal roofline, wide
canopies, uniform windows, and bay
windows.
As a result of all these, Eldem's buildings,
which have an important place in contem -
porary Turkish architecture, have always
attracted attention, and some of them have
been the ones that started a new architec -
tural era such as Zeyrek Social Facilities. He
won the Aga Khan Award in 1986 with the
building and became a worldwide known
architect.
Ceylan Apartment Building is a residence
project which is located in İstanbul,
Taksim. On a triangular parcel on the
opposite side of Gezi Park. The location
gives the opportuni-ty to look out in all three
directions with the help of the triangular
parcel. It has six floors, each with single
apartment space.The building also includes
a basement and a terrace, with the ground
floor cmprising several stores.

32
Section of the Ceylan Apartment Building
The flat on the sixth floor is smaller than
other flats and has been pulled back to
create a terrace. The facade includes large
windows and wall pointings which increase
the horizontal effect. All in all, in accordance
with the understanding of the period, both
the planning scheme and the simplicity of
the facade and the emphasis on horizontal
-
positioning gives International stylistic
characteristics to the building.
During the design process, there were 2
important criterias for Sedad Hakkı, the
sun, and the view. The view of Taksim. The
form of the building designed to create
relationships with these 2 criterias. With
the help of the form, the building connects
the 2 main streets to each other. That is also
one of the most important benefits of the
plan schema.
houses
The rise and set of the sun affect
decisions about positioning the rooms,
the living room was the place that
should take the position on the
sunshine side of the building which is
the narrowest side that is covered by the
3 directional parcel. Thanks to the
number of windows the maximum light
provided. The narrow side was solved by
dividing the room into 2 parts by the
columns but also the architect was
given the chance to the liver to separate
the parts from each other with a basic
curtain. This well-thought design
created a poetic atmosphere for the
living room with the association of light
and shadow.

Ağaoğlu House front facade
33
The only part of the flats that have small
balconies are bedrooms. They behaved like a
door opening to outside besides, they refer
to Turkish bay windows. Again worth to think
design decision is the roof, the architect
thought the possible usage of it as a garden
roof in accordance designed the circulation to
the roof both from the lowest floor and upper
floor. The building was not very far away from
green spaces, but he wanted to combine a
part of it with the greenery while saving the
view of the greenery of Taksim.
Today, the last 2 floors of the building are still
used as residences, while the other 4 floors
continue to function as offices.
Ağaoğlu House designed for Ahmed
Agaoglu by Eldem in 1936. It was located
in Şişli, İstanbul near Teşvikiye Mosque.
There was another building in the
construction area that was destroyed,
Eldem chosen to protect and use some of
the ruins -the ones could be useful- in
his work. That’s an important clue to
perceive how important it is for him to
save the old, which takes us to the
‘traditional concept’ even in this
modern project. Yet it is not the only clue
about the hybridization of tradition and
modernity. On the facade, the projected -
solid surfaces take the intention at first -
sight. The critical importance of this
project is emphasized by the modernism
concept by designing an ‘oval sofa’ for that
particular building.

14 Plan of the Ağaoğlu House, Ground Floor Plan of the Ağaoğlu House, Second Floor
34
What makes the difference is that the limited
part of the living area does not behave like
a bay window, but the entire area extends
outward.
The other hybridization showing us itself with
the association of Ottoman-style eaves and
tape windows. On the inside, instead of a
centralized location, the sofa is opening to the
special rooms of the house. The apartment -
building was later replaced by a large building.
Sedad Hakkı Eldem's response to the
modern attitudes of the period with the
traditional relationship shows us the possibility
of a hybrid understanding that includes the
historical relations of their designs. These
approaches gave him the pioneer designer of
Turkish character for houses.
sources
Bilgen Dündar, Against Style: Re-reading
'New Architecture' in Early Republican
Period in Turkey (1931-1940), (Ph.D. The
Graduate School of Engineering and
Sciences of İzmir İnstitute of Technology,
2011), 95
https://openaccess.iyte.edu.tr
SALT - Google Arts & Culture.” ,
https://artsandculture.google.com
Eczacıbaşı Sanat Ansiklopedisi , Yapı Yayın,
1998), 512-1.Çubuk, Betül, Ceylan
Apartmanı / Sedad Hakkı Eldem,
22.0.1.2019,
https://betulcubuk.wordpress.com/
Beyzanur Meriç
Sena Sevinç Öztürk

THE VAST MINORITY
2018
Series of Interviews
by Herkes için Mimarlık (Architecture for All)
Postmodern era intervened [mass housing] in two different ways. First that unfortunate
and bureaucratic block, instead of being reduced to a statistics, was taken seriously as part
of a memory and a life experience and accepted as an input. Second, they tried to include life
experiences and to be more layered in an architectural sense. But what distanced postmodernism
from being utopian was not the production but it was consumerism.
İhsan BİLGİN (36.20’’-37.30’’)
35
The Vast Minority is a series of selected
interviews with architects about social and
collective housing. The interviews are part of
the Vardiya (The Shift) Workshop by Turkish
Pavilion which is organised by Architecture for
All for the 16th Biennale Di Venezia. Architecture
for All is an association, which gathers
volunteers and professionals, serves solutions
to social discussions by using architecture.
The Vardiya Workshop is organised in concept
of exploring and discussing the social and
mass housing problem. In videoclips, which
are between 15 to 45 minutes, participants
took the topic from its historical and experiential
sides through their professional and
personal perspectives. Five participants have
shared their ideas about housing, that was
born from the crisis of sheltering, over following
interview subjects. We have reviewed two
out of five interviewees, İhsan Bilgin and Ersen
Gürsel, which discussed social and collective
housing from different points of
views. “A brief history of housing” by
İhsan Bilgin briefly explained to us in his
45 minutes interview, how to understand
the current situation through chronological
order from the Industrial Revolution until
today, with examples from the world and our
country. He differs from the mass and social
housing with the help of architectural
approaches at that time. He mentioned
social is about a class preference, mass is
about a scale of production. Bilgin started
to mention his examples from small family
housing to the huge utopic social
housing. One of his examples, which
summa-rizes the main purpose of social
housing, is the Phalanstére type (opposite
top right) that makes self-contained
utopian community houses affordable and
almost 2000 people live

Life going on courtyard of the Phalanstére 1890
-
36
and work together in a mutual relationship in
the early 19th century. Bilgin’s speech is full of
intriguing examples that clarify his thoughts
about housing and offer a different perspective
to the 21th century of Istanbul.
Ersen Gürsel talked about the development
of housing policy in Turkey and enriched the
subject with examples from their own production
especially in the Aegean region in “A room
of one’s own”. His idea about housing is more
about feeling of belonging and designing
minimized living places. Gürsel is more likely a
supporter of mass housing rather than social
housing like Bilgin does. His one of the most
important criteria is being familiar with the
urban context as we can understand from his
long site analysis periods. Gürsel gives the
audience a subjective speech that shows the
process of architecture in Turkey through his
nearly 60 years of architecture career.
All the interviews, which are organised to
support the Vardiya Workshop, served the
opportunity of perceiving collective and social
housing from multiple aspects with five
different professions in architecture. This
documentation of video series connects
audiences and professionals and increases the
level of interaction in an intimate atmosphere.
sources
Architecture for All. “The Vast Minority.”
https://herkesicinmimarlik.org
https://medium.com
Buse Şahin
Hayrunnisa Mutlu

Beyoğlu’nun Üvey Evladı: Tarlabaşı
2013
Tarlabaşı, Istanbul
With the start of urban transformation work in Tarlabaşı in 2013, the journalist Isa
Tatlıcan, who is also a local here, is filming a Tarlabaşı documentary in order to say
goodbye to the neighborhood where he grew up: Beyoğlu’nun Üvey Evladı: Tarlabaşı.
Tarlabaşı is a district of Beyoğlu on the west of Istanbul. Tarlabaşı is located on the
slopes,where descending towards Dolapdere, on both sides of Tarlabaşı Boulevard.
Tarlabaşı, which is the center of crime
today, a district where people are afraid to
enter, has become a ruined district with the
ects of the events in history. Istanbul municipality
started to show urban
transformation activities in 9 islands in
Tarlabaşı under the name of purification.
There are many factors in Tarlabaşı becoming
this way. The big Beyoglu are in 1870,
the population exchange, the Cyprus
Operation, the events of 6-7 September,
the Wealth Tax, the migration from Anatolia,
and indeed the opening of the Tarlabaşı
boulevard, which hit the last blow. The
opening of the boulevard severed Tarlabaşıcompletely
from Beyoğlu. Although the
political forces of the period said that the
boulevard was to ease traffic and facilitate
transportation, it was obvious that the
-
-
crime and change he human profile in the
region. People always supported the
opening of boulevards in the world and
Turkey, to the relief of traffic, it left a
positive impact for transport in general.
When we examine other examples, the
topics of discussion are, in general, on the
path and benefits. However, in the case of
Tarlabaşı, the discussions were not over the
road, but over the region and the residents
of the region, because of the administra -
tors' point of view and their attitude
towards the region. The opening of
Tarlabaşı Boulevard caused the demolition
of 350 historical buildings in the region,
and Tarlabaşı was trapped in an irreversible
collapse.
37

Tarlabaşı and Paper Collector Kids by İsa Tatlıcan
-
38
Tarlabaşı, where there were Muslim ceme
teries before the 1870, was turned
into a residential area with architects and
engineers from Italy. Greeks, Armenians,
Levantines were the local people of this
place. Later, they were not first included in
the population exchange, but some of
them voluntarily emigrated because they
feared the public. Subsequently, the wealth
tax first forced some to sell their proper-
-
ty.With the events of September 6-7, 1955,
most of the minorities had to leave here.
There were still those who did not want to
leave their birthplace, but the social and
political environment that emerged after
the Cyprus Peace Operation made them
unable to accommodate in this region, and
accelerated this collapse. The cheapness of
the region, and currently empty buildings
have become an indispensable option for
people. The differentation of the human
profile caused the increase of crime,
prostitution and drugs and made this
place acrime center. This situation, of
course, also disturbed the state, and first,
they severed the region from Beyoğlu with
a boulevardunder the pretext that it
would facilitate transportation. But this
affected the region even worse. Urban
transformation projects,which started in
2013 and continue todayand started on 9
islands, aim to clean the region.
sources
Beyoğlu’nun Üvey Evladı: Tarlabaşı,
İsa Tatlıcan,
İstanbul, 2013, Film.
https://www.sabah.com.tr
Süleyman Doğuhan Coşgun
Rümeysa Betül Pırmut

Suleymaniye Complex
16th Century
Fatih,Istanbul
Axonometric collage of living places of Suleymaniye Complex
39
Suleymaniye Complex was built between
1550-1557 by Mimar Sinan (1588-) upon
the request of the Ottoman Emperor
Kanuni Sultan Suleyman. Although we
know Suleymaniye as only a mosque, it is
actually a complex. Complex was designed
as a whole,which shows that the understanding
of a living space includes social interaction
and the street life. It consist of different
type of living spaces: Mosque, Qur’an
reading space, public kitchen, madrasahs,
hospital, guesthouse, hamam and a school.
Mosque as a living space (1): Suleymaniye
Mosque is one of the most significant
edificies in Istanbul as well as Ottoman
period. Süleymaniye Complex is an example
of designing a building withoutbreaking the
connection with the city.
When walking around the district where
the complex is placed, one cannot
under-stand if he is in the complex or
walking around the city because it is
designed as a whole. Also, the dimensions
of the mosque is a lot larger than the city.
Mimar Sinan, created street perspectives
which are respectful to its
surroundings.
While approaching towards to the
mosque, the scale of the domes are getting
bigger which provides and emphasizes the
perspective for a human scale.In
front of the mosque, there is a wide open
area for gathering which has a transparent
boundary along the mosque. This boundary
is a wall with a square shaped opening
in it,which provides a smooth transition
from the street to the mosque. In the
garden, there is a symbolic meaning, rose

Suleymaniye Complex layout collage
1.Suleymaniye Mosque
2.Tomb of I.Suleyman
3.Tomb of Hurrem Sultan
4.Darulkurra
5.Rabi Madrasah
6.Salis Madrasah
7.Evvel Madrasah
8.Sani Madrasah
9.Madrasah of Medicine
10.Darussifa (Hospital)
11.İmaret (Soup Kitchen)
12.Tabhane (Guest House)
13.Tomb of Sinan
14.Bath of the Complex
15.Darulhadis Madrasah
16.Sıbyan School
Approaching to Suleymaniye Complex
40
smells, which refers to being in heaven.
While looking from in front of the mosque, it
is clearly seen that minarets’ heights are
different from each other, this was precisely
made to emphasize the movement and
perspective along the north-south
axis.Before entering the mosque, the
courtyard is a transition area which
prepares the prayers entering the mosque.
After going through the garden there is a
wide courtyard which has a different
atmosphere compared to the garden, with
the marble ceiling and the sebil in the middle
referring to the Kevser stream in heaven.
Courtyard is a gathering and socialising
place for the people who are praying
especially on Fridays which is a special day
for Muslims. In the courtyard, there are
different types of columns colected from
different countries which represent the power
of the Ottoman Empire.
Inside of the mosque, there are 4 main
columns besides the other columns at the
sides. With structural design, there is a huge
area left in the middle for people to pray.
A huge dome covers the praying area ,on
the dome there is glittered ornaments. The
wall behind the mihrab has lots of
openings with stained glass which provides
the sunlight in, to emphasize the holy
atmosphere inside the mosque. During the
day, people gather to listen to an Imam
who gives a speech from a minber, a
stair-like structure higher than the ground
level of the mosque.
Madrasah as a living space(5,6,7,8,9,15):
In the 16th century, madrasahs were a
religious educational institution where

Madrasahs collages as living spaces
people gather to learn and share information
to boost the ruling method of the
empire which is sharia. It consists of an
-
education room, a green courtyard in the
middle and rooms where students accommodate.
In that time, more than 200 people
(consisting of professors, students etc.)
were living in the madrasahs. Also, there is a
hierarchy of the spaces upon the closed
and open areas in madrasas. Yard as an
open space, the porch as a semi-open
space and the rooms as closed spaces. The
education room is the largest room with a
dome. In the interior, the floor is covered with
a rug and cushions where students sit during
the education.
There are six madrasahs in the Suleymani-ye
complex and all of them are similar in
terms of architectural language, structure
and material.
1.Hierarchy of spaces and
integration with topogaphy collage
2.Transparency of the walls
Also, there are some architectural
elements which refer to the ‘’life’’ in
madrasah. For example, ‘’chimneys’’
attached on the domes and ‘’sebils’’ in
the courtyards as a water source.
However, not all madrasas are the same,
they have minor differences. For instance,
only Salis and Rabi Madrasahs are
designed to fit in the topography rather
-
than others, because Salis and Rabi
Madrasahs fit the Istanbul Panorama and
Golden Horn view. So, they were built on
the lower level and didn’t block the view
of Suleymaniye Mosque from the sea.
Another difference is Darulhadis Madrasah
has a different plan layout compared
to other five madrasahs. It was added to
the complex later. All of them in square
layout but this one has a non-square,
-
41

14
Suleymaniye Mosque
courtyard collage
Perspective from Goldenhorn
to the Suleymaniye Mosque -
42
-
uncertain layout. Darulkurra as a living
space(4): Darulkurra is a space in madrasahs
where people read and memorize
Qur’an
Imaret as a living space(11): Imaret is the
‘’kitchen of Suleymaniye complex’’ which
provides food to people in the complex and
to the poor. Tabhane as a living space(12): It
was a short-time accommodation space for
visitors who are mostly religious people. It
has a similar plan layout to madrasah but
columns are higher than the madrasah’s.
Also while entering the Iwan-like structure
is welcoming visitors. In this Iwan-like
place, there are precious columns in the
corners of the iwan and a muqarnas on the
ceiling. Since it has more decoration
compared to other parts of Tabhane,
that area should have been
used by important people.
-
Darussifa as a living space(10): It is the
hospital of the complex. Also a caravanserai
located below the Darussifa and also
located in the ‘’Way of Pilgrimage’’
sources
Sezgin,Ahmet, Excursion of Suleymaniye
Complex, March 12, 2020.
“Suleymaniye Cami’sinin Bilinmeyen
Hikayesi” Accessed April 26, 2020.
www.sabah.com.tr
Gülru Necipoğlu,”Age of Sinan
Architectural Culture in the Ottoman
Empire” (Reaktion, 2015), 207-215.
https://theworldnews.net
archnet.org
mimarsinaneserleri.com
Selen Agaoglu
Dilara Atalay
-
-
-

Great Palace of Constantinople
3rd Century
Fatih, Istanbul
Axonometrical drawing of the Great Palace
43
When Constantine I moved the Roman capital
to Constantinople in 330, he planned a palace
for himself and those who came after him.
The palace was located between Hippodrome
and Hagia Sophia. The palace was rebuilt or
expanded many times, especially during the
reign of Justinianus I and Theofilos. The
palace is located on the southeast end of the
peninsula, behind the Hippodrome and Hagia
Sophia. There is a series of rooms in Topkapı
Palace, the successor of the palace. The total
area of the palace is more than 19,000 m2.
The main entrance to the palace was at the
Halki Gate in the ceremony area called
"Augustaion".
Augustaion was located in the south of Hagia
Sophia, where the main street of the city, Mese
Street, started. Magnaura, which served as a
Senate building and then as a University, was
located in the east of the area, while in the west
there were Million stone and Zeuksippos Baths.
To the south immediately after the Halki Gate,
the palace guards had sheds (Scholae
Palatinae). After these buildings, there was the
reception hall and then the Daphne Palace,
which was used as a royal settlement in the
early Byzantine period.The Emperor's bedroom
included Octagon. A corridor starts from
Daphne and ends with the Emperor Lodge
(kathisma) in the Hippodrome. The main crown
room Hrisotriklinos, together with the private
palace chapel of the Emperors II. It was built by
Justinus, expanded

Section of the mosaic peristyle and adjoining hall
44
Section of the Chalke gate and Magnaura Palace/Senate House
to its north was the Palace of Trikonhos (Triconchos),
built by Emperor Theofilos, from which it
would open into a semi-circular "Sigma"
-passing room. Nea Ekklisia ("New Church")
with 5 gilded domes built by I. Basileios and
adorned to the east of TrikonThe church was
still standing after the conquest of Istanbul, it
was used as an arsenal during the Ottoman
Empire and exploded in 1490 after a lightning
strike. There was a polo field called "Tzykanisterion"
between the church and the walls on the
sea Further south, Bukoleon Palace was
located by the sea attached to the main
complex. It was built by Emperor Theofilos to be
included in the sea side walls.
The palace was used extensively until the
13th century. Especially between 1204 and
1261, this palace on the sea shore was
preferred by the Catholic emperors of Western
Europe duri ng the Latin Empire. Bukoleon, the
gate on the sea side, would have entered the
Imperial port directly.
The palace complicated had a huge vestibule
called Chalke beginning on to the primary
street, the Mese, a “public” section, focused
on a big court (known as Tribunal or Delphax)
with meeting rooms and a dining room (the
Hall of the nineteen Couches) grouped round
it, and a residential wing referred to as
Daphne, which communicated with the
imperial box (Kathisma) inside the
Hippodrome by a spiral staircase.

LAUSOS
PALACE
SNAKE’S
COLUMN
BRONZE
THEODOSIUS
MILLION
STONE
JUSTINIEN
STONE
SKYLA
ZEUKSIPPOS
BATHS
AYA IRINI CHURCH
HAGIA SOPHIA
THE BASILICA
CISTERN
PATRIARCHATE
AUGUSTAION
ARCERES
NOUMERA
SENATE
AND MAGNAURA HOUSE
ANTIOKHOS
PALACE
RELAXATION OF
THE SCIENTIFIC
RELAXATION OF
THE GUARDIANS
OBELISK
OF
THEODOSIUS
HIPPODROME
DELPHAX
ONOPODION
RELAXATION OF
THE CANDIDATES
AUGUSTEUS
DAPHNE
SAINT STEPHAN
CHURCH
CONSISTERIUM
SFENDON
THEOFILOS
PALACE
MOZAIC
AND
PERISTYLE
TZYKANISTERION
BUKOLEAON
PALACE
HORMUZ
PALACE
The entrance gate from the sea side
Diagramatic plan of The Great Palace
45
The Great Palace in Constantinople easily beat
Versailles. In a better part of lots of years, it
became a town built by using dozens of Emperors
(I desire it counts particularly considering
the fact that Versailles itself has modified and
was added to many greater with the aid of the
following Kings), a good sized world of
corridors, massive halls, rooms, courts, baths,
fountains The pools, churches, gardens and
monuments are full of the greatest art works of
antiquity and medieval times. It additionally
hosted many technological miracles, including
but not confined to a gong capable of roaring
and moving the hours and tails of the day, the
gilded lion merchandising machine. A mechanical
throne to be able to pass its wings and
beaks and sing "appropriate" calls, big organs
as a way to fuel questions and songs in court
docket and at the hippodrome,
and a hydraulic throne on the way to upward
thrust to the ceiling upon command. The
Great Palace changed into also a tremendous
fort of artwork, as defined to us. Its
walls, flooring and ceilings are blanketed
with marble, mosaic, fresco and stained
glass; its corridors, roofs and gardens are
embellished with numerous statues and
sculptures.The archaeological stays of the
palace are extraordinarily restricted and
thus best partially understood. Apart from a
gadget of terraces, they are confined to a
seaward facade of the Boukoleon palace, a
stretch of shielding wall, probably the only
built by way of Nikephoros II Phokas,
running north from the old lighthouse tower
of the ocean walls, and remnants of an
apsed corridor preceded via a peristyle
court, the latter embellished with a magnifi-

Perspectival illustration of The Great Palace by Antoine Helbert
14
46
This complex, excavated in 1935-38 and
1952-54, appears to date no earlier than the
reign of Justinian I and has not been convincingly
identified with any of the palatine homes
acknowledged from the textual evidence. In
addition, there are remains of the palace at
Sultanahmet Archaeological Park as well as a
chain of vaulted substructures.The palace is
quality recognised to us as it was in the
9th-10th centuries and ought to be visualized
no longer as a symmetrically planned
complex (despite the fact that components of
it can have been) but as an irregular agglomeration
of homes of various dates separated
by gardens and carrying grounds. The three
main texts that assist us to recreate the
format of the palace are the De Ceremoniis ;
the outline in Theophanes
Continuatus of the homes put up by means of
the emperors Theophilos and Basil I; and the
account by using Nicholas Mesarites of the
failed coup of John Komnenos the Fat in 1200.
On the basis of these and different sources,
repeated attempts have been made to
reconstruct the palace on paper, all of which
highly conjectural.
sources
Bardill,Jonathan
The Great Palace of the Byzantine Emperors
and the Walker Trust Excavations:
Journal of Roman Archaeology,
12 (1999), pp. 216–230
Mert Can Keskin
Muhammed Geys Şenen

Topkapı Palace
Fatih, Istanbul (1478)
a view of Topkapi Palace and Bosphorus
47
Topkapi Palace was constructed between
1465-1478 after Mehmed the conqueror
conquest Istanbul, it served as administration,
education center and also housing for the
emperor and his family. The palace complex is
located at one of the highest points of the
historical peninsula where the waters of
Marmara, Bosphorus, and Golden Horn meet.
During the times when the palace was used
effectively, almost every sultan made innovations
and additions into the palace. Towards
the end of the 16th century, with the innovations
made especially by Sultan Suleyman, the
palace started to take its today's appearance.
Although historians accepted the 16th-century
changes, they defined the palace as the work
of Fatih, because the innovations made by the
Sultans never changed the original order of the
complex.
This also shows respect for the
Ottoman dynasty and the continuity of the
dynasty. In Ottoman Empire, a "palace" was
a place that met both the private and
political needs of the sultan. Topkapi Palace
was both the center of the empire and the
sultan’s resident from the 15th century to
the mid-19th century. In the history of
Turkish settlement culture, generally, tent
culture has been seen. Traces of this
culture can be seen in permanent
settlements too. Instead of having all
functions in one structure, it is preferred to
use different living spaces in separate units
in Topkapı Palace. By the middle of the 19th
century, due to the lack of new ceremonial
spaces which is came with the European
lifestyle in Topkapi Palace, a new Palace
(Dolmabahce) within the basis of the
contemporary needs

Fourth Courtyard
Living areas
increasing
privacy
Third Courtyard
Courtyards
Harem
increasing
privacy
Divan
Gate of Felicity
Second Courtyard
Gate of Salvation
First Courtyard
Imperial Gate
48
Plan comparison of Topkapi and Dolmabahce
Palaces ( I. Aksit, The Palaces of Topkapı and
Dolmabahçe)
Schematic drawing of the Spatial Organization
was constructed. Dolmabahce palace differs
from Topkapi palace with its integrated
architecture where all the functions unified in
one place. The ceremonies, which were
organized in certain buildings mostly in the
open courtyard in Topkapi Palace, were moved
to the interiors of the new palace. When the
plan layout of those palaces compared, while
Topkapi's places organized in a free form on a
wide-open space, Dolmabahce's layout is
much more simple and regular. With these
features, Topkapi Palace can be considered as
a representative of the Ottoman lifestyle.
Topkapi Palace's plan consists of 4 different
courtyards surrounded by buildings in
sequence and organized to move from public
to private. It is planned to create a ceremonial
journey for a visitor while passing through
inside of the palace.
The monumental gates of the palace were
also lined up as a reminder for the
ceremonial journey of a visitor. The first
courtyard of the Palace reached by through
The Imperial Gate was the place where
the need for Palace provided, public
ceremonies organized. Comparing with
other courtyards of the Palace it is the most
accessible and the wide one. It has
become an important point in the relationship
of the palace with urban life. It has
an important position in the sense that the
sultan does not separate his own living
space and state center by keeping them
open to the public. The second courtyard
of the Palace accessed by The Babusselam
gate was the administration part of
the Palace. The exterior view of the
second gate dominated with military
power created a great contrast with the
heavenly view of the inner courtyard.
-

Golden Horn
Bosphorus
Baghdad Pavillion
Fourth Courtyard
Treasury
Third Courtyard
Library of Ahmet III
Gate of Felicity
Room of Valide
Sultan
Audience
Hall
Kitchens
Sea of
Marmara
Second Courtyard
Harem
Entrance to the
Harem
First Courtyard
Gate of Salvation
(From Ilban Oz)
Imperial Gate
Axonometric drawing and the places of Topkapı (Eski
Istanbul Fotoğraf Arşivi, 1850-1950)
49
The differentiation of the use of materials from
the other structures of the palace also emphasizes
the importance of the empire's administrative
center. The basic layout of the 2nd
courtyard, which consists of several buildings
such as The Imperial Council, Outer Treasury,
The Tower of Justice, etc. remained as it was
in the 15th century though the further changes
made by other Sultans. The 2nd courtyard was
deprived of remarkable architectural elements.
The focus was created to be on the ceremonies
made in the courtyard and towards the
Audience Chamber that behind the 3rd gate
which emphasizes the symbolic existence of
the Sultan. Justice was practiced by the sultan
watching through a caged window in the
Divanhane. Thus, the presence of the sultan,
who was not seen, was known. At the same
time, the location of the administration center
of the administration center which in the
presence of the sultan was an indication of
the commitment to the sultan. This
architectural organization, not only gave a
physical meaning to the "gate" but also
emphasized that the state was governed by
the sultan's door. The third courtyard behind
the Babussaade gate is the part where the
sultan and his family's residences located,
which is depicted as the heart of the palace.
It’s surrounded by the most fascinating
buildings of the palace such as Hall of The
Privy Chamber, Imperial Treasury, the
Harem, and Enderun Library. The most
private part of the palace, The Harem,
where the women of the Palace and Valide
Sultan accommodated, was a separate
place with a complex plan to the left of the
2nd and 3rd courtyards. Sultan was the

50
14
Atmospheric collage of the passage from gates to
courtyards (Eski Istanbul Arşivi, 1850-1950)
Sultan was the only one who could break
the strict boundary between women and
men in the third courtyard. This was also
supportive of the emphasis on the Sultan's
power in the palace. The Harem was
managed within its own internal system
where the needs of the people of the Harem
were provided by their own units. The
control of this system was carried out by
Valide Sultan. The existence of Harem
started to gain great importance towards
the end of the 16th century. Contrary to
Fatih, the Sultans of the empire had begun
to stay in Harem's private room. The expansion
of the Harem and the 3rd courtyard in
the following periods shows that the
Sultan's lifestyle has changed and he
started to spent more time in the palace.
When looking at the spaces of Topkapi
Palace,
Imaginary View of The Harem (Melling, 1819)
Palace, it is seen that it has a close relationship
with the people living in the palace. The organization
of the spaces has been created around
factors such as the purpose of use, social
status etc. During the period of Fatih, the
Palace was used as a station between the
military expeditions. Towards the end of the
16th century, it has become a self-sufficient
complex that is closed to the outside world,
where there is continuous life.
sources
Necipoglu, G., The “ formation of an
Ottoman Imperial tradition: the Topkapi Palace
in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. ”(2001)
Caner Ç, Yoncacı P. “Bir İmparatorluk Sahnesi:
Dolmabahçe Sarayı Muayede Salonu” (2006)
Asiye Nur Akbulut
Fatma Kevser Aksoy

Istanbul Hilton Hotel
1952-1955
International Hilton and customers, its environment and the silhouette of Istanbul
51
While wandering around bosphorus; a
modern, smooth, pure geometric building is
blinking to the people whom is looking to it:
Hilton Hotel. In the bosphorus silhouette, it
has an enormous significance. Either
daytime or evening, it shines bright; as if it is
daring to the other landmarks of Istanbul. It
consists from simple geometric forms,
however it cannot be told that Hilton is a
modest building. Its large scale, rhytmic and
simplistic facade, monumentality became
another critical feature for it. It is 100m
width, 42m height and 21m depth. It can be
said that Hilton Hotel is a milestone for the
architectural identity for Istanbul. It can be
considered as the first example of International
style here.
-
Hilton Hotel, designed by Sedad Hakki
Eldem and SOM (Skidmore, Owings and
Merill Architecture) in 1952 - 55 gives
references to Five Points of Architecture by
Le Corbusier:
- Pilotis
- Free Plan on the Ground Floor
- Free design of the facade
- Horizontal Windows
- Roof Garden
Although the international styled facade,
vernacular attitudes were also used. Chinas
from and ceramics Kutahya in the interior. At
the entrance, flying carpet shaped eave
welcomes the customers. This touch has
also added another layer to the monumentality
of the building.

52
a brand new vision in the lands of Vernacular Istanbul: International Style.
Modern, Functional, rhytmic, smooth.
Hilton Hotel was the starting point of an era
for Turkey’s Hotel system. It changed the
idea of accommodation. The opening of
Hilton was a changing point and also, after
Hilton, people started to go luxurious life
changes. Living space idea was changed
with Hilton but we cannot assume that either
in a good or bad way. It’s in a bad way
because it didn’t let us find our own way to
architecture. We copied the architectural
styles recklessly without thinking about the
place and conditions of new places. It might
be one of the reasons today we have this
much-confused architecture today in
Istanbul.
If we were outside of Hilton in the 1950s, what
would we think? The building isn’t in the
middle of the buildings complexes like today
so, you can see the whole surrounding with
just a glimpse. It doesn’t mean it wasn’t in a
central place. People could easily come to
their gatherings. If I look at the gate of the
Hilton, I would think that flying carpet is not a
Turkish feature, but arabesque. When I
entered the building, there would be a mixture
of Turkish and American features combined
with each other. Sedat Hakkı Eldem added
Turkish features to building, but it also had
SOM’s American features.

plan of Istanbul Hilton with surroundings
53
With Hilton, also an era of social life started.
People started to have parties in Hilton with
a mixed range of people. The hotel which is
surrounded by trees has became a centre of
fascination. People started to use this place
as a communal gathering point such as for
meetings or tea times gatherings. It also
became a milestone in Turkish romance
stories not only in films but also in real-time,
too. Hilton also offers to users an amazing
scenery that worthy for a postcard. It is
more than a hotel anymore: a restaurant,
meeting hall, even barber shop and a laundry
centre. It is also preferred for these
facilities. Orhan Pamuk also mentioned in
his novel ‘Museum of Innocence’ about
Hilton Hotel:
“These postcards of the Istanbul Hilton
were acquired some twenty years after the
events I describe; I picked up some of
them while strolling through small
museums and flea markets in this city and
elsewhere in Europe, and others I
purchased in transactions with Istanbul’s
foremost collectors in the course of
assembling the Museum of Innocence.
When, after a lengthy bargaining session
with the famously neurotic collector Halit
Bey the Invalid, I was able to acquire one
of these postcards depicting the hotel’s
modernist international-style facade, and
granted permission to touch it, I was
reminded not just of the evening of my
engagement party, but of my entire
childhood”

flying carpet shaped eave at the entrance
a postage stamp
about the tenth
annual
conference of
Milletlerarasi
Imar ve Kalkinma
Bankasi which
was produced in
1955. A
photograph of
Hilton Hotel was
used on it.
54
an illustration of the lobby
“On Sunday evenings, when we would go as a
family to eat that amazing thing called a
hamburger, a delicacy as yet offered by no other
restaurant in Turkey, my brother and I would be
mesmerized by the pomegranate-colored
uniform with gold braids and flashy buttoned
epaulettes of the doorman with the handlebar
mustache. In those years so many Western
innovations made their first appearance in this
hotel that the leading newspapers even posted
reporters there.”
“We could see the new building from our house,
and though at first it looked foreign against
Istanbul’s tired old silhouette, during the years
that followed my parents grew accustomed to it,
going there whenever they could. ”
“There was still plenty of time to spare when
Çetin Efendi dropped my parents and me at the
revolving doors, which were shaded by a canopy
in the form of a flying carpet.”
“Though not at all religious, I have engraved
in my memory what I still regard as a
postcard of bliss, sent by God: the image of
merry guests, now dispersed to the outer
reaches of the garden, and beyond them
among the plane trees and the colored
lamps, the landscape, the lights of the
Bosphorus and the deep blue sky.”
sources
Şevki Vanlı, Türk Mimarlığının Yaşadığı Karmaşa,
mimarlıkdergisi.com, 2003
Ayça Esen, 1950’li Yıllarda Amerikalılaşmanın
Etkisinde Kalan Türkiye ve Türk Mimarlığı:
İstanbul Hilton Hoteli, (MS Thesis, Bahçeşehir
University, 2016).
Orhan Pamuk, Museum of Innocence,
(İletişim,2008), 116-33
Eren Burak Kuru
Irem Arslan