A | Z Cilt: 13 - Sayı: 1 Yıl: 2016

Vol 13 No 1 

∞ 

March 2016 

ISSN 1302-8324

Vol 13 No 1 ∞ March 2016 

Published three issues in one year by Istanbul Technical University as a refereed journal. 

Editorial 

Yurdanur Dülgeroğlu Yüksel 

Gül Koçlar Oral 

Tüzin Baycan 

Editorial Board 

Aygül Ağır 

Nilgün Ergun 

Yegan Kahya 

İlknur Kolay 

Sinan Mert Şener 

Hayriye Eşbah Tuncay 

Gülname Turan 

Alper Ünlü 

Zerrin Yılmaz 

Publishing Editor 

Y. Çağatay Seçkin 

Editorial Secretariat 

Melike Ersoy 

Koray Gelmez 

Buket Metin 

Feride Şener Yılmaz 

Representatives 

Ümit Yılmaz • Georgia, USA 

Sadık C. Artunç • Mississippi, USA 

Advisory Board 

Ömer Akın • School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA 

Michael Batty • School of Architecture, Faculty of the Built Environment, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London, London, UK 

Sina Berköz • Department of Architecture and Interior Design , College of Engineering, University of Bahrain, Isa Town, Bahrain 

Sibel Bozdoğan • Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Design, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey 

Richard Buchanan • Department of Design & Innovation, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA 

Erich Buhmann • Department of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Agriculture, Ecotrophology and Landscape Development, Anhalt University, Bernburg, Germany 

Conall O’Cathain • School of Architecture, Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, N. Ireland 

Jay Chatterjee • Seasongood Foundation, Urban Design Review Board City of Cincinnati, Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati, Cinnati, Ohio, USA 

Max Conrad • Department of Landscape Architecture, College of Art and Design, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA 

Gülen Çağdaş • Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey 

Gülden Erkut • Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey 

Zafer Ertürk • Department of Interior Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Design, Feyziye Schools Foundation Işık University, Istanbul, Turkey 

John Gero • Department of Computer Science, College of Computing and Informatics, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, North Carolina, USA 

Luigi Fusco Girard • Department of Architecture, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy 

Joachim B. Kieferle • Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Rheinmain University, Wiesbaden, Germany 

Roderick John Lawrence • Department of Geography & Environment, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland 

Ardeshir Mahdavi • Department of Building Physics and Building Ecology, Institute of Architectural Sciences, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria 

Ezio Manzini • Chair of Design for Social Innovation,Department of Industrial Design, Polytechnic University of Milan, Milan, Italy 

Robert W. Marans • Department of Urban and Regional Planning, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Michigan, USA 

Mehmet Ocakçı • Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey 

Rivka Oxman • Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa Israel 

Süha Özkan • Faculty of Architecture and Design, Özyeğin University, Istanbul, Turkey 

Andrew D. Seidel • School of Environmental Planning, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada 

Hasan Şener • Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul Kultur University, Istanbul, Turkey 

Handan Türkoğlu • Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey 

Zerrin Yılmaz • Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey 

Typesetting 

Koray Gelmez 

Onur Yılmaz 

Web 

Buket Metin 

Abstracted and Indexed in 

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals 

Design and Applied Art Index (DAAI) 

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) 

Genamics JournalSeek 

International Construction Database (ICONDA) 

Scopus 

ISSN 1302-8324 

Print 

Cenkler Matbaa, Istanbul Turkey, March 2016 

Cover Design 

Koray Gelmez 

Logo Design 

Koray Gelmez 

Contact 

İTÜ A|Z Yayın Sekreterliği, 

İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, 

Mimarlık Fakültesi 

Taşkışla, Taksim, 34437 

İstanbul Türkiye 

fax: 90 212 251 4895 

e-mail: az@itu.edu.tr 

web: www.az.itu.edu.tr

Contents 

Editor 

Editorial 

I-II 

Dossier: Vernacular architecture 

Yurdanur Yüksel Dülgeroğlu 

Dossier Editorial 1-3 

Keynote: Vernacular architecture and typology 

Attilio Petruccioli 5-13 

Esin Hasgül 

Incremental housing: A participation process solution for informal housing 15-27 

Marwa Dabaieh, Birgitte Tanderup Eybye 

A comparative study of human aspects in acclimatization of 

adobe vernacular architecture: A case from Denmark and Egypt 29-41 

Emre Torbaoğlu, Yüksel Demir 

A research on the continuity of the original settlements: 

A case study on Kemaliye/Erzincan 43-56 

Rully Damayanti, Florian Kossak 

Extending Kevin Lynch’s concept of imageability in third space reading; 

case study of Kampungs, Surabaya–Indonesia 57-67 

Timothy O. Iyendo, Ebunoluwa Y. Akingbaso, 

Halil Z. Alibaba, Mesut B. Özdeniz 

A relative study of microclimate responsive design approaches to 

buildings in Cypriot settlements 69-81 

Warebi Gabriel Brisibe 

Lessons from ‘archaeotecture’: Analysing variations in vernacular 

architecture using methods from archaeology 83-95 

Selin Küçük 

Structural transformations of traditional architecture from 

Hittites to Ottomans in Bogazkoy 97-106 

Maria I Hidayatun, Josef Prijotomo, Murni Rachmawati 

Vernacular architecture as an alternative design approach with 

interpretation of Paul Ricoeur’s critical theory 107-114 

Shikha Patidar, Brishbhanlali Raghuwanshi 

Vernacular to modern in the search of sustainable development 115-126 

Ranjith Dayaratne 

Re-dignifying vernacular for constructing national identity: Elitism, 

grand traditions and cultural revival in Bahrain 127-138

Theory 

Gizem Caner, Fulin Bölen 

Urban planning approaches in divided cities 139-156 

Deniz Balık, Açalya Allmer 

A critical review of ornament in contemporary 

architectural theory and practice 157-169 

Pınar Sıvalıoğlu, Lale Berköz 

Relationship between place attachment and user satisfaction 

at some national parks in Turkey 171-181 

Işıl Çokuğraş, C. İrem Gençer 

Urban regulations in 18 th century Istanbul: 

 

Gül Sibel Gedik, Dilek Yıldız 

Assessing the role of users in sustainable revitalization of 

historic urban quarters: The case of Bursa-Khans District 195-208 


Energy efficient lighting system retrofit for retail environments 209-224

I 

Editorial 

Y. Çağatay SEÇKİN 

This issue of the A|Z ITU Journal of 

the Faculty of Architecture is the first of 

its 12th year, an event worthy of some 

special celebration, remembrance and 

considerable changes. 

Through the remaining years, A|Z 

ITU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture 

endeavored to create a decent 

platform for academic environment to 

reach the information in the field of design 

and planning. During this time, 13 

volumes and 26 issues have published 

both electronically and in hard copy, 

as an internationally indexed journal. 

By this time, 260 articles produced by 

450 authors have been published in the 

Journal; and these articles were sent 

from 31 different countries: Argentina, 

Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, 

China, Czech Republic, Denmark, 

Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, 

Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, 

Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, 

Norway, Philippines, Qatar, Sweden, 

Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Turkish 

Republic of Northern Cyprus, United 

Kingdom and United States of America. 

Starting with the first issue of 2015, 

we have introduced a number of 

changes, all done with the intention of 

enhancing our reader satisfaction. 

The first and most obvious change 

was about the publication frequency. 

According to expanded visibility and 

outreach of the Journal, the number 

of good-quality submissions has increased 

dramatically and was left no 

choice but to move from biannual 

(spring & fall) to tri-annual publication 

(spring, summer & fall). 

The second and most exciting 

change was that the logo, the cover and 

the page layout have been completely 

redesigned. This was done both to 

give the journal a brighter appearance 

and give the reader an opportunity to 

quickly identify and read the article 

that might be of immediate interest. 

Beginning from this issue; 

Online manuscript management 

system (www.journalagent.com/itujfa/) 

was started to use for accelerating 

the submission, peer-review 

and correspondence processes. 

Each article has a Digital Object 

Identifier (DOI) number to increase 

the accessibility and ease the 

calculation of the citations. 

Webpage of the Journal 

(www.az.itu.edu.tr) is more appealing, 

easier to navigate, and more 

fun to use than even before, with its 

new fresh-look. 

We know the changes can be threatening 

and intimidating, but it can also 

be inspiring and beneficial. With the 

hope of being inspiring and beneficial, 

we welcome comments on whether we 

have succeeded in our objectives. 

The dossier of this issue has been 

titled as “Vernacular Architecture” 

which is edited by Yurdanur Dülgeroğlu-Yüksel, 

PhD. The articles of this 

dossier were selected from the ISVS 

7 Conference held on 15-17 October 

2014. The dossier has the articles as 

follows: 

 

- 

 

 

- 

 

 

- 

- 

 

 

 

- 

 

- 

 

 

- 

- 

 

 

- 

-

II 

 

 

 

 

- 

 

- 

 

. All selected papers were 

reviewed by at least two reviewers. 

Besides of the dossier, this issue has 

seven articles in the theory section. 

Gizem Caner and Fulin Bölen wrote 

the first article. Caner & Bölen, in their 

article entitled as - 

present a 

comparative analysis of planning approaches 

in divided cities in order to 

investigate the role of planning in alleviating 

or exacerbating urban division 

in these societies. It analyses four 

urban areas—Berlin, Beirut, Belfast, 

Jerusalem—either of which has experienced 

or still experiences extreme divisions 

related to nationality, ethnicity, 

religion, and/or culture. 

The second article, written by Deniz 

Balık and Açalya Allmer, makes 

- 

 

. The aim of this study is to 

construct the theoretical framework of 

ornament in the twenty-first century 

architectural domain, and the paper 

intends to investigate the reemergence 

of this-yet-ambiguous issue to evaluate 

its new aspects, and redefine its limits 

in contemporary architectural theory 

and practice. 

The article entitled 

 

 

written by Pınar Sıvalıoğlu and 

Lale Berköz intends to discover which 

factors effect visitor satisfaction and 

attachment for providing benefit to future 

studies in national parks. 

Işıl Çokuğraş and C. İrem Gençer 

aims to discuss how the built environment 

of Istanbul was formed in the 18 th 

century as an initial period for urban 

reforms and studies in their paper entitled 

 

 

. The paper evaluates the regulations 

of 18th century which were 

based on the occasion of natural disasters 

and public dispute through official 

archive documents and narratives. - 

 

- 

 

written by Gül Sibel Gedik and Dilek 

Yıldız investigates the importance of 

users’ role in sustainable revitalization 

process in historical urban quarters. 

The last paper of this issue is - 

 

In this study, 

Feride Şener Yılmaz tries to clarify the 

lighting design criteria for retail environments 

in terms of visual comfort 

conditions and lighting energy efficiency 

and investigates a retail lighting 

retrofit application on the example of a 

department store. This research clearly 

underlines the importance of a proper 

lighting retrofit project in terms of providing 

visual comfort conditions and 

lighting energy efficiency. 

Lastly, I would like to let the readers 

know about the next issue. The dossiers 

of the following issues of A|Z ITU 

Journal of the Faculty of Architecture 

will be related with Energy Efficiency 

in Buildings. 

Please let us know for following issues 

if you have ideas or topics that we 

could be focusing on.

1 

Dossier Editorial: 

Vernacular architecture 

Yurdanur DÜLGEROĞLU YÜKSEL 

The dossier of this issue is a selection 

of articles, transformed from an international 

conference held at Istanbul 

technical University about a year ago. 

The theme of the ISVS-7 Conference 

in Istanbul which took place at Taşkışla, 

was Vernacular Architecture. ISVS 

stands for International Seminar on 

Vernacular Settlements. The Conference 

took place during the period between 

15-17th of October, 2014. After 

having many discussions and reviews 

of the previous 6 ISVS themes, the local 

conference team in Istanbul, ITU gave 

a special title to the ISVS 7 Conference: 

Re-Assessment of Vernacular Architecture: 

theory and practice. With 

this international conference, we welcomed 

participants from all over the 

world and enjoyed the energy springing 

from the ideas of diverse scholars. 

The conference was structured around 

several keynote speeches, half of them 

Turkish, half of them international. 

Furthermore, 7 sessions were held, 

with parallels. Contribution came from 

active participants 23 different countries 

–from Asia, Middle-East, Africa, 

Europe, North and Central America, 

and Canada. Over 130 abstracts were 

submitted. Approximately 100 participants 

came over. We were able to 

realize the conference by the sponsorship 

of TUBITAK, ITU Rectorate, Real 

Estate Investment Fund, Çuhadaroglu 

Aluminum Systems. The tripod of the 

conference structure was composed of 

the Dean of Faculty of Architecture, 

Architectural Design Typology Working 

Group, and Housing Research 

Center of ITU. While the dean together 

with the Rectorate offices was promoting 

the funds to realize the conference 

and opening up the spaces with, in 

Taşkışla, the working group undertook 

most of the human and intellectual responsibilities 

over long hours and days 

and weeks of work. The Center mobilized 

all its facilities almost everyday, 

welcoming and tracking the conference 

process before, during and after 

the Conference. The original founder 

of the series of biennial international 

seminars has been a group of scholars 

from Asia which started in Indonesia 

in 1999. It has aimed to promote research 

on Vernacular traditions and 

settlements. 

After reconsidering the previous 

ISVS themes and its main goals, the 

local organising committee at ITU has 

decided that conference focus on the 

following topics: 

Theory, philosophy and practice: 

Knowledge formation 

Globalization and Local Identities: 

Small Traditions and Grand Traditions 

Politics: Informality, Third Space, 

Otherness, Struggles, Exclusion, 

Resistance, Diversity, Plurality, 

Gender, Class, and Ethnic Differences 

Human Factors/Behavioral Aspects: 

Women, Children, the Aged, 

Everyday Life 

Meanings and Experiences: 

Place-making, Dwelling, Non-Place 

Commodification: Consumption, 

Media Intervention, Touristification, 

and Inappropriate Policies 

Environmental Concerns: Formation 

of Public Space, Street Art 

Socio-Cultural Sustainability: Cultural 

Ecology of Vernacular Housing 

Technology and New Materials: 

Climate, Ecology, Recycling, Saving 

of the Resources 

The participants included full-paper 

presenters, organization committee 

members, scientific committee members 

from different universities and 

geographies, architects-planners from 

offices, invited speakers, researchers 

from various research centers, and 

doctoral students from national and 

international universities. Diversity of 

geography, education, occupation and 

backgrounds was a springboard for 

heated discussions on the changing 

definition of what is vernacular and 

what is not. The conversations continued 

at coffee-breaks, lunches and 

even after the conference. The keynote 

speakers from international universities 

included Miki Desai from CEPT 

University, India; Nezar Alsayyad from 

University of California, Berkeley, 

USA; Attilio Petruccioli with Italian

2 

origin, from Qatar University. Furthermore, 

a guest speaker from Bahrain 

University Pratyush Shankar gave the 

welcoming speech as one of the core 

members of ISVS committee. Three 

best papers were selected to promote 

research on the theme by the organizing 

and scientific committee, and first, 

second, and two third best papers are 

included within this dossier in this and 

the next issue of the journal. 

A. Petruccioli’s article is the first one, 

and the author gives a well-founded critique 

of vernacular architecture Works 

at the contemporary times. He selects 

samples from the known architects 

and scholars. Understanding the typology 

process is the focus of the article, 

as a way of challenging the contemporary 

design in the built environment. 

E. Hasgül emphasizes the incremental 

growth of squatter settlements in İstanbul. 

She examines the cultural identity 

in the informal settlements and examines 

the house production process to 

the extent of its improvements in time. 

M. Dabaieh and B. Eybye have 

written their article on an interesting 

comparison between a middle-eastern 

country and a northern European 

Country. Through the context of acclimatization 

of adobe housing, they have 

shown that, even in different cultural 

contexts, people’s approach to sustainability 

can be similar.. 

E. Torbaoğlu and Y. Demir have 

based their article on a long-lasting 

research on settlements of Kemaliye, 

Erzincan In the article is examined the 

concept of continuity, a highly crucial 

parameter of transferrence of vernacular 

architecture to the new and coming 

generations throughout time for their 

cultural, as well as spatial sustainability. 

The critical regionalizm formed the 

theoretical framework of the article. 

R. Dayamanti and F. Kossak use in 

their article, the major urban identity 

definers of Kevin Lynch in order 

to re-assess them in view of vernacular 

architecture. The article carries the 

Lynch’s theory of imageability of contemporary 

third space. The authors 

attempt to interpret the theory and its 

application in a new way. 

T. Iyendo, E. Akingbaso, H. Z. Alibaba 

and M. Özdeniz have made a research 

as the background for his article 

on the Cypriot buildings. Their emphasis 

is on the microclimate-based design 

alternatives. Their study reveals that 

vernacular housing embodies more 

climate-responsive and human-comfort 

oriented design approach than the 

contemporary buildings The article 

contributes to the understanding of 

the relevant knowledge whether it becomes 

an input in the design concept 

and design process or not. W. Brisibe 

has conducted an extremely interesting 

field study in African fisher village 

using ethnographic methodology. He 

examined on one-to-one basis through 

interviews, photos the fisher tribes 

housing and settlement forms, and 

their activities differentiated by gender 

and age. The life styles of these migrant 

fisher families of Nigeria require highly 

hierarchical spatial arrangements. The 

article reminds us one more time that 

the best knowledge about the Local can 

only be derived from the local community, 

in place. 

S. Küçük has conducted quite an interesting 

work on Hittite civilization 

with its own unique architecture. The 

author curiously intends to follow up 

the traces of the vernacular from Hittite’s 

time up to the Ottoman period for 

comparative purposes. To fulfill this 

aim, the Hattusha village local architecture 

is examined. The change along 

time longitudinally has existed; yet, 

same material and structural design 

factors persisted despite thousands of 

years in between, indicating continuity 

of the vernacular. 

M. I Hidayatun and J. Prijotomo, 

and M. Rachmawati, similar to the 6th 

article in the dossier, have interpreted 

and applied an existing theory, in this 

case Paul Ricoeur’s theory, on a different 

context of design approach. The 

authors explore the capacities of the 

contemporary usage of Vernacular Architecture 

for a viable tool for today,in 

the light of Ricoeur’s theory. 

S. Patidar and B. Raghuwanshi dwell 

in their article on a timeless argument 

of whether Vernacular Architecture 

is dominated by the modern Architecture, 

or if the two can co-exist for 

a sustainable development. They have 

explored a central tribal settlement in 

India, in its ecological, architectural, 

and economic aspects, to find leading

3 

guidelines for the design of sustainable 

development of the modern. Throughout 

the Conference, this issue has been 

debated; and it seems that this article 

contributes to this discussion by pointing 

out its significance for consideration 

in a realizable development. 

R. Dayaratne in his article has a 

detailed examination of the traditional 

architecture of Bahrain in order to 

show that re-dignification of the vernacular 

is possible. He justifies it by the 

significance of sustaining the identity 

of the culture and the nation. Under 

the global forces and with the loss of 

pearl industry the major traditions are 

threatened to be diminished, and the 

author claims they need to be revived. 

l hope that the readers share the ideas 

of the authors presented here, and at 

the same time re-assess their daily lives 

in connection with local values in their 

built and social environments.

1 

attilio.petruccioli@ 

 

Department of 

Architecture and 

Urban Planning, 

College of 

Engineering, Qatar 

University, Doha, 

Qatar 

Keynote: 


and typology 

Attilio PETRUCCIOLI 1 

“A language is a dialect with an army 

and a navy.” 

Max Weinreich 

Typology 

A pious Muslim, whose son was 

about to get married, he went to the 

mosque of a small village and asked the 

brothers to help build the new house. 

All the faithful agreed, no questions 

like: “What type of home?” “How are 

distributed functions?” what materials 

and what techniques? “. Simply: the 

house. In the past times the owner very 

likely did not even need to describe 

a house to a local mason who shared 

his cultural milieu; he simply told the 

mason what he needed and the mason 

built the house without too much planning 

and the carpenter, when he built 

the roof, built the only roof he knows. 

The idea of house is a concept shared 

by the whole community and it is so 

rooted, that exists in the mind of the 

inhabitants even before challenging the 

tools and execute the work. 

We have introduced the concept of 

type using this short fable, whose definition 

in its simplest version sounds 

like this: “Type is the organic sum of 

the morphological invariant features 

of a group of buildings from the same 

time period and cultural area. Typology, 

not to be confused with type, is 

the science that studies the types, their 

mutual relations and their evolution in 

time”. 

The a-priori type 

In the past village where the houses 

and overall fabric are notable for their 

homogeneity, is possible because at a 

given point in the past every villager 

building a house referred to the same 

common legacy of constructive, distributive, 

and decorative techniques. 

Changes over time occurred so 

slowly that almost any abrupt change 

in the formal continuity of any one 

built object was essentially cancelled 

out. Homogeneity, far from being monotonous, 

was the aesthetic merit of 

the village. 

This is not to say that differences 

almost did not exist. “A shepherd of a 

large flock who must distinguish one 

sheep from another necessarily takes 

into account the subtle differences 

between his individual sheep,” writes 

Heinrich Tessenow, “and he is quite 

able to do it, while a non-shepherd like 

ourselves thinks they all look alike because 

in this case our eyes are not used 

to seeking out the subtleties.” (1) 

Paradoxically, when the protagonists 

of the modern movement tried to cut 

the bonds of historical consciousness 

and by extension the historic fabric by 

using a clean, abstract language, they 

constructed that language from the 

southern Mediterranean vernacular. 

Masters of modernism such as Joseph 

Hoffman, Adolf Loos, Adalberto Libera, 

and Carlo Enrico Rava, for example, 

were inspired by examples of Libyan, 

Tunisian, and Algerian Vernacular 

building.(2) 

A patrimony of expression of space 

and architecture still exists that people 

retain in their memory and apply when 

they build a house without an architect. 

If we visit a gurbi an illegal settlement 

on the periphery of Tunis, such as the 

Melassine quarter, or a douar at Marrakesh, 

places where we would expect 

chaos, we will be surprised by the rationality 

of the layout, with its equal-sized 

plots properly aligned along regular 

streets. Most striking is the similarity 

of these layouts to the fabric of the madina. 

The immigrants from the hinterland, 

who have occupied the land and 

subsequently built these structures, 

have used the patrimony expressed by 

the type simply because it is ingrained 

in their consciousness. These and other 

similar examples reinforce the principle 

of type that Saverio Muratori called 

“a common creative effort.”(3). His observations 

on the built fabric of Venice 

and Rome also led him to the important 

and original corollary that type is not 

only an a-posteriori mental construct, 

but it already exists within the built reality 

of the building, the fabric, and the 

city. It is “the mental project” of whoever 

builds or remodels a building, and 

therefore precedes the planning stage 

as a pre-representation. Furthermore, 

5

6 

Muratori points out, at their deepest 

level, types are much more than just 

schemes established a-posteriori. They 

are the essential formative elements of 

stylistic forms and also of the works 

of art themselves. In these works they 

represent the often decisive contribution 

of an environment and a culture 

operating at the individual level while 

characterizing an entire school, age, 

and people. Outside such a formative 

spiritual climate single works would 

not even be conceivable. 

Unlike Platonic ideas, the a-priori 

type does not pre-exist at the metaphysical 

level or on a formal schematic 

level as Argan suggested, but is a 

product of the historical process and 

is rooted in a society’s culture, as John 

Habraken never tires of stating. (4) For 

Muratori, the type is the concept, not a 

scientific paradigm, a conjecture with 

which to verify the sensible world except 

in contrary cases; rather, it is scientific 

in that it exists and has its roots 

in History. If it were not immanent in 

reality/History, which helps to interpret, 

it would in fact be a broken tool 

and we would make the usual error of 

constructing an abstract and subjective 

system like the gestalt of Christian 

Norberg-Schulz, entrusting ourselves 

to theories based on perception. It is 

neither the work of individuals nor of 

a society in a given historic moment, 

but is slowly formulated and progressively 

added to by society as a whole 

during its cultural-historical evolution. 

Since it is formed on the structure of 

the environment and on principles and 

structures of use as experienced, the 

apriori type is deeply tied to the place 

and is opposed to the conventionalism 

of standards, but to the atopic as 

well. It is always politically, culturally, 

and economically up to date. While it 

is shared it is also individual, insofar as 

each person who uses the type introduces 

new elements that make changes 

in it that are not part of the existing 

consensus. We may sum up by saying 

that an a-priori type is determined by 

the legacy of transmittable characteristics 

which precedes the formation 

of the single building, governing its 

structure of relations from within. In 

other words, it is the body of customs 

and norms acquired over the course of 

the building experience, which forms 

the framework for previewing the proposed 

building. 

Spontaneous conscience 

The a-priori type is definitely a product 

of the spontaneous conscience that 

is the attitude of man to adhere to established 

standards, rules and customs, 

that stem from the built tradition. Even 

in the absence of real building regulations, 

the force of custom was such that 

the manufacturer adhered in full to the 

existing built reality. Returning to the 

example of the illegal settlements in 

many Islamic countries, the building 

is a precise economic reply and is done 

by dividing the land in accordance 

with the rules and conventions that 

translates instances of spontaneous 

conscience, rooted in time. The distribution 

of land produces plots of constant 

size that match constructive, economic 

and distributive requirements of 

the house. In the minds of those who 

divide the land a close relationship between 

land-use, type of house and type 

of urban fabric is established, which 

will be summarized in the act of constructing. 

The spontaneous consciousness 

of the rule matches the spontaneous 

consciousness of the type. 


It is not nostalgia for a distant past 

that leads us to refer to vernacular examples, 

but the expression of a conscious 

spontaneity that they embody. 

The striking unity of a Kabyl settlement 

on the mountain above Tizi Ouzou in 

Algeria or a ksar in the Draa valley 

in Morocco are the expression of homogeneous 

society, which, passed the 

state of nature, have metabolized experience 

in tradition. 

In the Italian Enciclopedia Treccani 

we read: vernacular, from Latin 

vernaculus, adj. “ domestic, familiar”, 

that continues:” Speech characteristic 

of a center or a limited area. This is 

in contrast to language and is distinguished 

from dialect, with respect to 

which is more popular and local (as 

in French patois is opposed to langue 

and differs from dialecte), and is used 

most often for historical reasons. Most 

of the dictionaries associate vernacular 

to linguistics: for instance from

7 

the Free Dictionary:” being or characteristic 

of or appropriate to everyday 

language; “common parlance”; 

“a vernacular term”; “vernacular 

speakers”; “the vulgar tongue of 

the masses”; “the technical and vulgar 

names for an animal species” , or 

from the Your Dictionary:” Vernacular 

is common language spoken by average 

citizens of a particular place, or is 

language used within a particular field 

or industry ”. 

From the previous definitions it 

seems that the term is used with two 

meanings. The first branch (in the 

sense of the meaning) more Anglo-Saxon 

(which corresponds to the 

English “dialect” defines the “dialect” 

of a “variant” of a linguistic geographic 

continuum, and therefore the term is 

understood to refer to a specific family 

language and possibly related to the 

“linguistic form of reference” or “root” 

of the family, called the standard form. 

In this sense we can speak of “dialect of 

a language” or “dialect of a language or 

dialect continuum” as tantamount to 

speak a variety of languages intelligible 

with the others in the group to which it 

is ascribed. 

The second meaning, derived from 

Greek antiquity, identifies the “dialect” 

as any “idiom” with its territorial 

characterization but devoid of political 

or literary prestige, and that from the 

point of view of descriptive linguistics 

and philology is independent of any 

bond dependence, subordination or 

affiliation with the official language (or 

official) in force in its territory of relevance, 

although between dialect and 

the official language there may be significant 

relationships and similarities. 

(5) 

Bernard Rudofski in the introduction 

of the exhibition at MOMA, 

dedicated to the architecture without 

pedigree, describes the transition from 

the state of nature to the spontaneous 

consciousness, just as we read in the 

vernacular architecture: “ it seems that 

long before the first enterprising man 

bent some twigs into a leaky roof, many 

animals were already accomplished 

builders. It is unlikely that beavers got 

the idea of building dams by watching 

human dam-builders at work. It probably 

was the other way. Most likely, 

man got his first incentive to put up a 

shelter from his cousins, the anthropomorphous 

apes. Untamed apes do 

not share man’s urge to seek shelter in 

a natural cave, or under an overhanging 

rock, but prefer an airy scaffolding 

of their own making. The untutored 

builders in space and time-the protagonists 

of this show-demonstrate an admirable 

talent for fitting their buildings 

into the natural surroundings. Instead 

of trying to “conquer” nature, as we 

do, they welcome the vagaries of climate 

and the challenge of topography. 

Whereas we find flat, featureless country 

most to our liking (any flaws in the 

terrain are easily erased by the application 

of a bulldozer), more sophisticated 

people are attracted by rugged country. 

In fact, they do not hesitate to seek out 

the most complicated configurations in 

the landscape”.(6) and Glassie captures 

vernacular architecture in a matter of 

democracy and inclusion that does 

not have the architecture with capital 

A: “ The study of vernacular architecture 

through its urge toward the comprehensive, 

accommodates cultural 

diversity. It welcomes the neglected 

into study in order to acknowledge 

the reality of difference and conflict” 

(7). Rudofski who writes in the forties 

does locate under the umbrella of architecture 

without architects not only 

the homes of men, but any unplanned 

settlement, choosing beautiful images 

based mainly on their aesthetic impact; 

while for Glassie vernacular architecture 

is the ordinary house and everyday 

life, the first imbued with the values 

of family and community. 

However, both of the subtle differences 

of assessment of Bernard 

Rudofski, Paul Oliver, Henry Glassie 

or Dell Upton it is clear that vernacular 

architecture for its collective character, 

its belonging to an established and undisputed 

tradition, is an expression of 

the world of spontaneous consciousness. 

The works of vernacular architecture 

are typological variants of the 

leading type a-priori and can be studied 

by the typological science. This is 

absolutely true for the pre-modern architecture.

8 

Critical conscience 

In the second half of the nineteenth 

century, building as a work of spontaneous 

consciousness faced an unprecedented 

crisis and eventually its natural 

relation with the culture was severed. 

Rapid economic growth fueled by industrialization, 

as well as the specialization 

of the building industry itself, 

took by surprise those who venerated 

the existing “old” city. In addition, 

population growth caused the unprecedented 

outward expansion of those 

European cities just emerging from a 

state of semi-stagnation. The pre-industrial 

expansion of these cities had 

been inward and was achieved either 

through the erosion of public space or 

the deliberate transformation of existing 

structures. The new demographic 

and economic vitality combined with 

new mechanical means created new 

demands and functions. To meet them, 

traditional builders had only their limited 

experience and expertise derived 

from earlier changes in the local urban 

fabric and building practices and 

thus were only partially successful. The 

tastes of these medieval builders were 

formed by a common background and 

training, and their relation to building 

itself reflected this formation. The new 

bourgeois culture, in contrast, began to 

conceptualize buildings intellectually, 

as one can see in the universal forms 

of neoclassical architecture. Their response 

was primarily quantitative, 

leading to the reduction of a project to 

a simple question of style, in contrast 

to the spontaneous richness of the medieval 

town. Building became the monopoly 

of the architect and the owner: 

“building one’s house” became “finding 

one’s house on the market” Since that 

time the fact of working on special 

buildings has molded the professional 

figure of the architect. 

In addition to the inadequacies of 

the builders, nineteenth-century urbanism 

was adversely affected by the 

incapacity of the bureaucratic culture 

to assimilate the pre-industrial, medieval 

city. The Enlightenment, concerned 

with the abstract behavior of 

people, eventually conceived the city 

in terms of mechanical problems like 

transportation and sanitation, refusing 

to understand the existing city beyond 

the superficial image of the medieval 

crowded narrow winding streets. The 

intellectual position of the Enlightenment 

also proved inadequate for facing 

the challenge of the new era; so did 

Romanticism in its vain desire to favor 

morality and emotion, and Positivism 

because of the narrowness of its vision 

of reality. 

The Enlightenment inspired countless 

modern interventions in historical 

cities, from the nineteenth-century attempts 

to “liberate” monuments (e.g., 

Hausmann’s gutting of Paris) to Le 

Corbusier’s famous Plan Voisin. 

I do not want deny the value of 

XIXth century urbanism, and architecture, 

but as a result of its conflictual 

relationship with the past it betrayed 

an exhaustion of ethical and expressive 

impulses. 

The phenomena described above 

have resulted in the long run a general 

weakening of the societies, making 

them more permeable to the a-critical 

import of alien architecture and at 

the same time a hypertrophy of egocentrism 

of the architect; so to paraphrase 

the examples of linguistics, and 

we passed from dialect to language 

often to finish using the idiolect. At 

the same time, the proliferation of increasingly 

specialized building types, 

which by definition are little or nothing 

spontaneous, has also influenced the 

design of the dwelling. Today’s homes 

are designed with strong intentionality 

and load of signs and meanings that 

are irrelevant. The first consequence is 

that every single house is not part of 

the chorus, placed in a homogeneous 

environment, but lives an aggressive 

competition among architects, which 

contributes to the cacophony of the 

contemporary city. 

The critical consciousness of the 

builder is founded in the early stages 

of the crisis, when there is the problem 

of designing the building intentionally. 

You can then define critical consciousness 

the state of uncertainty in the face 

of built reality that inherited an obligation 

to operate with very deliberate actions 

by imposing conscious project in 

the construction process. Analogously 

in this period of crisis the type can only 

be reconstructed a-posteriori. 

This has undermined the vernacular

9 

as the main vehicle of expression both 

in language and architecture, making 

the latter a subject of folklore. Beyond 

the numerous and often inflated literature 

documenting and studying the 

architecture which is than the role of 

the vernacular? Examples of inclusion 

of vernacular architecture in modern 

design are numerous, but the results 

are unconvincing. 

In the case of Aldo Rossi elements 

of the vernacular architecture like the 

lighthouse, the chimney, the sea cabins 

can be separated from their historical 

context and become poetic objects, losing 

all typological meaning and their 

participation in a specific culture. 

In contrast Hassan Fathy in the sixties 

put himself against the world of 

building production and the academia 

now converted to a simplistic modernism. 

His book Architecture for the Poor 

is a call to common sense, an invitation 

to find coherent solutions in the building 

traditions of the common people, 

to reevaluate ancient technologies in 

the name of economy and well-being. 

Its architecture reflects the tradition, 

but it is animated by a moral imperative 

that all leads back to the simple 

without being simplistic. It rarely gives 

in to the decoration. Nevertheless even 

in the most socially engaged works as 

in the villages of Gourna and Bariz his 

interpretation of tradition, based on a 

personal, refined sensibility, but not on 

a scientific method of history, remains 

in the wake of post-modern attitude 

(8). 

Rasem Badran, the most interesting 

Arab architect and urban designer 

today, chose the traditional Arab city 

as a reference of his projects. A sharp 

eye and a remarkable sensitivity, and a 

graphic mastery with a certain redundancy 

of signs are accompanied by an 

eclecticism in the choice of models, - I 

quote the renovation of the promenade 

of Sidon - producing works, especially 

in the printed version of the un-built 

projects, in precarious balance between 

folklore and sophisticate quotation(9). 

These examples of great architects 

show that any reference to the vernacular 

architecture hides the risk of a fall in 

the post-modern poetic, imbued with 

nostalgia for a golden un-known age. 

Only a critical process of philological 

reconstruction implemented on 

the living body of the city, distilling the 

lessons from the overlapping stratification 

in history of vernacular architecture, 

can subtract the architect to the 

persuasive charm of the images. 

Typological process 

In 1946 Muratori recognized the 

need to insert type into the complex 

flow of history, intuitively connecting 

type with the concept of organism and 

embedding both in society. In fact, he 

continues, “the architectural type is 

a kind of architecture and therefore a 

building organism which, as a result 

of repeatedly taking shape in order to 

respond to the typical needs of a given 

society, ends up so intimately adhering 

to its psychological climate that it 

absorbs all its essential human traits.” 

Type, then, is not merely a sub-product 

of the historical process that leads 

to the mechanical repetition of needs 

or material development. It is History. 

The connection of type to historical 

process is the only correct use of it in 

the design process, since the type is an 

authentic expression of the collective 

memory. Due to a rupture in the historical 

process, at present type can be 

approached only through a reflective 

critical consciousness. This operation 

of critical consciousness to reach spontaneous 

consciousness that will, at best, 

fall short of the goal, is what Muratori 

called “asymptotic.” (10) 

Our idea of “type” as history cannot 

be separated from the idea of process. 

The most relevant concept of typological 

theory is that of processuality, 

which fixes the mutations of the type 

in the historical duration. Without it, 

the type runs the constant risk of falling 

into one of the historic errors: an 

a-historic formal scheme good for every 

trick, or a mechanical montage of 

forms broken off from the real world. 

It is necessary to understand the internal 

mechanism that animates the type 

and anchor this in built reality, which 

would otherwise not be different from 

any biological organism. This is the 

most relevant concept of the method 

of typological analysis. By the concept 

of process we understand the internal 

mechanism that animates the type and 

anchors this mechanism in the built

10 

reality. 

Typological process allows us to understand 

the evolution from one type 

to the next, but does not really understand 

the deal with the question of dating 

(the province of traditional historians) 

so much as it does the question 

of the sequence of buildings and urban 

fabrics. In fact, similar typical conditions 

can be isolated in the history of 

different civilizations in different periods. 

The tracing of typological processes 

allows us, on the one hand, to establish 

those characteristics of the building 

that are essential for the determination 

of continuity in the process over the 

course of its transformation. On the 

other hand, it also determines those 

characteristics that constitute departures 

or exceptions, and in their own 

way contribute to the valuable heritage 

of experimentation. In other words, typological 

processes show us at the same 

time both the rule and the exception. 

“Phase” is defined as the period of 

time needed to allow the clear identification 

of changes in the built object. 

The progression of phases makes up 

the diachronic typological process 

from the Greek dia=through, and kronos=time, 

if conducted in a culturally 

homogeneous area that is, with negligible 

external influences, such as a closed 

valley, are syntopic from the Greek 

syn=together, and topos=place. 

The basic type in any typological 

process coincides with the ideal house 

in any given time and progressively 

changes through specialization from 

elementary matrices to complex derivations. 

The type is commonly recognized 

by every inhabitant, and it can 

accommodate slight changes based on 

its role and source of revenue, provided 

they are within the bounds of the type. 

We can also call it a “leading or current 

type,” since it is the type all members 

of a society recognize as optimal. In a 

given phase it can be coherently found 

in the corresponding building. A synchronic 

variation is a type of house 

realized under less than optimal conditions. 

These can be the result of topographical 

problems, or of problems 

with placement in a block or placement 

in an incongruous fabric. Even under 

the best conditions there is always a 

chance for synchronic variations to develop 

within a group. If there is a slight 

rotation in the tissue, as is common, 

there will be at least one house with 

walls that are not parallel. Such a house 

will face problems such as trying to 

raise a vault on a trapezoidal plan and 

the difficulty of furnishing spaces with 

odd angles and will inevitably lead to 

variations in the type. 

The typological process is as complicated 

as the urban or territorial organism 

in which it operates; it more or 

less involves the intersection of different 

processes. It is therefore necessary 

to reduce the complexity of a building 

type or a contemporary urban tissue 

by assuming that they have necessarily 

absorbed their predecessors and then 

backtracking to find the simplest form 

of the type or fabric. The elementary 

matrix is the first documentable type 

at either the substratum level or an archaeologically 

measurable level upon 

which the reading can be based. 

A diachronic and syntopic typological 

process, limited within the bounds 

of a circumscribed culture area and referring 

to the residential type, can be 

described. Taking any of the beautiful 

Rudofski’s examples of medieval city in 

the Levant or the Maghreb, the “leading 

type” in the initial phase of the typological 

process is an elementary type 

or plan - we can call it founding type 

- whose dimensions are an expression 

of that specific building culture. The 

urban fabric is conceived on the basis 

of this leading type and is concurrent 

with it. Modified houses exist, however, 

on irregular lots or on slopes or located 

at the beginning of a series, or in a corner 

and so on; the sum of these experiences 

generates a parallel process by 

synchronic variation, insofar as each 

can cause the imitation of its neighbor, 

offering itself as a possible solution to a 

problem. In turn, the parallel processes 

mature with and modify the leading 

type as people gain in experience. 

In the second phase, assuming the 

continuous growth of the city, the next 

leading type will evolve by exceeding 

its limits and refining some of its parts. 

In new growth zones of the city the 

new leading type adapts to the tissues 

planned specifically for it, and is found 

mainly on principal or matrix routes or

11 

planned routes. This is not the case in 

the old city center, where the layout is 

more permanent because of the resistance 

of the building tissue to change. 

What contributes most to the conservation 

of such an area is that real estate 

is simply heaped atop the resistant existing 

tissue.49 In this case the inhabitant 

must compromise between the 

concept of a leading type, an ideal expression 

if you will, and the reality that 

the building tissue is unyielding. 

The inhabitant’s intervention will 

determine two new possible types of 

synchronic variation. The first are the 

renovations or mutations made to the 

elements of the interior without disturbing 

the main structure; the second 

is demolition and reconstruction. In 

neither case will the adaptation of the 

new leading type in the old building 

tissue reach optimal conditions. 

Variations generate processes that 

in turn contribute to the development 

of the next leading type. In this third 

phase the new leading type is comfortably 

located in the new yet saturated 

fabric but it will be subject to modification 

in the two older building tissues. 

The more time that elapses between 

phases, the more difficult it becomes 

for the leading type in the old tissues to 

adapt. The assumption that the growth 

of a city is steady is hypothetical. In 

practice, after a certain number of 

growth phases a period of relative stagnation, 

or even of regression, sets in, 

often resulting in vacancies, abandonment, 

and the like. This was typical of 

all Mediterranean cities after the Black 

Death almost halved their populations 

after 1348. In Siena, until well into the 

mid-nineteenth century, for example, 

large undeveloped areas still lay within 

the city walls. 

A more realistic picture is one in 

which intervals of more or less intense 

growth alternate with periods of arrested 

development and regressions. 

During the periods of accelerated 

growth and subsequent slowing down, 

the behavior of residential tissues and 

special tissues is different. The residential 

tissues easily both accept rapid 

growth and resist regression. 

The period of regression affects first 

and foremost the special buildings, as 

they represent an investment of cultural 

and economic surplus by the collective. 

In periods of economic stagnation, 

limited building activity inhibits 

the evolution of a leading type. Where 

building tissue shrinks, the specialization 

of the residential type is also reduced 

from its former incarnations and 

produces only synchronic variations. 

This is logical, since the reduced and 

limited requirements of the surviving 

population will lead to a simpler use of 

the old buildings. A similar phenomenon 

occurred in Tripoli and Algiers 

during the late Ottoman period, and 

in Naples under Spanish domination: 

because the walled city was restricted 

to the area claimed by the walls, it grew 

in height, blocked open spaces, and 

turned special buildings into collective 

residences. In periods of crisis the most 

adaptable structures are the serial ones, 

that is, iterative ones; in the special 

buildings as well the serial parts are 

those that are most easily recyclable. 

When a period of stagnation gives 

way to a new cycle of growth the notion 

of a leading type is considerably attenuated 

in the spontaneous consciousness 

of the residents and they are able 

to manage only synchronic variations. 

As a result, diatopic51 (from the Greek 

dia=through and topos=place) formed 

modifications thrive in the weakened 

body of the city, and a new leading type 

is often imported from a distant but 

culturally dominant area. A new leading 

type, the result of the synthesis of 

local processes and the imported model, 

is then used in the future expansion 

of the city. 

Despite cultural differences, this 

phenomenon is discernible in both Europe 

and the Islamic Mediterranean. 

After 1850, the model used in Italy 

originated in Paris or Vienna but was 

grafted onto strong local traditions. 

The local traditions explain why the 

fundamental typological processes in 

Genoa, Florence and Rome took such 

different directions despite their use of 

the same models. 

In Aleppo after 1870 the Venetian 

type called a portego was merged with 

the local type of courtyard house with 

iwan to produce a tripartite house with 

a wide main corridor. This model was 

universally adopted when the new 

quarter of Aziziye was built in the sec-

12 

ond half of the nineteenth century. 

Algiers presents yet a different case: 

instead of agreeing to adopt a single 

Western model, a variety of types were 

imported and imposed by the colonizing 

French population. The impact of 

colonization minimized the effect of 

local processes and the leading type 

coincided almost exactly with the imported 

model. I say “almost” precisely 

because even though local building 

customs were followed only in those 

residential sections of the city which 

the French shunned, they nevertheless 

persisted through many small gestures. 

Only a detailed reconstruction of the 

typological process would reveal to 

what extent they survived. 

It is clear, however, that the post- 

1830 colonial construction of Algiers 

preserved traces of local traditions in 

the compact dimensions of its building 

blocks, the result of a minutely divided 

property substratum and of the 

demolition and reconstruction of small 

courtyard houses. The imposing imperial 

facades of residential buildings also 

mask a lingering spontaneous ones. 

To sum up: Process is always diachronic, 

based on continuous time 

whose rhythm changes in relation to 

the behaviour of the various scales. The 

inertia of the large territorial scale with 

its urban framework and infrastructure 

produces a slower rhythm, while, 

on the other end of the building scale, 

changes occur faster and thus have a 

quicker rhythm. Differences can also be 

discerned in the position of the objects 

on the same scale, for instance between 

central and peripheral buildings, or between 

special and residential buildings. 

The typological process takes place in 

phases in which the leading type proceeds 

through moments of equilibrium 

alternating with synchronic variations. 

The typological process may be syntopic 

(i.e., occurring in the same area) 

or diatopic (i.e., involving variations 

between areas). Finally it can refer to 

the basic type (the house) or to special 

types. 

The graphic models we construct 

in our mind or represent on paper are 

reductive. Not even the metaphor of a 

tree with its trunk, branches, and foliage 

can do justice to the complexity of 

typological processes, unless it is the 

banyan tree of India, whose enormity 

and growth pattern would merit definition 

as a grove rather than a single 

tree. Its branches extend out horizontally, 

shoot upward, descend toward 

the ground, and sneak underground 

where they take root and shoot out new 

branches not unlike the original ones. 

Eventually only the expert eye of the 

gardener can distinguish the primary 

trunk. The reconstruction of typological 

processes is somewhat similar to 

the script of a film, with one important 

difference: the filmed work anticipates 

scenes which might take place in 

the future, while the reconstruction of 

typologies projects into the past. It approaches 

past scenes with the unquestionable 

advantage of already knowing 

many of the elements, relationships, 

and sequences; it can therefore critically 

reconstruct the missing pieces insofar 

as they are typical. It requires the 

awareness that a critical description of 

the process -as in all disciplines- must 

be carried backwards throughout from 

the final frame. The term “critical” is 

emphasized: even a reading restricted 

to documentable facts is not “objective,” 

nor is knowledge the equivalent 

of a mass of data piled up in a closet 

but is remote control operated by our 

minds. We hear only what we want to 

hear and nothing else. 

Returning now to the vernacular architecture, 

we established that all those 

beautiful and moving homes of ordinary 

people belong to the state of the 

spontaneous conscience. 

Two important questions remain 

open: If there is a space in the critical 

consciousness to the vernacular architecture 

and if , beyond architectural 

analysis that leads to the discovery 

of extraordinary architecture without 

pedigree, it is conceivable to speak 

with a vernacular idiom in the contemporary 

design. The answer is a cautious 

yes in both cases. 

Let it speak the language of things 

(11) is important because it allows 

not only to bring out the fragments of 

spontaneous consciousness that everyone 

keeps jealously in his unconscious, 

but also to reaffirm the social value of 

architecture against the anarchist current 

interpretation of the great stars 

and the media. The journey back along

13 

the line of time, required by the typological 

process, allows us to reconstruct 

the complex heritage of principles and 

know-how generated by the traditions 

and consumption, consolidated in 

a society. It allows you to resume the 

broken thread with the story and set 

rules for a design for ordinary people, 

subtracted from the fashion. This all 

the more real and measurable in the 

basic buildings, the house, to which 

the majority of vernacular researches 

are dedicated. The typological process 

offers dignity and scientific method to 

research on the vernacular architecture, 

subtracting it from the easy imitation 

of eye-catching shapes. 

Notes 

1. “To assume homogeneity means 

developing a noteworthy sensitivity, a 

sensitivity in only one direction; because 

it is necessary to concentrate all 

one’s attention on every subtle detail; 

this is the limitation which characterizes 

uniformity and also order.” Tessenow, 

H. (1989) House Building and 

Such Things, p. 17. 

2. Carlo Enrico Rava is perhaps the 

least known, but decidedly the most 

important figure as a theorist of the 

Rationalist Movement (he was leader 

of the Gruppo 7 in 1926) and a participant 

in the debate on modern colonial 

architecture. His ideas on colonial architecture 

begin with the rejection of 

Moorish (and other) styles as inspirations 

for Libyan architecture, which he 

claims is of classical Roman derivation. 

Ultimately he sees “an extremely fine 

Mediterranean intonation that clearly 

relates it to all other architectures of 

southern origin” (C. E. Rava, “Una architettura 

coloniale moderna mediterranea,” 

Domus (1931), 39. On the same 

subject see also idem, “Costruire in colonia,” 

Domus(August-October 1936), 

28-30; and idem, Nove anni di architettura 

vissuta 1926 IV-1935 XIII (Rome, 

1935), 103 ff. 

3. S. Muratori, “I Caratteri degli edifici 

nello studio dell’architettura,” Inaugural 

lecture, Course on the Characteristics 

of Buildings, IUAV, Venice, 1950, 

p. 15. Muratori further adds, “What is 

more, the most orthodox application 

of that idealist thought which seeks to 

negate type does not suffice to deny the 

existence of true collective expressive 

creations manifest in some typical spatial 

and structural intuitions - which 

make up the architectural core of an 

entire civilization.” 

4. “Types are shared properties within 

a culture. Everyone - builder, designer, 

user, is familiar with them. Yet types 

such as the Venetian Gothic palace, the 

Amsterdam renaissance townhouse, 

the Georgian terraced house, or the 

Pompeian courtyard house were never 

formally described by those who made 

and used them. Types only exist in a 

social body.” J. Habraken, “The Control 

of Complexity,” Places 4, n. 2 (1987), p. 

7. 

5. It is important in this context to 

note that dialect is the opposite of idiolect 

the set of characteristic language 

habits of a single individual or a small 

group of speakers. Idiolects are the architectural 

languages of the contemporary 

architects of the star system, 

whose poetry far from being referred 

to a body of established traditions is 

purely self-referential. 

6. Rudofski, B. Architecture without 

Architects. A short Introduction to 

Non-pedigreed Architecture, New York, 

Museum of Modern Art, 1965 

7. Glassie, H.H. Vernacular Architecture, 

Bloomington, In. ,Indiana University 

Press, 2000. 

8. Steele, J. An architecture for People: 

The Complete Works of Hassan Fathy, 

Darby, Pa., Diane Pub co, 1997. 

9. Steele, J. The Architecture of Rasem 

Badran: narrative of People and Place, 

London, Thames and Hudson, 2005. 

10. From asymptote, a line which 

appears nearer and nearer to a curve 

but does not meet it within a finite distance. 

11. See Dell Upton. “The Power of 

Things: Recent Studies in American 

Vernacular Architecture”, in American 

Quarterly, 35/3, 1985, pgs. 262-279

Incremental housing: 

A participation process solution 

for informal housing 

Esin HASGÜL 

 

İstanbul Kültür University, İstanbul, Turkey 

Final Acceptance: January 2016 

doi: 10.5505/itujfa.2016.08370 

Abstract 

As long as there is government and regulations, there will be a system of building 

a shelter. There are experts who have a different perspective about technical, 

political, economical, aesthetical, functional, etc. issues. On the other hand, 

there are also individuals who have another thought of their own living-styles. 

The question is then more related with building a shelter but how and with what. 

In ‘’informal settlements’’; settlers build their own houses, connect their utility 

lines and organise their physical arrangements. There are many problems in these 

settlements; but there is also a self-build and develop process. Thus we can also 

relate these spontaneously built settlements with the vernacular. Within this context, 

firstly the subjects informality and vernacular will be defined interrelatedly 

and as a solution to informal settlements, the participation process will be opened 

up to discussion reading through three actors which has a different role in the 

process. Relating these actors, the opportunities of incremental housing in informal 

settlements will be evaluated connectively which presents a participation 

process solution for informal housing. 

Keywords 

Incremental housing, Informality, Participation, Self-build, Vernacular.

1. Introduction 

‘’Building a shelter’’ is a subject 

which has underlying reasons such as 

living, surviving, protecting, habiting 

and so on. In order to understand this 

subject and its influences, the system of 

housing and housing policies become 

an important issue which comprises 

all. 

Since the adoption of the Universal 

 

the right to adequate housing has been 

recognized as an important component 

of the right to an adequate stan- 

ever, 

housing in todays world is still 

a problematic issue considering the 

economical obstacles that most of the 

people are facing with. 

One of the problem which urbanizing 

countries have can be mentioned 

as the informal settlements where the 

way of building an ‘‘informal’’ shelter 

becomes an important issue. The process 

of people building their own without 

any authorisation, brings many 

 

 

order to add value to housing to be 

converted, the conversion program 

should: Increase housing affordability; 

add amenities to that housing; provide 

economic value to residents through a 

realizable equity stake; and/or enhance 

residents’ lives by increasing their control 

over their housing and/or their 

housing communities (Lewis, Clamp 

 

urbanisation and modernisation, in 

most of the developing countries living 

conditions have been changed. 

‘With urban populations commonly 

doubling every decade, conventional 

tenure concepts have proved unable 

to meet the needs of people with low 

incomes and limited, if any, savings or 

Within this 

and its various related reasons, a new 

word has become a reality: the ‘‘urban 

poor’’. The characteristics of the urban 

poor can be categorised as the jobless, 

disaster victims, transients, migrants, 

squatters, slum dwellers, workers in the 

informal sector and the homelesses. 

These are the people who are torn between 

the urbanisation and modernisation 

having pushed to choose an illegal 

way of living. ‘‘Squatters’’ here are 

the ones that live in the squatter settlements 

most of which are located near- 

 

are built with low-income possibilities 

 

using the land continuously, because 

of owning the land and the house that 

they built for free. On one hand, the 

non-organized development of this 

areas have a negative effect on cities 

that they are appearing to be shaped 

by the land speculators rather than city 

master plans. On the other, they leave 

the government in a difficult situation 

because of various economical issues. 

Apart from the cities and government, 

other negative influence affects also 

the individual self; because life quality 

in informal settlements is also another 

discussion. Thus, it can be said that the 

informal housing brings us such problems 

starting from the city scale to the 

minimised scale: the individual. 

While such problems occur, we also 

see a similarity with the subject vernacular 

and informality. Vernacular architecture 

is based generally on the local 

needs, local materials and local traditions. 

Looking through the informality 

within this subject, we can see that a 

self-build and develop process comes 

 

in squatter settlements about the local 

materials, traditions and construction 

methods there is a gap which makes 

us to question how this kind of illegal 

vernacular can transform into a legal, 

non-problematic housing. The answer 

can be searched in the actors which involve 

in the informal housing process. 

1.1. Goals / aims 

This research is examining the conflict 

between the squatter settlers, the 

government and the experts. The struggle 

of low-income families, the difficulties 

that the governments have and the 

anxiety of the experts about this kind 

of living idea that make us to ask the 

 

It is becoming important to understand 

what kind of social and economical 

issues are taking part in this urbanised 

problem. The aim of this paper is 

to examine the problem starting from 

the city level with government housing 

policies, continuing with the private 

sector where architects and other 

 

This article is 

prepared within 

the course - MTS 

602E ‘Informal 

Housing’’ given in 

Ph.D Architectural 

Design Programme 

in ITU Graduate 

School of Science 

Engineering 

Technology.

Table 1. The main research questions concerning social and economical issues. 

MAIN QUESTIONS 

(1) What are the main problems of squatter settlers? 

(2) What influences do squatter settlements make to the city - 

government- self? 

(3) In what conditions do the settlers want to live? 

SOCIAL ISSUES 

(4) Where do the settlers want to live? Do they want to leave 

the place they live? 

(5) What main struggles have the settlers and government 

about affordability and land tenure? 

ECONOMICAL 

ISSUES 

(6) What can the government do about the unregulated land 

and utility use of the informal settlements? 

experts’ point of view is taking place 

and resulting the user who has the 

struggle of making his/her own living 

conditions. After that the issue would 

be opened up to discussion how the 

setllers can participate in the solving 

process and how the informal housing 

be related with the incremental housing 

ideas. 

1.2. Methodology 

The methodology of the paper starts 

with the expressions of the main issues 

in a generalised introduction. After 

that the paper can be divided into 

two parts: Part one is the main theme 

which the theoretical background of 

the research is being explained. In this 

part the related general paradigms is 

being described referring to the terms 

such as informal housing, vernacular 

architecture, community participation, 

seld-build and incremental housing. 

Then in part two, the three actors 

which involve in the participation process 

for informal housing are being 

categorised as the individuals, public 

der 

to look from the individuals point 

of view, a case in El Salvador households, 

an individual self-built process 

ing 

Program Alternative: Incremental 

 

of Venezuela, will be clarified. And 

thirdly, a build case in Iquique, Chile 

that is designed by Elemental Architecture 

Group, will be reviewed in order 

to see an example of incremental housing 

solution which has the participation 

process between the government, 

architects and the informal settlers. 

2. Main theme 

The struggle of low-income families 

come out as a self-build but unregulated 

process which constitutes ‘’squatter 

settlements’’. Thus a conflict between 

the squatter settlers and the government 

happens. Then the main theme 

can be figured out answering the ques- 

ment 

and the architect all participate in 

the solving process? 

2.1. Theoretical background 

The theoretical debates on informal 

settlements on research fields starts 

Incremental housing: A participation process solution for informal housing

expansion of informal settlements were 

appearently recognised. In order to understand 

and connect the issue’s both 

problems and solutions, it would be coherent 

first to explain the main context 

of informal housing; an illegal kind of 

vernacular architecture. Then the subjects 

will be related with three kind of 

interrelated sub-contexts which are the 

community participation, self-build 

and incremental housing. 

2.2. Informal housing: An illegal 

vernacular architecture 

 

‘’Vernacular architecture does not go 

through fashion cycles’’. It comprises 

localness; climate, local materials, 

 

subject here was to talk about ‘’Architecture 

without Architects’’ and to take 

notice how the process goes spontaneously. 

There are some user needs and 

the solution comes from the users with 

- 

tions 

of vernacular environments have 

the potential to include spontaneous 

settlement and hold the promise of affording 

a better understanding of these 

people-made places. 

In informal settlements, we see the 

process in a people-made but problematic 

way. Informal settlers have an 

important role while configuring the 

place they live by their own. But the 

process puncture because of economical 

reasons and this self-build process 

can not result with the values of ver- 

 

housing developments as an illegal and 

composed of unauthorized colonies 

and squatter settlement. The common 

characteristics of informal housing 

are insecurity of tenure, low standard 

of infrastructure and services (Ahsan 

 

houses can be distinguish through the 

typologies which can be categorised 

as the squatter houses (defined also as 

 

squatter houses, slums in central city 

 

rooms in historical areas and quatter 

villages. These housing typologies differ 

because of the physical conditions 

they have. The significant characteristics 

of informal development are insecurity 

of tenure and low standard of 

facilities and infrastructure. Another 

factor of importance is the accessibility 

of services such as running water 

supply, power, and the like (Ahsan and 

 

 

housing in developing countries include: 

Insecure housing tenure 

Inadequate basic services 

 

city by-laws 

 

by the state or the third party instead 

of the owner or resident 

Insufficient access to basic urban 

services 

Substandard housing and inadequate 

building structures 

Illegal subdivision of housing 

Poverty and social exclusion and 

Unhealthy living conditions and 

hazardous locations (Tsenkova 

 

 

settlements the lack of official sanction 

usually means that activities within 

the settlement take place without any 

formal controls such as building regulations, 

planning controls, health and 

safety laws, etc. So informal settlements 

are configuring by their own; using 

their own construction techniques, 

materials, etc. ‘’Informal housing as 

settlement units (whether slums or 

work 

of formal law for construction 

of housing. By nature, the informal 

housing units are constructed using 

less expensive construction materials 

(i.e. mud bricks, bamboo, ordinary 

er 

life’’ (Ahsan and Quamruzzaman, 

 

discursive about the quality of life that 

they present to the dwellers. Within 

this range of informal housing types, 

“squatter or informal settlements” may 

be defined by the following characteristics: 

the land used has not been zoned 

for residential development; land tenure 

is insecure; the state is tolerant or 

ignorant of the settlement; speculative 

capital is involved (i.e., the land is not 

 

-

tempted to demonstrate that the rapid 

growth of informal settlements is a direct 

consequence of high rates of urban 

growth and rural urban migration, but 

its magnitude is also the direct result of 

failed approaches to housing and spatial 

planning policies (Arandel and Ba- 

 

important to see the housing policies 

and their affects in the housing platform. 

Figure 1. Participation as a function of who decides what shall be 

done, and who provides the means (Turner, 1976). 

2.3. Community participation 

fining 

the verbs community and the 

participation seperately: ‘’Sociologically, 

“Community” is defined as a group 

of people with face-to-face contact, a 

sense of belonging together and common 

interests and values and ‘’Participation’’ 

assumes an activity in which 

the community takes part and the involvement 

of at least one other party, 

usually a government agency or a non- 

 

The participation of the people by 

involving and making decisions on 

their own living environments can be 

the main statement of community par- 

- 

 

 

albeit patronizing as a slogan and began 

to question existing relationships 

among people, professionals, industry, 

and government authorities. As Sanoff 

 

has many benefits accruing from such 

an approach for the community, the 

users, design and the planning profes- 

 

 

economic desirability of local citizen’s 

participation in housing (design, construction 

and management - i.e. at 

 

cy 

of centrally administered systems of 

 

of local participation on the productivity 

of such systems. The community 

participation which brings the people, 

government and the experts together, 

has the background of deciding and 

providing in collaboration. 

 

importance of people’s participation 

that the rationale behind people’s helping 

to formulate the kinds of homes 

and communities in which they will 

live goes beyond a simple reference to 

democratic ideology and he relates this 

issue with such reasons: 

cessful 

if the intended beneficiaries 

take part in their design and implementation. 

Because, it will conform 

more closely to their aspirations 

and accustomed lifestyles. 

A second reason for people’s participation 

is the reeducation it gives 

architects, planners, and administrators 

directly involved in the 

project by showing them another 

perspective 

A third benefit of people’s participation 

derives from the very process 

 

based, it builds up the self-enabling 

character and cooperative spirit of 

 

problems as a solidary group and 

finding solutions collectively leads 

to greater self-assurance and pride 

over the group’s ability to act productively. 

 

springs from guarantees cited in 

most national constitutions of the 

world. The right of citizens to express 

their views and share especially 

in decisions that affect them is the 

 

 

that it is also significant to take attention 

to the target group of participation 

processes. Questioniong how participation 

appears in informal settlements, 

is that of todays much-discussed issue: 

 

 

talk about the existential life they con- 


stitute while most of the solutions were 

seen as deleting these settlements and 

removing the settlers to other places 

or providing them another kind of living. 

In order to overcome the conflict 

between the informality and the vernacular 

living-styles of the people who 

live in these settlements; a collaborate 

participation of the two edge can be an 

alternative. 

2.4. Self-build 

 

kind of different meaning that people 

give to; that is why it can be called as 

‘’home’’. There is a social and cultural 

appropriation which leads people to 

have some desire about their houses. 

 

this as there was an unfulfilled desire 

that seems to have been at the heart 

of all motivations to make home: the 

desire to acquire a complete sense of 

home: 

 

acquisition of a piece of ground. 

form 

to popular images and conventions. 

 

social respect and personal dignity. 

chestrate 

space to fulfill household 

needs. 

 

 

The desire to make a spatial structure 

for habitation, can be seen visually 

in informal settlements where 

people have no other option to choose 

 

underlines the self-build process with 

the residents’ motivations regarding 

tenure change the expression of built 

form in squatter settlements. It is also 

important to understand physical and 

social attachment of informal settlers 

to their living environments. Thus, in 

these settlements, there is also a selfbuild 

process where the lower income 

people be obligated to build their own 

houses. It is some kind of another dilemma 

where in one part, these informal 

houses are lack of water supply, 

utilities and other services, etc. which 

reduce the quality of life while in the 

other part these houses are built (and 

 

to the needs by the owners. Instead of 

a planned unity of rooms designed for 

different functions opening into an inner 

service core, it is observed horizontal 

additions to an initial core realized 

in accordance with factors itemized 

above. In general, foundations are not 

suitable for vertical expansion. Besides, 

extension in this dimension is 

more expensive and therefore attempted 

only when a deed is obtained. In 

process of horizontal extension, either 

new units are added to the older one 

from one end. It can be seen here that 

there is a cultural vernacular character 

that informal settlers build and expand 

ny their own according to their local 

needs. 

2.5. Incremental housing 

Incremental housing approach is 

based upon the principle of increasing 

the responsibility of individual households 

and communities by encouraging 

decision making and responsibility 

of individual household or communities 

so that they take care of the aspects 

of housing for which they are in 

 

’stepby-step’’ 

configuration of the house in 

order to be build for people. 

‘‘The origin of state involvement in 

incremental housing strategies was 

therefore the reluctant acceptance that 

informal housing delivery systems 

performed much better than public 

attempts to build dwellings in a number 

of respects: they were affordable 

without recourse to public subsidy, 

they were flexible and responsive to 

the changing needs and unstable fortunes 

of poor urban families, they were 

self-managed and made few demands 

on hard-pressed public administrations, 

and they met the needs of the 

rapidly growing urban populations of 

developing towns and cities’’ (Wakely 

ing 

comprises both the community 

participation and self-build processes. 

Observations of what ordinary families 

in urbanizing countries do, when 

they are free to act as they will, show 

that they prefer to live in large unfinished 

houses or even large shacks-rather 

than in small finished ones (Turner,

‘‘core-houses’’. 

 

formal contractors. Both the core and 

the extensions were to be financed. The 

extensions were to be built according 

to plans supplied by the project developer. 

The main innovation in practice 

for its time was the enablement of a 

limited self-help contribution by the 

occupying household, supported by 

the stimulation of the materials supplier 

and small contractor sectors. The financial 

innovation was that the form of 

core provided would somehow relate to 

levels of affordability by the household 

to be accommodated. Core housing 

was thus a highly managed and limited 

form of assisted self-help’’. There is 

a strong network of this process which 

overcomes the financial problems of 

the individual while at the same time 

making connections with the experts 

and government in order to build their 

own houses with their own desires. 

3. The process – three actors 

The process of incremental housing 

takes three actors come into the stage: 

The individuals, public sector and private 

sector. Individuals are the informal 

settlers who has a problem about the 

affordility. Public sector can be defined 

as the government and municipalities 

who has also a struggle with the unregulated 

processes and private sector is 

 

who would like to make a solution to 

 

Table 2. The actors in the incremental housing process (Adapted from the table 2 - Greene 

and Rojas, 2008). 

ACTOR TYPE ACTIVITIES 

Individuals Households/ users 

Relatives 

Involve in the design/planning process 

Help with labour in construction 

Provide a finance to expand the core 

Use the houses 

Expand the houses according to the needs / additions to 

family members 

Public 

Sector 

Private 

Sector 

Government 

Municipalities 

Planners 

Architects 

Engineers 

BuildingMaterials 

Suppliers 

Construction 

Industry 

 

 

 

regulations 

 

households 

 

concessions) 

 

financial sectors 

 

infrastructure and urban services 

-income households 

ces in incremental 

house building 

 

 

of housing sector 

- 

 

 

 

 

 


Table 3. User extensions in El Salvador squatter settlement (Galtoni, Goethert and Chavez, 

2011). 

Sites and 

Services 

(Legal) 

Illegal Settlements 

Projects 

Types 

Compared 

Settlements 

Surveyed 

Services Plots& 

Core Units 

El Pepeto 

Sensunapan 

Upgraded 

Slums 

Las 

Palmas 

Un- 

Upgraded 

Slums 

Jardines 

Del 

Boulevard 

Illegal 

Subdivisions 

Nouve 

Trinadad 

Public 

Turnkey 

Housing 

Nouve 

Hozionte 

Private 

Developer 

Turnkey 

Housing 

Altavista 

CLIMATE 

LOCAL MATERIAL 

PLACE-IDENTITY 

STARTING 

POINT* 

Tropical 

Brick, Stucco, 

Corrugated 

Sheet 

Shape, According to 

Minimum Local Needs 

FUNCTIONAL* 

Tropical 

Brick, Stucco, 

Corrugated 

Sheet 

Shape Acoording to 

Functional Local 

Needs 

COMPLETE* 

Tropical 

Stucco, Paint, 

Corrugated 

Sheet 

Shape According to 

Maximized Local 

Needs 

EXPANDED* 

Tropical 

Paint, 

Decorated 

Element, 

Corrugated 

Sheet 

Shape According to 

Personal Addings 

3.1. Individuals 

Individuals that is mentioned here 

are informal settlers who live in the 

squatter areas located nearby the city. 

The reason why to call these settlers as 

‘’individuals’’is to emphasise the self being 

of their own. These settlers, relying 

on various reasons, mostly come to the 

city and start to build their own house 

without authorisation. In order to develop 

the spatial qualities of the primary 

unit or to expand the use of space 

by adding rooms, etc. some transformations 

in these settlements can be ap- 

 

the underlying factors of these transformations 

are economic reasons, socio-cultural 

reasons and the aspiration 

to live in a modern house. The transformations 

are a kind of reality that the 

settlers willing to use the land continuosly 

and maybe enlarging the houses 

while introducing other relatives to 

 

point of view that these individuals are 

mainly in the progress of the self-build 

process which can also be related with 

the incremental housing as a solution 

of developing the houses ‘’step-by-step’’. 

A case in El Salvador squatter settlements 

can be an example how informal 

settlers can participate the process of 

 

of incremental housing is figured out 

in this project that how the individuals 

involve in the process and what 

transformations do they have made 

in accordance with their own per- 

 

households documented the strategies 

and processes from occupation to the 

present – most of the cases spanning 

three decades. Seven settlements were 

surveyed, representing three predominant 

types of low-income housing in 

El Salvador – illegal settlements, ‘sitesand-services’ 

projects, and ‘turnkey’ 

housing projects by government and 

the private sector (Galtoni, Goethert 

 

It has seen from the results that 

all incrementally developed settle-

ments have a range of buildouts/ improvements. 

Within this group some 

households make few investments 

even years on, so houses remain with 

minor improvements (characterized 

in this study as Functional). Others 

expand rooms and amenities in a matter 

of several years to meet household 

space needs, functional priorities, and 

aesthetic preferences to a satisfactory 

point of completion. These households 

stop expanding at this point. A third 

group invests 

add rooms, second and third stories, 

and often upgrades services, kitchen 

and baths for a fully expanded house. 

 

categorises the main findings of case at 

the start up, during construction and 

after completion which also figures out 

the stages of the incremental housing 

 

3.2. Public sector 

The process of overcoming problems 

which informal settlements create is 

the major problem of the governments 

since the subject is becoming a visibly 

conflict. The government and relatedly 

the municipaliities work on various 

strategies on the purpose of resolving 

the unregulated actions. Thus, issue’s 

second part can be defined as the public 

sector realizing also the institutional 

context. 

Governing the regulatory framework 

for housing and financial sectors, 

public sector has a main heading 

in the process. The great deal of challange 

that government is facing is how 

to resolve this problematic either in a 

strict or in a flexible way. Choosing a 

flexible way comprises an empathetic 

content while understanding the social 

and cultural issues of the problematic 

 

one way of trying to understand how 

squatters perceived their own situation 

is to look at them in their role, as they 

understood it, in their own society. 

Then the way of governing for habitability 

can be also in the way of paying 

attention to all. 

 

ernment 

implemented an incremen- 

 

 

’’a booklet’’ 

guidelines for incremental housing 

struction 

techniques. This is a different 

way of government corresponding the 

problem in an informational support. 

Goal was to help poorest families that 

could not afford to buy public housing, 

because housing demand was so high 

that most of the subsidized housing 

was taken by middle class. The booklet 

was a construction guide to help people 

build their own houses according 

to basic construction norms in a given 

 

offered technical and financial support 

to assure that houses were well build. 

cremental 

housing and different ways 

that a “core unit” can grow in a given 

parcel respecting urban guidelines. 

They define the basic spaces needed: 

bathroom, kitchen and bedroom 

and flexible spaces that will transform 

through time such as social space. The 

rest of blooklet explains with diagrams 

construction process with basic concrete 

and masonry blocks. Sanitary and 

electrical measures are explain thoroughly 

specifying that sewage most be 

connected to public sewage and if not 

available a septic tank must be build 

 

This action of government is apart 

from operational solutions; however it 

is also a starting point of incremental 

housing that government is showing 

 

 

Figure 2. Booklet of construction guidelines for incremental 

housing by Venezuelan Government (Fiji Incremental Housing 

Workshop). 

3.3. Private sector 

The problem of informal settlements 

that have negative influences on starting 

from city to life quality of the individuals 

configure such a discussion 

in the platforms of experts. Planners, 


Figure 3. Quinta Monroy housing units: Before the project -After the project- After the settlers expansions (Moma 

Exhibitions, 2010). 

architects, engineers, etc. who involve 

in private sector are the third actors in 

 

settlers appear while looking through a 

 

are permanent brick structures that 

represent the accumulated savings of 

families who have been building them 

little by little, brick by brick’’. These 

perceptions that architects be aware of 

is making a bridge with informal settlers 

and architects. Such incremental 

housing projects that private sector 

also involve, connects public sector 

and individuals. 

A Case in Iquique, Chile is a sample 

from the private sector which uses 

the program of incremental housing. 

 

 

the center of Iquique, a city in the Chilean 

desert. A labyrinth of structures, 

settlement was unsafe and difficult to 

police; however, residents were adamant 

– likely due to site’s central location—about 

remaining there’’ (Open 

Chilean 

Government asked Elemantal Architecture 

Group to resolve the following 

 

 

sqm site that they have illegally occu- 

ed 

in the very center of Iquique, a city 

in the Chilean desert’’. 

Architects were to work within the 

 

 

they had to pay for the land, infrastructure 

and architecture. Considering current 

values in Chilean building indus- 

 

sqm of built space. And despite site’s 

 

 

to settle families in same site, instead of 

displacing them to the periphery. In the 

end, when the given money is enough 

for just half of the house, key question 

was, which half to do. Then architects 

choose to make half that a family individually 

will never be able to achieve 

on its own, no matter how much money, 

energy or time they spend. 

Then architecture group’s decision 

of colloborating the government, individual 

and architects serves the solution 

of incremental housing. Elemental 

have identified a set of design conditions 

through which a housing unit 

can increase its value over time; this 

without having to increase the amount 

of money of current subsidy while following 

such aims: 

to achieve enough density, (but 

 

be able to pay for site, which because 

of its location was very expensive 

to develop the provision a physical 

space for the “extensive family” 

to allow each unit to expand within 

its structure, due to the fact that 

 

eventually be self-built, the building 

had to be porous enough 

to provide a middle-income house 

instead of designing a small house 

Figure 4. The structure of participation process solution for 

informal housing: incremental housing.

of which the architects were giving 

just a small part now. This meant 

a change in the standard: kitchens, 

bathrooms, stairs, partition walls 

and all the difficult parts of the 

house had to be designed for final 

 

 

So the core of housing units are 

made by architects while overcoming 

financial and social problems of the 

settlement. Individuals also participate 

in planning, design and construction 

of the project with the help of government 

support. After core houses are 

produced in an organised settlement, 

settlers start to expand their houses ac- 

 

4. Findings and discussion 

Research focused on incremental 

housing solution while understanding 

community participation and 

self-build processes in the informal 

settlements. It is seen that informal settlements 

have a vernacular character; 

thus a strong relationship between the 

three actors should be attached together. 

The process of incremental housing 

can be summarised and opened up to 

discussion as to enable the participation 

of three actors presenting a solution 

for all: government, experts and 

 

5. Conclusion 

The problems of informal settlements 

comprise many discussions starting 

from the past while still continuing in 

todays modern world. In most of developing 

countries the change of living 

conditions and such related progresses, 

the struggle of urban poor, trying 

to live in the city, configured such a 

dilemma in different platforms. Informal 

settlements are problematic in 

many ways: Governments pay a price 

for these unregulated processes, there 

are also negative affects in cities which 

make the city develop in an unpredictable 

way. In addition, there is a suffer 

from poverty, disease, and political unrest. 

In most of informal settlements, 

it can be visibly seen that the quality of 

living conditions reduce and relatedly, 

the quality of individual life also suffer 

which are derived from low-income 

built old construction. 

In this research, the vernacular 

character of informality is investigated 

and incremental housing is served as a 

solution to unregulated conditions. It 

is seen that solutions that is offered to 

informal settlement problematics, look 

just one point of view; sometimes just 

from point of government or some- 

less, 

incremental housing solution for 

informal settlements has a three-sided 

connection that enables the three actors 

in process. It appears that the stages 

of incremental housing provide the 

actors in a more active way and organise 

relations in a more coherent method. 

Within this housing opportunity, 

three different platform which involve 

in process can participate together and 

this participation results more associated. 

While government, which can be 

defined as the public sector, provide 

technical assistance for reform and 

development of the housing sector; 

private sector as mentioned planners, 

architects, engineers, etc. configure 

the design and construction processes. 

Both two provide support to informal 

settlers; they also involve individuals 

in process in order to understand what 

they want and how do they want to live. 

Thus in this way, incremental housing 

is not just solving a physical matter, 

it also constitutes a solution understanding 

cultural and social patterns 

in informal settlements. By involving 

the individuals in design process, community 

participation and by involving 

them in construction and development 

of their living environments, self-build 

processes occur. Consequently, incremental 

housing as a participation 

process for informal housing can be a 

multi-sided solution concerning both 

social and economical issues. 

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A comparative study of human 

aspects in acclimatization of adobe 

vernacular architecture: A case 

from Denmark and Egypt 

Marwa DABAIEH 1 , Birgitte Tanderup EYBYE 2 

1 

 

Environment, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, Lund, Sweden 

2 

 

Aarhus School of Architecture, Aarhus, Denmark 



Abstract 

Today’s architecture swarms with concepts of energy and resource efficient 

buildings. In contrast, vernacular buildings are characterized by low-tech climatic 

responsive strategies and by their inhabitants’ resource and energy savings practices 

during construction and operation of their dwellings. That makes vernacular 

buildings highly relevant to resource efficiency in contemporary building research. 

The main focus of this study is to explore and analyse human behaviour 

to reach responsive and conscious resource efficient solutions in two different 

climatic context; in Egypt and Denmark. The aim is to suggest sustainable principles 

out of human conduct for contemporary resource efficient building practice. 

Though Danish and Egyptian climates and cultures are very different from each 

other some human approaches to sustainability appeared to be similar. That was 

evident through a comparative analytical study applying case-study methodology 

for two courtyard adobe dwellings; one in each country. The paper contributes to 

existing vernacular sustainable building studies by filling a knowledge gap on how 

human factors is a key parameter in acclimatization in buildings and how that can 

influence resource efficient building practice. 

Keywords 

Adobe, Acclimatization, Human behavior, Resource efficiency, Vernacular 

architecture.


Parallel to the population growth 

in the world, the demand for energy 

and resources increase, and countries 

search for new methods of resource 

over, 

the consumption of energy, which 

is mostly of fossil origin, causes environmental 

impacts for ecological cycles. 

Due to the need for supplying the 

climatic comfort conditions in buildings 

most of the energy is consumed in 

heating, cooling and acclimatization. 

Sustainability was found to be a subjective 

term for many vernacular building 

materials and construction technology. 

Vernacular local culture and tradition 

were major factors in how building-related 

to sustainability. Attempts were 

made to fulfil modernisation and official 

requirements in a creative and 

well-conceived way. This prevented 

loss of value and building information 

and ensured sustainable future reuse. 

This vernacular building outcome 

emerged, mainly resulting from differences 

in the local society created by 

environmental and economic factors. 

This study in hand discusses the influence 

of human aspect on vernacular 

passive acclimatization approaches and 

sustainable use from a building-related 

perspective using two courtyard adobe 

dwellings. A combined site survey 

and comparative case study revealed 

the influence of human behaviour to 

sustain a comfort living environment 

within harsh climatic conditions. The 

outcome of this study is divided into 

two parts. The first will catalogue and 

compare principles from the two selected 

dwellings concerning human 

conduct of resource-savings, such as 

use of passive energy strategies and 

rational building principles involving 

strong/ weak materials and use of 

protection layers. The second part will 

discuss how the identified principles 

may contribute to future sustainable 

building through direct adoption and 

implementation of vernacular passive 

concepts or by developing and interpreting 

the principles for contemporary 

application. 

1.1. Presentation of the two cases 

1.1.1. Mayor courtyard house, Balat, 

Egypt 

 

 

 

at the eastern entrance of the Dakhla 

Oasis. It is situated at the junction of 

 

 

 

 

tal 

city. The town is famous for trading, 

olive oil juicing, pottery making, 

blacksmithing, grazing and farming. 

 

 

 

 

The house is considered one of the 

oldest houses in the town that is still 

in a good condition. It is dated back to 

 

 

and his family. It had a central location 

in the town urban structure. The main 

skeleton of the house is from adobe 

construction. The wall is constructed 

from sun dried mud blocks and the 

roofs are from acacia wood. The house 

is not only the remarkable public building 

in terms of its architectural design 

but has a special architectural identity 

Figure 1. To the left, the Mayor house in 

Balat town, Egypt (Source: Dabaieh). 

Figure 2. To the right, Abeline’ Farm, 

Holmsland, Denmark (Source: Eybye).

as well. The design reflects the intention 

of locals to show their accepted 

values in the community together with 

the functional purpose of such building. 

This house provide more than just 

functional answers to essential life 

needs. Due to the flexible geometry it 

also have the potential to respond to 

 

have always played a role in the design 

configuration, sticking to locals traditions 

has never caused inhabitants to 

deny the need for continuous development 

and growth for their building and 

for the whole town as well. The architectural 

design has reached a high level 

of precision through an ever-evolving 

building process; inhabitants get the 

most use out of spaces to fit their needs, 

even as those needs change. The house 

is now listed building but it is deserted 

for the last 7 years after the death of the 

 

1.1.2. Abeline’s Farm, Holmsland, 

Denmark 

 

 

 

 

the south. In former time this area was 

characterized by harsh climate conditions, 

poor quality of the soil and lack 

of forests. Instead the area offered a 

range of other landscape types; coast, 

inlets, dunes covered with lyme grass, 

heath, fields and meadows. A particular 

vernacular building practice developed 

in this area, which today is 

considered sustainable in many ways, 

such as passive energy strategies, recycling 

and use of local and organic 

materials. The overall characteristics 

of the farms are that they are almost 

always single-located, have their four 

wings built together, primarily built of 

local materials and orientated according 

to the prevalent west wind and the 

sun. The building practice was pre- 

 

the farms were supported by a mixed 

economy which included farming and 

fishing, and sometimes the farm owner 

also held the position as wreck master 

 

Abeline’s Farm, situated near Hvide 

Sande at Holmsland, exemplifies the 

farm in the dunes and follows the particular 

vernacular building practice, 

which characterizes these farms. The 

 

 

with the barn and finishing with the 

farmhouse. The farm was owned by the 

same family and passed on from generation 

to generation. Abeline’s Farm was 

 

afterwards. Today Abeline’s Farm is 

regarded as one of the best preserved 

farms of Holmsland. 

2. Case study methodology 

The methodology used is a case 

study methodology applying a comparative 

analysis technique of two 

courtyard dwellings in order to explore 

human factors of sustainability in 

building. Two cases have been selected, 

of which one is situated in Egypt and 

the other in Denmark. The criteria for 

the cases selection have been carefully 

chosen to secure common basis of 

 

dwellings situated in rural contexts, 

built under hard conditions such as 

scarce resources and harsh climate, 

involve earth building technology. 

 

by local officials. As to age, the Egyp- 

 

Danish dwelling is built in stages from 

 

and cultural contexts widen the range 

of identified sustainable principles and 

illustrate how inhabitants in different 

climates and cultures tackle challenges 

in both diverse and similar ways. 

 

of sustainability, of which human factors 

are emphasised. Human factors 

can be both tangible and intangible, 

and they primarily touch upon social, 

cultural and economic aspects of sustainability. 

Yet, these aspects of sustainability 

may also lead to environmental 

sustainability. The features of the cases 

that will be analysed and compared are 

the following: ‘climate responsive design’, 

‘layout and spatial organization’, 

‘rational use of building materials’ and 

‘relationship between dwelling and in- 

 

is analysed for the two cases in terms 

of culture and way of life, the method 

of analysis is based mainly on in situ 

A comparative study of human aspects in acclimatization of adobe vernacular architecture: A case 

from Denmark and Egypt

Figure 3. A collective shots for the Mayor house showing from left to right, the passive climatic responsive solutions 

in coping with hot climate like shaded courtyards, small windows facing prevailing favourable winds and staircase 

that acts as air shafts (Source: Dabaieh). 

observations combined with a detailed 

documentation of specific facts about 

local vernacular building techniques 

and ethnographic descriptions. 

3. Comparative analysis 

3.1. Application of climate 

responsive design in Mayor house 

The case study from Egypt is located 

 

which is in a higher altitude and characterized 

by hot daytime temperatures 

and much lower overnight tempera- 

- 

 

 

 

maximum day temperatures is within 

- 

 

a daytime temperature can reach up 

- 

 

 

 

areas as the altitude makes for lower 

temperatures that often drop below 

freezing in winter. Generally, the humidity 

is low and rains are rare, but 

strong sand storms during windy seasons 

raise sandy dust, these are par- 

 

April. These dusty winds are important 

factors in the adaptation of the dwellings 

to the desert climate because wind 

direction is unstable and dwellers have 

to create effective solutions to avoid its 

hazardous effects. 

Environmental characteristics of the 

architecture, the buildings’ south and 

west exterior walls are shaded to avoid 

the unbearable heat of the sun, especially 

in summer. Passive ventilation 

solutions are applied using bottomless 

pottery vessels that are inserted into 

the ceilings of the last floor during 

construction in places where these 

holes can serve both as both skylights 

for indirect light and ventilation openings. 

They allow pleasant air to flow 

down from the roof floor to the ground 

floor. In addition, all these openings 

also serve as smoke exhaust ducts, for 

example, for bread ovens or kitchens if 

 

cold on winter nights or during a sandstorm, 

the openings can be closed by a 

piece of pottery or by a cotton pillow. 

The staircase shafts or interior courts 

also serve to create ventilating air flows. 

The average thickness of external 

 

lators, 

create natural thermal regulation 

and provide protection against 

the extreme temperatures that build 

up between the outdoor and indoor 

climates. The dimensions of openings 

 

 

small to avoid direct sunrays and reduce 

glare in summer. Some are placed 

facing north to capture pleasant winds 

on summer nights and the others face 

south for warm sun in winter. Inhabitants 

tend to close the windows firmly 

with cotton pillows whenever needed 

to protect them from glare, sand 

storms and strong winter winds. The 

house residents tend to open windows 

for cross ventilation on summer evenings 

to get rid of warm heat transmitted 

from the walls during day time. 

This leads them also to use ingenious 

systems for air traps; for example, 

the courtyard and the staircase shafts

Figure 4. Climate responsive design as seen in Abeline’s Farm, showing from left to right: half-hipped roofs reduce 

wind pressure on the gables, wide eaves protect the building from precipitation and summer sunlight, and pebbles 

lead precipitation away (Source: Eybye). 

function as wind catchers or as wind 

scoops. 

3.2. Application of climate 

responsive design in Abeline’s Farm 

Denmark has a temperate coastal 

climate according to Vahl climate classification. 

This climate is characterized 

by close distance to the sea, windy 

weather and frequent precipitation. 

 

winters are mild. Average daytime 

 

in winter average daytime temperature 

 

scarce in Scandinavia and sky is cloud- 

 

daylight must be secured. The area of 

Holmsland is characterized as harsh in 

particular, as it is more rainy and windy 

 

important in this area is to protect the 

building from precipitation and wind. 

 

 

precipitation and daylight form climat- 

 

Abeline’s Farms is situated in the flat 

area just east of the dunes, as they pro- 

 

the four wings of the farm together secures 

a sheltered courtyard. The farmhouse 

is east-west orientated, so the 

prevalent wind only cools the gable. In 

order to respond to precipitation the 

buildings have slanted roofs to lead 

 

placed in the ridge to minimize problems 

with leaks. The wide eaves protect 

the walls. At the base of the buildings 

ground is paved with pebbles to lead 

precipitation away and prevent mud 

splashes, as thatched buildings have 

no gutters. Ensuring a suitable amount 

of daylight is central to the wellbeing 

of the inhabitants, particularly during 

winter, and the farmhouse has a large 

number of windows to the south. 

 

ter 

sun is low, sunlight comes deep into 

the southward rooms. In summer, sun 

light only comes into the front part of 

the southward rooms. Sunlight thus 

contributes to heating during the cold 

winter months, while the house is kept 

cool during summer. 

3.3. Layout and spatial organization 

of Mayor house 

 

Desert is family-and kin-oriented. 

 

neighbourhood as their kin. Social organization 

is primarily based on blood 

relations, which play a main role in the 

site selection, configuration, grouping 

and location of dwellings within towns 

 

 

societies and evidence of the community 

strength is shown in the organizing 

of space. A strong architectural 

base has evolved to enrich the lives of 

inhabitants through reflecting their socio-cultural 

structures and values. It is 

for this reason nearly impossible to isolate 

cultural and traditional artefacts 

and ways of producing them from the 

influence of religion, norms and daily 

practices in the final building outcome 

 

The design and configuration of the 

house basically depend on the way the 

 

The oven and the small chicken coop 

are placed on the top floor nearby the 

kitchen to make it easy to manage dai- 



Figure 5. Layout of Mayor courtyard house showing the organization of rooms and spaces 

(Source: Dabaieh). 

ly activities. The location of openings 

is decided by the wife as well, that is, 

it is up to her where to place the windows 

to the courtyard of the grandparents’ 

house and to the street to monitor 

passers-by. 

 

major role in the spatial organization 

of the house. For example, privacy 

is highly represented in the design of 

the dwelling. The concept of privacy 

is based on a mixture of religious and 

cultural norms. The hierarchy of spaces 

allows and reflects privacy in different 

types of social activities. Space 

is planned to change gradually from 

semi-public spaces to semi-private to 

private. In the same time the concern 

for thermal comfort is still achieved by 

providing proper shading and allow 

for cross ventilation between different 

 

guests from the town community representatives 

that should be in a place 

where women can walk around the 

house freely without being noticed by 

strangers. Also the urban design of 

the town allows for houses common 

courtyards to be connected to the town 

tunnelled streets and cool recess. The 

 

neighbours in parallel with finishing 

her household activities without being 

visible to the outside. 

 

 

a main hall in the centre for family 

gatherings, meals and socialization. 

You can find a degree of complexity 

that is derived from the diverse needs 

for a large extended family living together 

and functional office space for 

 

Generally, there is great flexibility in 

changing the functionality of spaces. 

Adding rooms and extending houses 

both horizontally or vertically are common, 

easy and affordable. For example, 

when the children grow up and decide 

to marry, depending on the available 

space and the family’s financial situation, 

the parents add another room for 

the newly married couple or they build 

another attached house with an internal 

connection. There is also flexibility 

in the functional use of space. For example, 

the entrance hall on the ground 

floor is normally employed for multiple 

functions. It can be used as a reception 

 

day time and in the afternoon is used 

as dining and sitting area while at night 

as sleeping area on cold winter days. 

 

change in functions. 

The roof floor is an important part

Figure 6. Layout of Abeline’s Farm including organization of rooms in the farmhouse 

(Source: Eybye). 

of the house with many facilities for 

conveniences and daily activities. To 

provide a natural fence around the roof 

floor, long palm tree branches are used. 

For more privacy, tall exterior fences 

 

built. They reach up to 1.5 metres and 

are designed with high openings used 

for ventilation and to make it easy to 

look through and keep an eye on the 

community members’ comings and 

goings. Above and beyond the view 

from the street, ringed by high parapet 

walls, are sleeping porches, which 

inhabitants use as mentioned on sum- 

 

grain and mud bread ovens have their 

own spaces on the roof floor, as does 

the chicken coop. Grain storage has 

always had a very particular meaning 

especially in old times. It is to store the 

grain and other food essential to the 

family’s survival for the whole year. 

The toilets in the house are dry toi- 

 

order to allow air circulation to get rid 

of bad smells. The lack of covering also 

allows sun rays to speed up the process 

of drying the waste and killing any bacteria. 

The toilet is located on the mezzanine 

level between the ground and 

the first floor. The orientation of the 

toilet is in the opposite direction from 

the prevailing wind. The toilet has an 

opening in the bottom of this tower to 

collect the wastes when they are completely 

dry twice a year. The wastes are 

used as soil fertilizers or fuel for ovens. 

3.4. Layout and spatial organization 

of Abeline’s Farm 

A household typical of a Holmsland 

farm would include the farmer, his 

wife, their children, one or two maids 

hold 

would usually include the former 

owners of the farm. As part of 

the making over the farm, the former 

owners received accommodation and 

support by the new owner (often a son 

 

secure their old age. A farmer holding 

position of wreckmaster was obliged 

to accommodate wrecked sailors after 

shipwrecks. Finally, a household could 

include tenants, foster children and 

summer tourists. Hence, the typical 

farm of Holmsland would be a small 

community of different people (An- 

 

Layout and spatial organization of 

Abeline’s Farm highly reflects a large 

household and local climate conditions. 

The four wings of the farm are 

organized as follows; to the north is 

the large barn providing shelter, to the 

west is the stable, to the east the gate 

wing providing sheltered access to the 

courtyard and to the south is the farm- 

er 

reduces outer walls and thereby loss 

of heat. The shape of the farmhouse 

is long and narrow. Hence, all rooms 

are provided the possibility of natural 

daylight and moreover, the house can 

be ventilated naturally by opening the 

windows. The primary living rooms 

are placed in the middle of the house 



facing southwards to take advantage 

of sunlight, optimize thermal comfort 

and reduce use of energy having only 

cesses 

are placed in connection to the 

primary living rooms, which reduces 

use of energy for heating. Practical 

rooms such as kitchen, scullery, larder, 

pantry and milk room are placed 

northwards as storing food and dairy 

in cool rooms are important. Porches 

and entrance halls reduce loss of heat, 

and one never enters directly from outside 

into a living room. The gables are 

climatic buffer zones. To the west are 

the scullery and maid’s chamber. To the 

east were rooms for the former owner 

of the house. This part of the house was 

later rebuilt to accommodate summer 

tourists. 

The traditional Danish farmhouse 

is accessed from the courtyard, which 

was used for all kinds of purposes. 

msland 

are accessed from the south 

– and not through the courtyard. The 

courtyard of Abeline’s Farm was primarily 

reserved for the dwellers of the 

farm and their doings. Animals were 

only rarely found in the courtyard. 

3.5. Rational use of building 

materials in Major house 

Earth is an environmental building 

material and copes efficiently with the 

harsh arid desert climate, especially 

during hot summers. It was mentioned 

 

based on Hassan Fathy’s experience 

in Egypt that traditional earthen interiors 

remain cool during the day and 

 

 

 

costs almost nothing because its material 

is obtained from the surrounding 

environment. In addition, a house built 

with such local resources can be easily 

enlarged at low cost, as need arises. As 

people build by themselves, there is no 

cost for workers’ fees. In fact, neighbours 

and families help each other in 

 

are no transportation or manufacturing 

costs. Although earth may be 

perceived as a weak building material, 

due to desert vernacular trial and error 

experimentation of uncountable ideas, 

earth structures have managed to survive 

for centuries. Also the delicate 

craftsmanship, wisdom and accumulation 

of experience have led to good 

designs that are comfortable for living 

and sustainable to this day. 

Due to the shortage of natural resources 

and raw materials in the desert, 

there are several creative ideas and 

solutions that maximize the use of the 

scarce available resources adopted in 

this house. They used by-products of 

buildings materials. For example, when 

tree trunks are used as beams for roof 

support, the medium sized branches 

that remain are used for wall supports 

in corners or in making small shelves 

in kitchens and living areas or for windows 

or lintels for doors. The small 

branches are then tied together as a 

mesh to be used as secondary layers 

over the main roof beams and used in 

a vertical science with a wooden frame 

as small interior doors. Finally, the leftovers 

of small wood pieces are used as 

a fuel for ovens. 

 

women in the town collaborated to- 

 

for raising walls and roofs and doing 

the first plastering layer of the house. 

 

water for the clay mix. They also help 

in the mud brick casting process, assisting 

by handing the bricks to bricklayers 

during building and by doing 

the final interior and exterior render- 

 

the exterior together with men in some 

cases. During the lifetime of using the 

building, the ladies in the house do a 

monthly maintenance and rendering 

of the floors and walls. They sprinkle 

new clean sand on the floors and the 

roof of the house every month. They 

are also responsible for regular maintenance 

of the houses if needed in case 

of cracks. 

Room sizes are rather small due to 

limited availability of long wood logs. 

The same goes for ceiling heights, as the 

higher the ceilings the thicker the bearing 

walls must be and this reduces the 

room areas as well. The flexible structure 

system makes it easy to connect 

the house together with neighbouring 

ones with possibility of extension. 

Some of the wood logs are reclaimed

wood from old and demolished houses 

in the town. 

3.6. Rational use of building 

materials in Abeline’s Farm 

The building materials for Abeline’s 

Farm were primarily provided from 

the local environment. As mentioned, 

the area was characterised by a number 

of different landscape types. Inlets 

provided reed for thatching, meadows 

provided turf for the ridge and mud for 

adobes and mortar, while beaches provided 

pebbles the courtyard paving and 

shells for mortar. Furthermore, ship 

wrecks provided timber, metal and all 

 

auctions at the wreck masters’ farms. 

 

side of the inlets and was transported 

by boat across the inlet to the area. 

Economically, local materials such as 

reed, turf, mud and pebbles were cheap 

but required hard work. 

Lack of forests meant that timber 

on a large scale was recycled from ship 

wrecks and old houses being dismantled. 

In Abeline’s Farm timber parts 

such as beams, rafters and collar beams 

are recycled from wrecked ships, and it 

is likely that wooden floors and ceilings 

also are recycled from ship wrecks. A 

few pieces of furniture are wreckage 

as well. Recycling was very common 

practice all over Denmark, as materials 

were either expensive or required hard 

 

sources tell us that whole houses have 

been dismantled, moved and rebuilt in 

 

In preindustrial time, timber was 

the most important building material 

in Denmark, and almost all vernacular 

dwellings were half-timbered constructions 

with wattle and daub infill. 

In contrast, the farms in the dunes are 

built of bricks and adobes. As men- 

 

was challenged by lack of forests, and 

this is presumed to be one of the reasons 

why masonry spread from Holland 

to Friesland and further up the 

 

 

 

where bricks have longer durability 

than wood. Yet, brick baking was 

costly due to the consumption of fire 

wood. Hence, rational building practice 

developed. In Abeline’s farm walls 

exposed to weather were masonry, 

while inner walls, walls surrounding 

the courtyard and the north side of 

the barn were built of adobes, as these 

 

came from the meadows, where it was 

knead and cast into adobes. Then the 

adobes dried, perhaps covered with 

straw or sea weed as protection from 

weather. Adobes for building were usually 

made the year before construction, 

so their full shrinkage was obtained. 

Adobe walls are vulnerable to humidity 

and precipitation and therefore, 

they were plastered and lime washed 

as protection layer to extend their du- 

ularly 

fragile, and they were made of 

baked bricks. The farmer would often 

produce his own bricks for masonry 

with help from his farm hand and 

children - just like the adobe manufac- 

tumn 

and was knead and moulded to 

bricks in the early part of the following 

summer. The bricks dried in the empty 

barn during summer, was moved to 

the gate room in harvest and baked in 

small brick kilns in autumn. The baking 

process produced bricks of heterogeneous 

quality, and the weakest bricks 

were used in less exposed parts of the 

building, such as cornices and masonry 

arches, as these often were protected 

by the wide eaves of the building (Jen- 

 

Roofs are thatched with reed. This 

is a highly flexible material that easily 

adjusts to the shape of the roof. Furthermore, 

reed is hollow and works as 

insulation. Thatched roofs contribute 

to reduced energy consumption. Depending 

on climate and orientation, 

a thatched roof is expected to last for 

 

worn out, it is used as fertilizer and 

thereby recycles back to nature. The 

only disadvantage of reed is fire risk. 

 

qualities were important to vernacular 

dwellers. Different types of wood possess 

different abilities. Usually the most 

exposed building parts, such as lower 

parts of doors are made of stronger 

wood types such as oak to prolong durability. 

Altogether, the construction of 



Abeline’s Farm point to deliberate use 

of strong and weak materials in accordance 

with climate, use of protection 

layers to prolong durability and recycling, 

which reduced efforts in obtaining 

and processing materials. 

3.7. The Major house and the 

inhabitants 

The roles of the inhabitants in the 

building procedures in desert communities 

are allocated among family 

members. These roles are more like 

basic life activities and habits than 

 

building process never stops, but is al- 

 

and maintaining dwellings is a dynamic 

practice that develops according to 

current needs and past customs, and 

that helps dwellers feel engaged and 

interactive with their dwellings. All 

family members share work and different 

tasks are distributed among them. 

Rules allocate work differently in the 

different oases since all rules are based 

on the local cultures and traditions. 

 

 

women have, throughout history, taken 

a central role in planning, construction 

and use of desert vernacular buildings. 

 

in all the building phases in addition 

to taking part in the regular monthly 

and annual maintenance. Everyone in 

the town learn various construction 

 

responsible for raising walls and roofs 

and doing the first plastering layer of 

 

bringing water for the clay mix. They 

also help in the mud brick casting process, 

assisting by handing the bricks to 

bricklayers during building and by doing 

the final interior and exterior rendering 

of the house. They may decorate 

the exterior together with men in some 

nance 

and rendering of the floors and 

walls. They sprinkle new clean sand 

on the floors and the roof of the house 

every month. They are also responsible 

for regular plastering maintenance 

for the houses twice a year and some 

times more if needed in case of structure 

cracks. 

3.8. Abeline’ Farm and the 

inhabitants 

The dwellers of Abeline’ Farm supported 

themselves by a mixed economy. 

This was reflected in the situation 

and the layout of the farm. The farmhouse 

was large due to accommodation 

of wrecked sailors. In times with 

scarcity of money, the western part of 

the house was let to a family. Hence, 

the layout of the house had to be flexible 

to support variable needs and able 

to adopt changes to a certain degree. 

Preferably changes were made within 

the existing farmhouse, such as accommodation 

rooms for the former owner. 

There are, however, examples of other 

farmhouses which have been extended 

lengthwise to adapt to changes. 

Abeline’s Farm is built of materials 

from the local environment, and as 

more of these are organic, they need 

regular maintenance. Particularly the 

outer adobe walls needed regularly 

maintenance, which took place every 

spring and was done by the females of 

the farm. Sealing up roof and painting 

woodwork such as gates, doors and 

windows were also important. In general, 

maintenance was considered as part 

of everyday work and it took place in 

the times of the year, when the dwellers 

were not preoccupied with fishing or 

harvesting. Furthermore, the applied 

building materials possess the quality 

of possible repair. An example is the 

lower parts of window frames, which 

are more exposed to rot and therefore 

can be changed without discarding the 

whole window, thus saving resources. 

The south elevation of the house with 

its symmetrical composition and neoclassical 

elements indicates that the 

dwellers were proud of their farm and 

made it a point of honour to maintain 

their house. 

4. Commonalities and differences 

in acclimatization and resource 

efficiency practice 

Despite very different cultures and 

climates, the two vernacular dwellings 

in this study pointed to similar 

challenges and solutions. Our analysis 

revealed that vernacular architecture 

arises from a rare mixture of tradition 

and a variety of personal preferences. 

Vernacular housing reached a high

level of design perfection and that is 

particularly due to the use of inherited 

traditions in the building process. 

Dwellers have managed to reach more 

or less the same solutions, methodologies 

and best practice adapting to harsh 

climate to create adaptive environmental 

solutions. Though this study has 

focused on the social, cultural and 

economic aspects of sustainability, the 

principles pointed out are to a large 

extent also examples of environmental 

sustainability. From the two case studies 

we found some common sustainable 

and resource efficient practices 

from which: 

Dwellings are carefully built in accordance 

with local climate using 

passive strategies for lighting, cooling 

and heating, which reduces energy 

consumption. 

Inhabitants take part in both design 

and construction phases, which encourage 

resource savings and rational 

building practice. 

Self-help building process as locals 

build their own dwellings, so there 

is almost zero labour cost. 

The sustainability of managing the 

balance between preservation and 

use of local resources and of the 

limited local materials. 

Economic perception in using local 

building materials which are almost 

cost-free, such as the use of wood 

trees grown on their farmlands and 

the cast mud bricks using earth 

from their surroundings. 

cal 

available resources and an ability 

to be inspired by the cradle to 

cradle ecological cycles from surrounding 

nature. 

Almost no waste product is produced 

during buildings process. 

High degree of reuse such as earth 

material, timber etc. 

Dwellings are flexible to changes 

in space configuration or for future 

extension. 

tained 

and repaired, prolonging durability 

and reducing waste. 

All family members take part in 

maintenance process so reducing 

maintenance cost and keeps the 

building in a good shape. 

 

in the climatic adaptation and responses: 

The adaptation to cope with heat 

versus and cold weather which are 

ventilation versus wind and precipitation. 

Different approaches to daylight: 

avoiding direct sunlight to reduce 

glare versus encouraging daylight 

especially in winter time. 

Shaded courtyards to provide summer 

cool air for cross ventilation 

versus exposed courtyards to direct 

sun for winter heating. 

5. Lessons learned and 

recommendations for application 

in contemporary building design 

Thus an important issue today is how 

we can learn from vernacular practice 

and still be able to respond to modernity 

and at the same time respond to 

the need for sustainability, recyclable 

materials and green technologies. One 

lesson to learn from our case studies to 

be adopted in contemporary design is 

encouraging using natural local building 

materials and building methods 

rather than costly imported materials. 

That makes the building process more 

resource efficient and reduce a lot of 

 

 

material and methods allows the use of 

existing work force of craftsmen and 

skilled locals and that it also reduces 

costs compared to procedures using 

imported building methods and ma- 

 

are conscious about the future, as they 

develop logical solutions, especially as 

regards the comfort inside their dwellings. 

Second, building in accordance with 

local climate prolongs durability of the 

 

dwellers must consider heat, ventilation, 

wind, precipitation and daylight 

in the design of the building. Hence, 

passive energy strategies can be applied, 

which improve comfort and 

reduce energy consumption. Furthermore, 

possibilities of the building site 

must be considered to take advantage 

of contextual elements and situate the 

dwelling advantageously. 

Third, knowledge of materials’ qualities 

are important to build in a ratio- 



nal manner. Vernacular dwellers know 

that exposed parts of buildings need 

strong materials and sheltered part can 

do with weaker materials. Use of protection 

layers prolong durability in a 

cheap manner, thus reducing resource 

consumption. 

Finally, in present building practice 

enormous amounts of waste are generated, 

as buildings being demolished are 

considered to be rubbish and down cy- 

 

houses must be seen as resources and 

 

the use of ‘simple technology’, such as 

vernacular building practice, materials 

over, 

‘simple materials’ as wood, earth 

and clay can be maintained and repaired, 

thus reducing waste, resources 

and energy. 

5.1. Sustainable recommendations 

for application in contemporary 

building practice 

The study shows that adobe buildings 

have many sustainable qualities 

 

norm in both Egypt and Denmark that 

people tend to prefer industrialised 

modern building materials, as adobe 

are considered to be old fashion. Furthermore, 

adobe buildings need maintenance, 

which doesn’t contribute to 

their popularity. However, in order to 

meet the needs for sustainability this 

construction principle should be considered, 

as it also offers human aspects 

of sustainability. A number of these 

sustainable principles, which easily apply 

in contemporary building practice, 

are listed below: 

Using natural building materials as 

it has no carbon footprint and can 

be recycled back to nature when the 

building is dismantled. 

Local materials reduce transportation, 

economic costs and keep your 

neighbour employed. 

 

durability and reduces resource 

consumption. 

Applying passive energy strategies 

whenever possible to reduce relying 

on active mechanical systems. 

6. Conclusions 

The frame of sustainability in this 

paper comprises both tangible and 

intangible aspects for two adobe residential 

courtyard buildings in two extreme 

climatic and cultural conditions 

in Denmark and Egypt. Hence, the 

analysis tackled human aspects particular 

to social, cultural and economics 

of sustainability. This relates to items as 

climate responsive design, layout and 

spatial organization, rational use of 

building materials, durability, flexibil- 

 

selected based on certain criteria from 

which both dwellings are built under 

harsh climate conditions, scarce resources 

and built with adobe building 

technology. It was clear from the study 

that cultural and social characteristics 

need to be considered in this analysis 

as they give insight into the physical 

setting, explain many variables and 

clarify the reasons for specific characteristics 

of the built environment. 

This comparative case study shows 

that human aspects are very important 

in order to build in a sustainable 

manner and that vernacular dwellings 

display a wide range of ingenious solutions 

in order to be resource efficient. 

The vernacular in both cases is a record 

of the lifestyle of the past when inhabitants 

were trying to find a sustainable 

way of life, just as they are trying to now. 

Vernacular exhibits the potential of the 

local community to organize spaces, 

evolve a strong architectural base and 

enrich their lives through their own lo- 

 

needed for the influence of human factors 

in climatic adaptation in buildings 

as such factors are always missing and 

the focus normally is on physical and 

tangible building practice. Our study 

was based mainly on our observations 

 

needed by involving residents to share 

their own experience and using post 

occupancy evaluation to assess the efficiency 

of passive strategies applied. 

Acknowledgements 

The authors would like to acknowl- 

son 

Foundation for sponsoring this 

part of post-doc research at Lund 

university in Sweden and the Aarhus 

School of Architecture and Realdania 

for granting the Ph.D. project ‘Sustain-

ability in Danish architectural heritage 

- building design, practice and techniques’. 

References 

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strandfogedgård på Holmsland Klit. 

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A future for the 

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Forlag. 

 

 

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Balât, Etude 

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set: 

byggeskik og egnspræg, gode raad 

om vedligeholdelse og istandsættelse, 

 

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Egypt. 



A research on the continuity of the 

original settlements: A case study 

on Kemaliye/Erzincan 

Emre TORBAOĞLU 1 , Yüksel DEMİR 2 

1 

 

2 

 

 



Abstract 

One of the most important reasons of settlements looking like each other, despite 

the differences of their geographies and cultures, is the cultural disengagement 

due to the uniformity of socio-cultural stratification. This simultaneously 

creates negative impacts on many original settlements. Consequently; today, we 

need design approaches, aiming to provide solutions for the disconnection of 

people and spaces to help continue the architectural and urban characteristics of 

original settlements while they are in a process of development. This study handles 

such approaches in line with the “critical regionalism” concept of Frampton. 

A theoretical basis is formed over Giancarlo De Carlo and his architectural approach 

in Urbino can be assessed within the framework of critical regionalism. 

Over this theoretical basis, Kemaliye, chosen as the study location, is evaluated in 

terms of continuity, in light of data based on field practices. 

Keywords 

Kemaliye, Cultural continuity, Local data, Vernacular architecture, Critical 

regionalism.

1. A critical view of current 

architecture practices within the 

context of cultural continuity 

 

forcing us to face a contradictory process, 

which aims to connect on a single 

entirety while preserving or rebuilding 

cultural variety; has caused certain approaches 

in architecture, working in 

opposite directions. Some of these approaches 

focus on regional identities, 

attempting to establish a unity with 

them, and aiming to let them keep up 

with the new era; while others aim to 

impose their presence, ignoring such 

identities. The first of these two approaches 

provide “cultural continu- 

 

their lives as individuals in harmony 

with their environments. The other 

approach ignores cultural variety, environment 

and social connections and 

creates an effect which alienates people 

to their own environment. Defined as 

“current architecture practices” in the 

study, this attitude ignores different 

contexts and the basic characteristics 

of cultural areas, and drives many original 

settlements to a process of disconnection. 

Settlements, which have been able 

to preserve their originality, are accepted 

as archives, containing all abstract 

and solid traces of the history of humanity 

and nature. Having a local landscape 

with natural and cultural values, 

and preserving their regional identities, 

such settlements are defined by 

Scazzosi as centuries-old palimpsest: 

These are parchments where traces of 

every era come one after another, intertwine 

with those to be left for future, 

within a constant change (Scazzosi, 

 

in time and traces of such changes can 

often be seen in the physical and social 

environment. Understanding these 

traces is important for reshaping the 

essence of humans within the current 

change processes for keeping up with 

the era. Therefore, such traces should 

be considered as documents guiding 

new practices, enabling cultural continuity, 

and forming the urban memory. 

Berman states that understanding 

traditions is important for feeding and 

enriching our own modernity. Therefore, 

culture should not be seen as a 

cult, containing nostalgic elements, 

but as a source of feeding for the on- 

 

these ideas, we can say that it is critical 

to understand the local essence and 

the pieces that form the entirety before 

any design interventions on original 

settlements. Therefore; approaches, 

in which cultural and social forms of 

previous centuries are re-explored and 

contexts are taken into account, must 

 

using tradition as a source of logic and 

information, advocating that traditions 

must be continued not formally but intellectually, 

must be adopted. 

However, if we look at the design 

interventions at such settlements within 

the framework of current architecture 

practices; we can mention two frequently 

seen trends. These trends can 

be defined as nostalgic approaches, advocating 

the inviolableness of the “old” 

by only preserving local characteristics 

or attempting to create the “new” by 

emulating the “old”, or as destructive 

approaches totally ignoring the values 

that form the regional identity. It is 

obvious that in both situations, there 

are attitudes that do not attempt to establish 

a relationship with the local essence. 

In the first approach, the “old” 

is frozen in time or recreated with a 

superficial point of view, and “original 

settlements” are turned into decorative 

cities. This will cause a misperception 

in society and cause a blur in the difference 

between the past and today. In the 

second approach; the “old” is outcast 

or even destroyed to let standardized 

environments take over original settlement 

patterns. 

According to Levi-Strauss, if it 

is attempted to recreate old forms, it 

would be inevitable for new forms to 

gradually become monotonous and ultimately, 

reach solutions that are ultimately 

weakened. On the contrary, he 

states that we should know humanity 

is rich enough in terms of options to 

surprise everybody and that progress 

is not achieved by this extremely easy 

“adjusted similarity” image, which we 

lazily approach, but as a product of 

a process full of adventures, disconnections 

and scandals (Levi-Strauss, 

 

a futile effort to recreate completed and

forgone times, and we should be open 

for new trials. 

So, how should such new trials be? 

How can a compromising relation be 

established between current architecture 

practices, which ignore and outcast 

the “old”, and original settlement 

 

concept of “critical regionalism” may 

give us alternative points of view aiming 

to produce a modern architecture 

based on context, in parallel with universal 

processes. 

2. A strategy of resistance against 

standardization in architecture: 

Critical regionalism 

Critical regionalism concept is an 

attitude opposing the recreation of 

traditional forms and the formalist 

attitude of regionalism. This concept 

suggests using an exploring construction 

language in modern architecture, 

revealing and respecting the local essence 

instead of a simple copying-imitating 

approach. At the same time, 

it tries to establish a system of new 

regional values by clashing universal 

values with regional values. Frampton 

considers critical regionalism as a strategy 

of resistance against the uniformity 

caused by modernism and against the 

historical approaches in architecture. 

He propounds this concept as a camp 

against the standardization caused by 

current architecture practices in preserving 

and reviving local cultures in 

architecture. Within the framework 

of critical regionalism, he advocates a 

stance against the dominant forms of 

current conditions, while on the other 

hand, accepts the liberating effect of 

 

Critical regionalism is based on 

the “place sensitivity”, which can be 

strongly perceived, defined by experience 

and based on its own context. In 

 

gionalism 

as an approach which cannot 

be described as internationalism 

but which can not be connected to the 

folkloric or historical concepts of the 

region, either. 

Critical regional architecture contributes 

to the improvement of cultural 

interactions by focusing on the relationship 

of the building with the loca- 

 

its socio-cultural position, instead of 

considering regional styles. In essence, 

it considers people as part of the natural 

and cultural environment they live 

in. It prefers the awareness about the 

tectonic reality of architecture instead 

of understanding the artificial environment 

only based on image with a superficial 

approach. It suggests creating 

a modern structure in harmony with 

the location, without taking formative 

and technologic references. It aims to 

contribute to the development processes 

of settlements by making small 

interventions, instead of large-scale urban 

interventions. 

3. Approaches based on 

field practices in original 

settlements: Design approach 

of Giancarlo De Carlo 

Rethinking on “Giancarlo De Carlo 

Architecture”, which we can study 

under the concept of “critical regionalism”, 

may give hints on creating a 

new product by being connected to 

the “local essence”. De Carlo adopted 

an approach which evaluates natural 

and socio-cultural data, attempting 

to establish a relation with previous 

architectural languages by taking historical 

processes into account. Based 

on the necessity to create a connection 

between society and modernism, he 

worked with an approach, taking human 

experience and human perception 

as basis. Indispensible principles 

of a design process that is based on 

continuity are deep analysis of location 

and participating values. 

The design method developed by 

De Carlo based on field practice states 

the necessity of performing theoretical 

and practical studies together in design 

interventions on original settlements. 

The projects he materialized in Urbino 

are successful examples connecting 

with the local context, converting and 

using traditional architectural principles 

forming the regional identity, and 

thus, contributing to cultural continuity. 

At Urbino, where De Carlo worked 

for approximately half a century; he 

gathered the municipality, the university, 

independent researchers and 

residents on a common platform, determined 

the requirements of the set- 

A research on the continuity of the original settlements: A case study on Kemaliye/Erzincan

Figure 1. Aerial view of Urbino identifying four of De Carlo’s conversions (1) Faculty of Economics, (2) Magistero, 

(3) Ramp and stables, (4) Faculty of Law (Source: Jones, P.B. & Canniffe, E., 2007). 

Figure 2, 3, 4. Analytical sketches of De Carlo (McKean, 2004). 

tlement in line with their opinions and 

developed his suggestions. 

Urbino is an ancient settlement , 

 

region in eastern Italy. The history of 

the city dates back to the Etruscan period, 

which took place before the Roman 

period. Pattern of the city, which 

reaches today, usually belongs to the 

medieval age. There were additions 

to the city in the renaissance period. 

Among these, the Ducal Palace built 

by Francesco di Giorgio for Duke Fed- 

- 

 

difference from other historical Italian 

cities, emphasizes that history and nature 

is intertwined here and that it is 

hard to distinguish new human interventions 

within the original pattern of 

 

De Carlo started his zoning plan 

studies in a period when the settlement 

physically began to deteriorate and local 

economy was being attempted to be 

revived by tourism. He studied sensitively 

on both the urban and rural environment, 

and had a special relationship 

with the residents and the history 

of the city. Starting as he undertook 

 

this relationship turned to a series of 

simultaneous interventions. Such interventions 

range from constructing a 

university settlement outside the city 

walls, rehabilitation of some structures 

at the historical settlement, faculty 

building designs, rearrangement of the 

 

of Urbino, to designs of academician 

- 

provement 

of the university was also 

selected as a way to revive the settlement. 

However; this also meant that 

the population would be multiplied 

and De Carlo developed a dual strategy 

to overcome this problem. He settled 

faculty buildings within the historical 

city center, and positioned dormitories 

Figure 5, 6. Site plan sketches of Collegio della Colle (NAI, 2005).

Figure 7, 8. Perspectives of dormitories (NAI, 2005). 

at the hillsides outside the historical 

city center, where he defined as a new 

settlement area. 

Jones describes the design approach 

of Giancarlo de Carlo as such: 

“De Carlo is playing a long game at 

Urbino, often with a light touch and 

with no great compulsion to over-impose 

his personal signature. Oblivious 

to the calls of fashion, De Carlo builds 

with a view to centuries past, and looks 

 

citizens yet to come. It is hard to think 

of another contemporary architect 

who has contributed so much to one 

place. Without his intervention the 

whole development of the town and 

its university would have taken a different 

and almost certainly more destructive 

turn. Ordinary old buildings 

in the centre would probably have been 

destroyed. With his struggle to understand 

the relationship between buildings 

and human institutions, his concern 

with shared memory, his careful 

 

De Carlo has demonstrated a method 

that seems to me the precise opposite 

posing 

from without, it discovers from 

 

De Carlo emphasizes the necessity of 

reinterpreting the past to solve the current 

requirements of a settlement. He 

suggests starting with the deep reading 

of the land in this interpretation process. 

In this process, which he defines 

as a genetic code analysis, he researches 

how buildings are positioned according 

to the sun, light, wind, water, 

streets, pathways and green texture. 

He describes it as a repeating process, 

including experimental arrangement 

and transformation. Urbino became an 

instrument of principles for De Carlo 

to explore and develop region reading 

 

its forms and places, it is necessary 

to understand their reflections on the 

current social and physical situation. 

De Carlo tells that, to work in such a 

cultural landscape, first of all, history 

must be considered as a flowing wa- 

 

 

 

“I believe a lot in the revelatory ca- 

 

interpret the meaning of what has remained 

engraved, not only does one 

come to understand when this mark 

was made and what motivation behind 

it was, but one also becomes conscious 

of how the various events that have left 

their mark have become layered, how 

they relate to one another and how, 

through time, they have set off other 

events and have woven together our 

 

4. Why Kemaliye? 

 

 

its unquestionable natural and cultural 

values. Located northwest edge of 

the Eastern Anatolian Region and the 

southwest of Erzincan province; Kemaliye 

is a riverside settlement locat- 

 

 

one of the social and trade centers of its 

region from the past to the present. Located 

on the Silk Road, the settlement 

was ruled by the Sassanid, Persians, 

Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans be- 

 

circumstances, the population movement 

to metropolitan centers has also 


Figure 9. Aerial view of Kemaliye (Atölye Kolektif Archive). 

Figure 10. Settlement pattern identified with nature (Atölye Kolektif Archive). 

Figure 11. Tree-Leaf diagram (URL-1). 

affected Kemaliye. Population of the 

 

together with the surrounding villages 

near the end the 19th century, has 

decreased in years due to migrations 

 

 

importance today, has shifted the re- 

 

tourism. 

Designing his projects from the data 

he gathers in his field researches, particularly 

anthropology studies, Dutch 

architect Aldo Van Eyck describes the 

 

 

with his “tree-leaf ” diagram as above. 

We can say that the complex relation 

between house and city established 

by Van Eyck is also valid for Kemaliye. 

Kemaliye is an entirety, whose 

values cannot be considered separately 

from one another; no house, tree, person 

can be considered individually. The 

nature-space-human relationship has 

created a specific settlement pattern 

here. The regional identity, which has 

developed on the basis of a piece-entirety 

relation, is the product of a rational 

idea based on centuries ago. 

The basic components, forming the 

regional identity value of Kemaliye, are 

the natural structure and established 

cultural values of the settlement. An 

original settlement with its urban space 

character, which developed on the basis 

of these factors, Kemaliye stands on 

a different point among Anatolian settlements 

with such characteristics. 

4.1 Research methodology 

In this study; all analysis and evaluations 

on Kemaliye settlement texture 

are based on the field studies performed 

by Kemaliye Research Group 

 

 

studies, which started as a student initiative, 

were planned as an architecture 

education model based on field 

practices to complete the theoretical 

knowledge gathered at school. With 

the workshop studies carried out after 

the summer field researches, suggestions 

of solution were developed to 

maintain the original texture of the settlement. 

These recommendations were 

shared with Kemaliye public on var- 

 

aiming to use the studies for the benefit 

of the settlement. Said studies form the 

 

 

titled “A Research On The Continuity 

of the Original Settlements: Kemaliye 

Sample”. 

The main goal of these researches 

were to analyze the factors that form 

the regional identity of Kemaliye with 

various points of view, detect the problems 

related to the current status and 

develop solution suggestions for these 

problems with the contribution of the 

residents. In these studies, carried out 

on the basis of mutual interaction, it 

was also aimed to reinforce the awareness 

of the residents for the environment 

they lived in. For these purpose, 

under the study, a collective production 

with an architectural, social and 

cultural content was performed with 

the participation of students and executives 

from various disciplines. The 

analyses performed were associated 

with each other and a feedback method 

was developed, so, it was attempted 

to understand the deep connection between 

the architecture and socio-cul-

Figure 12, 13, 14. Sketches describing the settlement texture, 2002 (Kemaliye Research Group Archive). 

tural structure. Data from the social 

events performed in this context, and 

from the verbal history study, were 

overlapped with architectural analyses 

to discuss the relations between the 

past and the present. 

Architectural researches were carried 

out within the framework of a program 

where theoretical and practical 

studies were performed together. Analytic 

sketches, visual recording techniques, 

literature scanning and verbal 

history methods were used for documenting 

and analyzing the settlement. 

Regional architecture basin was considered 

in different scales as the settlement, 

street, house and details, and 

the factors that form the settlement 

texture were examined. The relationship 

between the urban location layout 

and house-street analyses were made 

and the effects of topography, water 

and cultural structure on the regional 

architecture were researched. Changes 

over time on the houses and streets, 

sis 

of Alper, titled “A Research on Ke- 

 

/ Kemaliye Evleri ve Yerleşim Dokusu 

Üzerine Bir Araştırma”, were reviewed 

and an inventory study was performed, 

covering comparative evaluations. As 

a result of the architecture analyses, 

an erosion of values was seen all over 

the settlement. The factors causing this 

problem were discussed with the residents 

and alternative urban, architecture 

and social suggestions were developed 

for the future of the settlement. 

Differences between the past and 

present of Kemaliye, and changing 

lifestyles are handled with the verbal 

history study performed. The verbal 

history study has become an instrument 

for analyzing the cultural elements 

that formed the urban location 

and architecture layout, by influencing 

the architectural researches. The crafts, 

which formed the basis of the commercial 

structure in the past, and which are 

about to be lost today, and the effects of 

these crafts on traditional architecture 

are again discussed under the verbal 

history study. Social studies included 

film and documentary shows, slide 

shows; art, handicraft, music, sports 

and drama workshops for children; 

and sculpture studies. These studies 

aimed to increase the awareness of particularly 

the young population for their 

environment. 

4.2 Urban space and architectural 

character analysis of Kemaliye 

effects of natural elements 

 

the trends of gradual topography usage 

and shifting towards Karasu Valley are 

the main factors in Kemaliye, helping 

form the urban character and architectural 

layout. At the settlement, which is 

positioned over three main sets; green 

areas stand out on the first set near the 

river. These sections consist of vineyards 

and gardens, and a low-density 

housing can be mentioned. Within 

vineyard areas, there are cottages, locally 

named as “hinzan”. 

Kemaliye has many water sources 

and settlement units are concentrated 

around these water sources. Particularly, 

the second set, covering the 

 

defined as the vital point of the settlement, 

has the characteristics of a settlement 

center with its land structure 

suitable for settlement. Spreading the 

 


Figure 15, 16. Houses set on rocks as an extension of the topography (Atölye Kolektif Archive). 

to the entire settlement has created the 

dense green pattern, one of the main 

elements of the local landscape. With 

the canal systems, water can be taken 

to the gardens, yards, sinks and coolers 

in houses. These water canals, which 

can be used both functionally and as 

a visual natural landscape device also 

provide natural air-conditioning. 

 

Site, where the settlement ends, construction 

opportunities are limited due 

to suddenly elevating land conditions. 

Although there are no structures today 

on this area, it was found by verbal 

historical researches that, in the past, 

there were settlements of terrace houses 

in this district. 

tions, 

using topographic data with a rational 

approach. Due to the land structure, 

all floors of the houses can be 

associated with the outside, except for 

roof floors. So, different indoor layouts 

can be created, based on functional 

and social requirements. Some houses 

are based on hard and steep rocks and 

built over them. On this regional architecture, 

which is in ultimate harmony 

with nature, some settlement units are 

located as an extension of the topography. 

In this settlement, shaped according 

to land conditions, characteristic street 

formations draw attention. Developing 

perpendicularly to the slope, the 

streets use a system formed of wide, inclined 

stone steps. A bevelling system 

is developed as a way to reduce sharp 

turns on the streets, which are narrow 

at certain points. These special details, 

which sometimes use overlap systems, 

contribute to the creation of the street 

character. Another street type, which 

defines the urban character is the “torta”. 

Created as the houses cross over the 

streets, “torta”s also act as passages. 

Although it is essential to use local 

materials for creating the regional 

architectural languages in Anatolian 

settlements, there is a significant distinction 

between the regional architecture 

and the natural environment in 

Kemaliye. The main components of the 

architectural language, displaying the 

characteristics of a superior workmanship 

based on fine materials, are wood, 

stone and cob. Kemaliye houses are 

built with “hımış” construction technique 

and built with wooden beams, 

mud joints, rubbles up to the main 

floor; and with cob filled wooden carcass 

at the main floor and roof. 

Development of wooden architecture 

in the region despite rough conditions, 

and its turning into a widespread 

construction system practiced at the 

whole settlement, has caused to distinguish 

Kemaliye from its surrounding 

settlements. In this natural environment, 

consisting of cliffs and orchards, 

there are no forest areas that can provide 

the wood, which can be used as 

 

to Kemaliye are in Refahiye, north of 

the settlement, and there are no direct 

connections between these two settlements. 

According to the information 

gathered from the verbal history study, 

the logs supplied from Refahiye forests 

were brought here over Kemah, 

through the Euphrates River. In this 

method, called “apart”, logs were tied 

to each other and sent over Euphrates 

 

processed at carpenter shops by the

iverside and turned into construction 

materials. 

Wood and stone, used as structural 

elements in the general design approach 

based on principles of functionality 

and strength, were also used 

as fine coating materials. Wood is 

commonly used both as wall or floor 

coating. Width of wall coatings usually 

 

is a socio-economical indicator; higher 

the purchasing power of the house 

owner, wider the coating. Service, 

walking, and roof areas of the houses 

are coated with the flooring system 

called “rıhtım”, which is unique to Kemaliye. 

Rıhtım is a finishing detail of 

the multi-layered, soil-based flooring 

system, formed by lining up small river 

rocks side by side. 

Among this regional architecture 

based on natural materials, metal sheet 

coatings draw attention as an industri- 

- 

 

wooden walls and soil roofs, became 

an important factor to preserve the regional 

identity until today. This method, 

developed for preventing the negative 

effects of time, can be assessed as 

a creative solution for protection, discovered 

by the local public. With this 

new situation, radically affecting the 

regional identity of the settlement, Kemaliye 

became a place, which realized 

its own evolution. So, without losing its 

essence, it succeeded in maintaining its 

continuity by using the opportunities 

provided by the modern times. 

4.3. Reflections of cultural 

background 

Kemaliye houses abstracts the traditions 

and elements of daily life, and 

add them into the structure. These abstract 

traces are details that enrich the 

modest nature of the houses. Figurative 

door knobs and locks, wooden engravings 

in fixed hardware, patterns at 

“rıhtım” floors, inscriptions and stone 

embossments on walls, high windows, 

ironwork patterns are details that include 

these traces. This planning approach, 

displaying features in parallel 

with the traditional Anatolian civilian 

architecture, are separated together 

with these details and created an original 

identity for the settlement. Such 

traces prove that even one nail in these 

houses can have a meaning, that each 

 

a story, and that wise eyes can read 

these stories. This houses are immortal 

works, which tell what happened 

once upon a time inside to the people 

of today, making them immortal, way 

above just meeting the need for accommodation. 

The cultural interaction, beginning 

with Istanbul from the Ottoman 

times, and still continuing today, has 

been effective in the development of 

 

immaterial acquisitions gathered in Istanbul 

by the Kemaliye people living 

there, returned to the settlement as 

an original architectural language. As 

well as the use of wood, the definitive 

element of the architectural character, 

the delicacies in indoor details are the 

indicators of this effect. 

The knobs, arranged separately 

for the use of men and women, with a 

low sound from one, and a high sound 

from the other, were formed depending 

on the beliefs and traditions of the 

region. The reason for this distinction 

is to have the visitors knock according 

to their genders to allow the household 

prepare accordingly. This separation, 

beginning from the door, continues 

 

“selamlık” section, and women were 

 

the “selamlık” room, a coffee stove is 

placed as a service unit. This section 

becomes independent from the other 

sections of the house with an inner 

door. This way, it was possible to host 

men and women in different floors, 

particularly in weddings and funerals. 

It is possible to see various reliefs 

and inscriptions at the entrances or 

corner stones of some houses. These 

reliefs express the population and fertility 

of the house with their sizes or 

quantities. Another example for symbolic 

details are the nails pounded on 

the threshold upon arrival of a bride. 

They express that the bride is a permanent 

member of the house. 

All abovementioned definitive elements 

of the urban constructs and 

architecture character can be reviewed 

over the Efeoğlu House in detail to 

better understand the subject. Efeoğlu 


Figure 17, 18, 19. Ground floor plan, east elevation, section, Efeoğlu House, 2009 (Atölye Kolektif Archive). 

 

Street, which could mostly maintain its 

originality. In the architectural layout 

 

and the trend to opt for scenery played 

an effective role as the main determinants 

of the regional architecture. It is 

evations 

to the house, which is settled 

on the topography with different layers. 

The main entrance of the house is 

at the yard section, called “hayat”. “Hayat” 

has a systematic layout of its own 

and is also used at the outdoor space of 

the house. These sections, covering the 

boiler, fountain, cooling and seating 

functions play an important role in the 

layouts of houses. Consisting of living 

and service functions, these locations 

also act as social places for women. 

On this floor, where living quarters are 

 

inant 

positions for scenery. “Selamlık 

room”, opening to the yard, and the 

“bride room” downstairs are examples 

of the reflections of the social structure 

on architecture. Both locations can be 

accessed from outside without using 

indoor areas. These traditional houses 

make the walls facing Karasu Valley 

special with various protrusion and 

spacing arrangements. Increase of wall 

spaces on this direction and high windows 

are the indicators of this effect in 

 

covered with hipped roof, as in most 

Kemaliye houses. 

5. Assessment of Kemaliye in the 

context of continuity 

Preserving its original character to 

a great extent until recently, Kemaliye 

now faces developments that threaten 

its urban memory and regional identity. 

In the first field studies performed 

 

settlement pattern greatly preserved 

its original identity but at the same 

time, was exposed to some negative 

interventions. These findings were 

discussed with local authorities and 

residents on a common platform to develop 

solutions. However, since then, 

no developments for solution has been 

achieved, and this caused more serious 

problems today. 

tion 

processes, trying to solve the current 

requirements of the settlement 

with an attitude that does not consider 

type zoning plans and local context is 

Figure 20, 21. Board, stressing unplanned development (“Don’t let Green Eğin turn gray) 2002, TOKI Housing 

2009 (Atölye Kolektif Archive).

the main factor to create the problem 

at hand. The new settlement process, 

beginning particularly after the mar- 

 

 

 

which do not conform with the settlement 

pattern and adhere to general 

planning and city-planning principles, 

and which are unacceptable in terms 

of zoning laws, settlement cultures and 

awareness of preservation; the settlement 

pattern is being destroyed rapidly. 

If such applications continue, the 

regional identity, defined as original, 

will disappear in near future and “the 

green”, which used to dominate the 

settlement, will surrender to the “the 

gray”. 

Another factor that triggers the situation 

is the problem of preserving the 

traditional houses. Due to changing social 

structures, lack of comfort conditions, 

migration, inheritance problems 

and economical hardships, most houses 

are empty and without maintenance. 

Some of these houses, which could not 

stand against the impacts of time, are 

destroyed, and the rest will also be lost 

if necessary precautions are not taken. 

Interventions to meet current needs, 

or keep the buildings standing, often 

result in destructive impacts, far from 

modern preservation approaches. The 

problem of quality of the restoration 

practices, which were expected to solve 

this issue and which gradually increase 

in recent years, unfortunately causes 

irreparable errors. Unconscious use of 

industrial construction materials, loss 

of traditional production techniques 

due to the popularity of such materials, 

and their not being transferred to next 

generations are the main reasons of the 

problem. In most of the applications, 

historical traces are destroyed and the 

buildings are given a brand-new look. 

This reduces everyday the number 

of traditional houses, which preserve 

their originality, and creates a negative 

impact on the pattern integrity. Ignoring 

the individual losses in traditional 

structures causes a deterioration of the 

component-entirety relationship in the 

settlement, and consequently weakens 

the regional identity by time. 

Change in the settlement within 

 

 

Street. This assessment was performed 

by overlapping the data in the doctorate 

thesis of Prof. Dr. Berrin Alper 

 

 

 

 

street that connects the market center 

trict, 

cutting the slope perpendicularly. 

In this street, activities of important 

businesses such as forging, textile 

and customs used to be gathered, and 

there were many blacksmiths, carpenter 

shops, textile cooperatives and related 

textile-painting workshops and 

customs stores. Approximate length of 

 

difference in elevation. The traditional 

 

floors; bottom floor, ground floor, yard 

floor and terrace floor, and they preserve 

their original plan schemes. The 

houses, whose originality are damaged 

because of poor add-ons and sloppy 

repairs, still reflect the character of the 

settlement when assessed as a whole. 

In all houses on this street, it is possible 

to find the metal sheet wall coatings 

and hipped roof practices, developed 

to preserve the traditional houses all 

over the settlement. 

Alper, in her study, found that 

 

original pattern character. However; 

we see that, by time, the street faced 

negative interventions. It is detected 

that the pressure of concrete buildings 

on the original street character increases 

gradually, and so, the “street scale” 

is being lost, particularly in the areas 

where dormitory buildings are located. 

Other than these irreparable destructive 

interventions; it was understood 

that the unqualified add-ons on traditional 

houses deteriorate the massand-wall 

ratios of houses and create 

negative impacts on the street again, 

but with necessary precautions such effects 

can be removed. Fully consisting 

of stone steps due to rough topographic 

conditions, this street is covered with 

locked parquet stones to provide vehicles 

traffic today. The canal systems, 

acting as natural landscape equipment; 

has been interrupted at certain points 

due to low-quality repairs. However, 


Figure 22. Gençağa Street layout plan, 1990 (Alper, 1990). 

Figure 23. Gençağa Street layout plan, 2009 (Atölye Kolektif Archive). 

Kemaliye houses can be a part of the 

street, through the continuity of stone 

and water used in yards and internal 

locations. The flow and transition from 

the street to the house in the settlement 

layout were interrupted with these new 

practices and now, there are borders 

between the houses and the street. 

 

hipped-roof carpet and painting ateliers 

on the street, built with masonry 

system. These ateliers were production 

lished 

in line with the carpet industry, 

flecting 

the period they were built in, 

the ateliers were distinguished with 

their architectural styles from traditional 

architecture, but at the same 

time, they were extremely in harmony 

with the original settlement pattern. 

 

 

potential locations for meeting the requirements 

of the settlement, and giv- 

craft 

center” and “youth center”. With 

the suggestions developed based on 

“industrial archeology” concept, these 

production buildings were considered 

as important elements of the urban 

memory. 

 

demolished and dormitories were constructed, 

neglecting the street scale and 

pattern. Dormitories, a major requirement 

of the settlement because of the 

increasing student population, were 

positioned on this street although there 

were more suitable areas, and the ateliers, 

one of the indicators of the urban 

memory, are unfortunately destroyed. 

These “new” buildings, which can be 

 

“adjusted similarity”, are replicas that 

are distant from the context, built by 

Figure 24, 25. Textile and painting ateliers demolished in 2004 (Atölye Kolektif Archive).

emulating “the old”. 

- 

 

6. Conclusion 

The product of a holistic structure 

of ideas, continuing for centuries, Kemaliye, 

is today in the middle of a cultural 

breakdown process. The analyses 

performed under the study revealed 

that recent developments threaten the 

urban memory and regional identity of 

Figure 26, 27. Boys’ and girls’ dormitories (Atölye Kolektif Archive). 

the settlement. According to De Carlo, 

urban memory is a source to use for 

maintaining the continuity of settlements, 

as an element that carries our 

cultural and historical values and provides 

urban awareness. It is essential to 

protect the urban memory for understanding 

the present of a settlement, 

detect its needs and plan its future. If 

we consider the problem over De Car- 

 

will conclude that, in order to provide 

the continuity of original settlements, 

it is necessary to approach current 

architecture practices with a point of 

view that is based on centuries ago and 

aimed at the future, without yielding to 

 

understanding, new designs must be 

approached with a point of view that 

is internally explored, not externally 

imposed. In line with this idea, it can 

inquire the recommendations of architects, 

societies and their habitats more 

extensively, trying to explore their lifestyles, 

thought systems and traditions, 

and make positive contributions in the 

 

end, architecture must be ethically and 

culturally more responsible than ever 

now. 

In light of these opinions, some 

strategies can be suggested to contribute 

to preserving and maintaining the 

original settlement pattern, while Kemaliye 

is in a process of development. 

Rediscovering the Spaces 

ment 

that realizes its own evolution, 

first of all, its values must be reconsidered 

and deeply analyzed. Rediscovering 

the rational idea underlying 

the regional architecture may show 

the way in new practices in the future. 

This rediscovery process must be for 

understanding the relation between 

people and site organization, taking 

into account the natural environment 

and socio-cultural bonds. If the solutions 

in the original settlement pattern, 

developed with a modest approach, 

can be transformed in line with modern 

principles and used as a source of 

information, said cultural breakdown 

can be prevented. For example; principles 

of gradual usage of topography 

and opting for the scenery are dominant 

elements in the creation of the 

urban location and architecture layout. 

tional 

architecture can create solutions 

unique to the settlement when recon- 

 

Although rediscovering the locations 

mean discovering the thought 

structure that created the original 

character for creating new designs; at 

the same time, it means the assessing 

and converting the existing structures 

in line with modern requirements. 

If non-functional locations are given 

functions again, unlike the demolished 

textile-painting ateliers mentioned in 

study, the urban memory would be 

preserved. In this context, ways to turn 

traditional houses that are deserted 

for the reason that they cannot meet 

 

tions 

that can be inhabited and used. 

These houses, built with great sensitivity, 

are places that transcend time, still 

remain in harmony with the environment, 

and are able to meet the requirements 

of users. The most urgent need 

for traditional houses is the rearrangement 

of kitchen and bathroom hardware, 

and heating systems according to 

modern conditions. For this, designing 

a modular system that can be applied 

in all houses may be a practical solution. 

These new hardware can be used 

indoors or as modern outdoor add-ons 

in yards. With these simple interventions, 

the houses will be revived. 

The need for accommodation, a major 

problem in settlements, can be met 

by converting unused houses to hostels 

or dormitories. This way, a continuous 


usage can be achieved in summer and 

winter to contribute both economically 

and socio-culturally. 

Establishment of the Regional Research 

Laboratory 

Kemaliye stands out as a settlement 

with the potential of becoming the 

cultural center of Upper Euphrates 

Basin, when the region is considered 

as a whole. Because of this, a multidisciplinary 

research laboratory must be 

established to understand and maintain 

the natural and cultural structure, 

which forms the essence of the regional 

identity, particularly the settlement 

center and its almost intact villages. 

This laboratory can evaluate the changes 

in architectural, cultural, social, geological 

and geographical areas, and ensure 

that the relation between the past 

and the future can be established in a 

reconciliatory way. For this, the main 

purposes must be planning national 

and international scientific, art and cultural 

researches and events; carrying 

out inventory studies to preserve and 

maintain the cultural and artistic assets 

of Kemaliye, and thus, help preserve 

the urban memory and contribute to 

the development process of the settlement. 

This suggestion can be improved 

by using the methodologies of The International 

Laboratory of Architecture 

 

 

can be exemplified as similar establishments. 

The research laboratory must 

be established as a platform based on 

participation, where meet local administrations, 

universities, independent 

tection 

board authorities and residents 

meet. 

The research laboratory can also 

act as a production and consultation 

center to improve the quality of restoration 

practices. Workshops can be established, 

where experienced stone and 

wood masters transfer their knowledge 

to the new generation, and traditional 

construction techniques can be continued. 

These workshops will allow the 

settlement pattern to be reused within 

a common architecture language, 

bringing together house owners and 

construction craftsmen under an organization 

where necessary materials 

are manufactured, and where the settlement 

pattern will be perceived to be 

built by a single hand. 

Above strategies can prevent the 

cultural breakdown process and help 

Kemaliye continue its existence as 

an original settlement equipped with 

modern values. This way, Kemaliye 

would evolve its regional identity, 

which it brought from the past, and 

carry it on to the future. 

References 

 

Dokusu ve Evleri Üzerine Bir Araştırma 

(A Research on Kemaliye Settle- 

- 

 

 

dernity, 

Iletisim Publishing, Istanbul. 

 

Architecture: A Critical Theory, 

 

storing 

Identity to the Regional Land- 

en, 

Connecticut, USA. 

- 

 

Urbino is an inventive reworking of old 

and new, in which interventions grow 

of weaving the existing with modern 

 

- 

 

Elsevier, Burlington, USA. 

- 

key. 

 

Carlo: Layered Places, Edition Axel 

 

 

Search of a Utopia of The Present, Rotterdam. 

sessing 

the Landscape As Cultural and 

Historical Heritage, Landscape Re- 

 

 

Grid and The Pathway in Architecture 

 

URL1 Available online, http://www. 

pinterest.com/herrerohurtado/arquiclick-aldo-van-eyck/, 

Accessed 19 Sep-

Extending Kevin Lynch’s concept 

of imageability in third space 

reading; case study of Kampungs, 

Surabaya–Indonesia 

Rully DAMAYANTI 1 , Florian KOSSAK 2 

1 

 

and Planning, Petra Christian University, Surabaya, Indonesia 

2 

 

Sheffield, United Kingdom 



Abstract 

The aim of this article is to extend Kevin Lynch’s theory in the ‘Image of the 

City’ (1960) by adding ‘meaning’ to the urban spaces observation because Lynch 

focused on the legibility factor only. The ‘meaning’ observation in this article is 

through the reading of space as ‘third space’ creation given by Lefebvre, Soja and 

Bhabha. The understanding of ‘third space’ (include the first-second spaces) gives 

a deeper understanding of the urban areas especially for urban areas that bear 

specific social condition of cultural hybridization. The understanding does not 

only read the physical layer, but also cultural and historical layers. This article is 

based on a study in kampungs (urban village) in Surabaya, Indonesia, with specific 

respondents of young adults aged 20-25 years old. This study shows that by 

adding ‘meaning’ to the urban elements identification of Lynch’s especially in the 

view of third space reading, the result shows that elements related to the social 

construction within the place is the most crucial elements rather than elements 

with strong in legibility. 

Keywords 

Imageability, Kampung, Place-meaning, Third space.

58 


The theory of Imageability from Kevin 

Lynch (1960) is still discussed and 

applied because it widened the scope 

of urban design and planning practice 

by considering qualities of main 

urban elements that are paths, nodes, 

edges, landmarks and districts. This article 

aims to extend Lynch’s theory of 

imageability that put emphasis on the 

component of ‘identity’ and ‘structure’ 

of the urban elements as two important 

factors in affecting environmental 

image, before ‘meaning’. Lynch put less 

emphasis on the factor of ‘meaning’ because 

it bears an un-fixed and relatively 

definitions based on the reader’s categorization 

in society and culture. 

The ‘meaning’ observation in this 

article is through the reading of space 

as ‘third space’ creation. Third space is 

a symbolic space that represents a crisis 

in identity triggered by social discrimination 

issues. The case study of 

kampungs is affected by the issue of 

unjust situation of the social and physical 

stratification of the city. The main 

argument in highlighting ‘meaning’ is 

on the perspective that human’s social 

life in a place is the main factor of urban 

space quality that develops meaning 

of place and urban elements. It is 

especially for urban setting that experience 

dynamic changing in terms of 

space, time and society or is read as 

‘third space’, and has low in legibility/ 

visibility factor. 

The article is based on a study in 

kampungs (urban village) in Surabaya, 

Indonesia, with specific respondents 

of young adults aged 20-25 years old. 

The study explores the urban elements 

that are perceived and conceived by the 

respondents through Lynch’s method 

and a supplementary approach of socio-anthropological 

views (to explore 

meaning). The applied techniques are: 

mental map making, interviews, and 

an archival study. 

2. Kevin Lynch’s theory 

of imageability 

Lynch’s theory of imageability is discussing 

the quality of cities according 

to the legibility factor of the elements 

that are perceived by the observers. 

The term ‘visible’, which he calls as 

‘legible’, is a visual quality that can be 

understood through studying mental 

images as a result of people’s memories 

and meanings (Lynch 1960). The urban 

elements are read or analyzed into 

three categories: identity, structure, 

and meaning. His study focuses on the 

two most communicable dimension 

of the conversation of observer and 

environment, which are identity and 

structure. Identity means a distinction 

from other objects; structure means a 

relationship to larger pattern of other 

elements, and meaning means a practical 

and emotional value for the observer. 

It requires first the identification of 

the elements from others, second the 

relationship to others, and the last is its 

meaning. The first and second are the 

most legible/visible of the physical elements 

in cities, while the third is very 

relative in cultures. 

Lynch highlights the five major elements 

in cities that enhance the imageability, 

which are paths, edges, districts, 

nodes, and landmarks (Lynch 1960). 

Paths; it is the most legible element 

in the city image. The observer walks 

along the linear form, such as streets, 

walkways, canals or railroads. Observers 

experience the city while moving 

through it. The path element creates 

a relation arrangement and relation 

 

create a boundary between two or 

more close regions or districts, linear 

breaks in continuity. It could be shores, 

railroad cuts, and walls. The element is 

not as strong as paths, but for observers 

it is an important character in or- 

 

of urban landscapes that have a similar 

or common character, which observers 

could mentally experience ‘inside of ’. 

The observer always identifies from the 

inside with exterior reference from the 

 

an intersections or junctions between 

paths where observers can enter the 

points, for example an enclosed square. 

It is a break of movement transportation. 

Landmarks are points of reference 

that simply defined a physical 

object: signs, buildings, mountains, or 

shops. Some elements can be seen at a 

distance, but some are very simple objects 

that are familiar to the observers. 

These elements must be patterned 

together as nets of paths, clusters of

1 

This book is 

translated to 

English from its 

original French 

language entitled 

‘La Production de 

l’espace’ in 1974, 

as part of the book 

‘The Survival of 

Capitalism’. His 

writings until today 

has been affected 

many authors such 

as David Harvey, 

Edward Soja, 

Homi Bhabha and 

Dolores Hayden. 

2 

Edward Soja is 

an urban planner 

with point of 

view from postmodern 

geography. 

His concept is 

particularly 

connecting spatial 

theory and 

cultural geography, 

reflecting in his 

three books from 

1989, 1996, and 

2001 entitled: 

‘Postmodern 

Geographies’, 

‘Third Space’, and 

‘Post Metropolis’. 

3 

Regarding term 

‘third space’ or 

‘lived space’, there 

are difference in 

these three views: 

Bhabha’s own ‘third 

space’ in cultural 

marginality, 

Soja’s concern 

‘lived space’ 

under the newcultural 

politics of 

identity locate in 

third space; and 

Lefebvre’s lived 

space require a 

contradictory realm 

of alienation and 

liberation. 

landmarks, or mosaics of districts with 

sometimes overlapped and interrelated 

 

material of a city form. In the urban 

context, all elements operate together. 

Images may differ from time to time, 

season-to-season and day-to-day. 

Lynch’s theory is based on his re- 

- 

 

area of approximately 1.5 by 2.5 miles 

was studied in each case. He chose 

Boston because of its vivid form, Jersey 

because of its formlessness, and 

 

grid pattern. Lynch’s methods included 

cognitive mapping, in-depth oral interviews, 

travel maps, direct observations, 

field reconnaissance walks, random 

pedestrian interviews, aerial and 

ground-level photography and syn- 

 

diverse methods, Lynch succeeded in 

identifying internal consistency from a 

relatively small sample of interviewees 

- 

 

Instead of the robust character of his 

theory in imageability that is still discussed 

until today, Lynch on his later 

study and writings reflects his self-critique 

to his own theory particularly in 

meaning development that is culturally 

based. Generally, Lynch’s main focus 

of all his study and writings are to argue 

the importance of sense of place 

in people’s live; and to highlight that 

urban design is not just about physical 

arrangements to satisfy today’s 

needs, but also as a fundamental human 

values and rights such as justice, 

freedom, control, and creativity (Lynch 

1990). He defines ‘meaning’ on his later 

books. Summary of Lynch’s works after 

the ‘Image of the City’ explains as 

follow, especially in defining meaning: 

meaning of place is related to time (history) 

and the observers’ background 

in terms of social class and spatial be- 

veloped 

by people’s sense of legibility, 

experience and place; the development 

of meaning of place/urban elements 

is affected by factors that is embedded 

within them such as accessibility, 

diversity, adaptability and comfort 

(Lynch 1981); and the last one is that 

meaning is related to people’s psychological 

feelings to their environment 

such as attachment, warmth, relaxation 

and interest (Lynch 1990). 

3. Third space reading 

3.1. The first-second-third spaces 

The ‘meaning’ observation in this 

article is through the reading of space 

as ‘third space’ creation. The third 

space concept is adopted from the view 

of space as social production that was 

firstly introduced by Henri Lefebvre 

in his book ‘The Production of Space’ 1 

ward 

Soja especially in the social production 

of space 2 . Parallel with these 

concepts, is a ‘Third Space’ concept by 

sizes 

on the socio-cultural effects of the 

crisis in identity triggered by the multiple 

elements in society. Lefebvre’s, 

Soja’s and Bhabha’s theories are used in 

this research especially to explore spaces 

with lower in visibility quality than 

social quality such as in kampungs. 

Lefebvre’s and Soja’s concepts extend 

the understanding of space instead of 

its physical characteristics, is by con- 

 

Lefebvre ‘space as fundamentally bound 

up with social reality, space does not exist 

in itself, it is produced’ (Schmid 2008, 

p.28). Soja introduced the ‘Trialectics 

of Space’ concept that observes spatiality 

through the investigation of three 

types of space: the first space (perceived 

space), the second space (conceived 

space), and the third space (lived space) 

(Soja 1996). The relationship of these 

three types of spaces is transformed 

into place meaning. The meaning is 

studied through quality of spaces, people’s 

activities, particular histories, and 

people’s perceptions/conceptions to 

 

has a different weight of focus in developing 

meaning, but each of these spaces 

always connects to time and social 

factors in a network of space, power 

and knowledge. 

Homi Bhabha highlights the idea of 

the cultural condition with a sense of 

nandez 

2010). The interaction of society 

in spaces over time creates a new 

hybrid-culture or/and a combination 

culture of previous ones. Bhabha calls 

this condition as a process of ‘third 

59 

Extending Kevin Lynch’s concept of imageability in third space reading; case study of Kampungs, 

Surabaya –Indonesia

60 

space’ creation (in urban spaces) . 

‘Third space’ is a term reflecting an intermediate 

condition or space, a state 

of in-between, neither one nor the 

other, neither here nor there (Bhabha 

 

the difference of spaces in colonial and 

post-colonial cities in terms of hybridization 

in society and culture. He argues 

that because of colonization, there 

is an unequal distribution of power between 

the colonized and the colonizer, 

which is superior to other. This condition 

brings a hierarchical system to the 

meaning development of the specific 

places. 

The understanding of the third 

space should be in regards the other 

two types of spaces. The main point of 

differentiation within these three spaces 

relates to: space, power, and knowl- 

 

weight of focus in the relationship of 

developing meaning, but each space 

always connects to time and social factors 

in a network of space, power and 

knowledge. It is important that these 

spaces are understood together and 

not in a rigid categorization, since they 

are interconnected, inseparable and in- 

 

to Soja himself, each space could be 

collapsed entirely into other spaces, because 

this is the fundamental relationship 

between time and social factors, 

or historicality and sociality. 

Soja regards the first space as perceived 

space, and what Lefebvre calls 

space practice. It is a human physical 

space, or space that could be understood 

through a human’s senses of 

seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and 

touching (Schmid 2008). Perceived 

space has various names, such as physical 

space, natural space, and space practice. 

This type of space is a real space 

that relates to everyday life, for example 

workplace locations, routes and 

spatial sets. In contrast to this physical 

space, Soja regards the second space as 

conceived space, which is needed to 

conceptualize space. Conceived space 

is commonly known as mental space, 

which Lefebvre names it as representation 

of space. This space occurs in relation 

to the observers’ perceptions of 

their perceived space; hence it is also 

called a metaphor of space. It is also 

including spaces that are expressed by 

people with specific knowledge such as 

architects, planners, artists, urbanists, 

and geographers (Soja 1996). 

The third space is lived space, which 

is a type of space that connects perceived 

space and/or conceived space. 

Lived space is a representational space 

as Lefebvre calls it. It is a symbolic space 

that can be understood through an exploration 

of interactions and networks 

resulting from politics, economic system 

and ideology, such as conditions of 

racism, patriarchy, and capitalism. The 

space is structured by an exploitative 

and discrimination of class and social 

relations, which are usually effected by 

issues of racism and unjust situations. 

Hence, this type of space creates a potentially 

insightful subjectivity, because 

it connects between the real space and 

imagined space. The view of lived 

space often leads to a discussion of crisis 

in identity. Specifically, Soja gives a 

special attention to lived space as space 

in the marginality in the discussion of 

the margins and those who are marginalized 

(Soja 1996). 

ic 

journal is to publish good-quality 

technical manuscripts. Therefore, authors 

are encouraged to follow these 

guidelines conscientiously; in particular, 

unnecessary formatting of the 

manuscript or the files containing the 

articles should be avoided. The emphasis 

should be placed on the content; its 

packaging should not be distracting. 

Consequently, the best layout is nearly 

invisible because no formal formatting 

is used that would disrupt the reader’s 

ability to concentrate on the content 

presented in the text. 

3.2. Third space understanding in 

meaning observation 

In the ‘Image of the City’, Lynch was 

too early to say that legibility is the main 

factor in designing ideal cities; therefore 

the misconception of this theory 

has been grown. Lynch’s idea regarding 

the meaning development that is after 

the process of elements’ physical identification 

and connection to other elements 

in a broader scale (identity and 

structure) is arguable. The contra argument 

comes from cities or urban areas 

with low imageability because they are

61 

Figure 1. The case study: Keputran Pasar Kecil gang 1 to gang 4, and kampung of Kedondong Kidul gang-1. 

4 

In Lynch’s book 

‘The Image of The 

City’ 1960, Lynch 

mentioned that ”As 

an artificial world, 

the city should 

be so in the best 

sense: made by art, 

shaped for human 

purposes” (p.95) 

lack of elements with high quality in 

legibility; does it mean that this type of 

areas have low meaning for the citizens 

as well as the legibility? The main argument 

in highlighting ‘meaning’ is on 

the perspective that human’s social life 

in a place is the main factor of urban 

space quality that develops meaning of 

place and urban elements. In this case, 

Lynch’s explanation about the legibility 

factors that leads to the people’s orientation 

and emotional security is debatable. 

People living in low imageability 

or low legibility places has his/her own 

ways to navigate themselves in the environments 

that is (perhaps) not driven 

by the legibility as the main factors 

in orientation and emotional security. 

Through the third space understanding, 

the meaning observation 

of urban elements is a process to understand, 

analyze and evaluate urban 

spaces, which are through not only the 

navigational elements, but also people’s 

social experiences (activities and particular 

histories). People navigational 

ability does not represent their true 

environmental experiences in urban 

areas, which cover physical, cultural, 

and historical layer of space (Koseoglu 

and Onder 2011). The analysis of 

urban spaces should cover all of these 

layers. The observation of meaning 

through the third space is important 

especially for the future planning strategy. 

In third space understanding, the 

creation of meaningful cities is more 

important than that of beautiful cities . 

In discussing Indonesian cities, 

particularly the part of them that are 

kampungs, the consideration of third 

space creation is crucial. It is because 

the modernization process in the city 

has occurred in uneven situation. The 

process is concentrating only on areas 

with high economic value and accessibility. 

On contrast, most kampungs in 

Indonesia today are located in left over 

areas of the city and face a complicated 

social and political problem. Spatial 

and economics discrimination are 

triggered by urbanization and industrialization 

process within cities (Lefebvre 

1996); while political changes and 

economics segregation of a city creates 

marginalization of kampungs (Kusno 

2000). The focus of third space understanding 

is on the development of cultural 

hybridization through a process 

of discrimination and exploitation of 

class, gender and ethnicity. This is the 

process of third space creation in contemporary 

cities, especially for Indonesian 

cities. The meaning of place could 

be understood through the third space 

exploration. 

4. The case study of Kampungs 

The observation of meaning through 

the third space understanding is ex- 



62 

Figure 2. The pedestrian way of the main street (pedestrian, becaks, motorbikes, hawkers, trees etc). 

plored in the case study of kampungs 

in Surabaya in Keputran. The kampungs 

are: Keputran Pasar Kecil gang 1 

gang=aisle/alley), and kampung 

of Kedondong Kidul gang-1. The 

main access entering these kampungs 

is from Urip Sumohardjo Street, except 

for Kedondong Kidul gang 1 kampung. 

It is the main street of the city and creating 

a spine of the city street structure. 

Keputran Pasar Kecil gang 1 is located 

directly in juxtaposition with the 

 

 

 

destrian 

of the main street is physically 

separated the kampungs’ entrances 

with the main street. It also connects 

the kampungs with the shops and kampungs 

areas opposite them through the 

pedestrian-bridge over the main street. 

Shops, banks and other commercial 

facilities are grown along this pedes- 

 

working hour), many food/beverages 

hawkers occupy the pavement. It is also 

functioned as parking areas for motorbikes 

and becaks (becak=pedicab) to 

ride and park. 

The kampungs are placed side by 

side with a high rise building of BRI 

Tower with modern style and beautiful 

garden in the Basuki Rahmat area. The 

two are separated by a long permanent 

wall belongs to the modern building, 

and the spaces inside the wall are used 

as parking or service areas. Contrary, 

another side of the wall is a living 

space for kampungs’ dwellers, which is 

characterized by one-storey buildings, 

semi-permanent, and organic pattern 

of housing layout and street with organic 

infrastructure provision. The 

area inside the wall is for commercial 

use and was planned and designed professionally, 

while behind the wall is for 

human who live by surviving on a day 

to day basis. 

5. The Kampungs reading 

5.1. The first and second space 

In order to understand the conceived 

space of the kampungs, the exploration 

of the individual mental maps and the 

map compilation show that the spatial 

and elemental preferences of the young 

adults are focused on the path structure, 

especially the main alley of his/ 

her kampung and smaller alleys as its 

branches. The way they drew the paths 

is also the way he understood the path. 

Figure 3. The commercial district and the kampungs.

Figure 4. The mental maps. 

They recognize the main street in terms 

of transportation and speed; there is no 

direct connection with houses/ buildings 

that face the street. On the other 

hand, the alley has a strong connection 

with the houses/warungs, the alley 

comes after the houses development, 

and therefore the path that is formed 

follows the space left after the houses 

development. In addition, the social 

connection between houses and the 

alley is strong, the houses are private 

space and the alley is the semi-private 

space. 

The kampungs’ alleys are memorized 

in two conditions: the structure 

and the order dimension related 

 

They imagined the kampungs’ structure 

in three degree of importance: the 

most important is the alley where his/ 

her house is located, alleys that connect 

their neighbourhood to the main 

street, the types of connecting alleys, 

and the last is the dead-end alleys. In 

the individual maps, they know most 

all of the kampung details along his/ 

her alley: the number of houses, colour 

of the benches, members of groups that 

hanging out in specific areas, any trees 

and greenery. The closer the elements 

to his/her kampungs’ alley and alleys 

connecting to the main street, clearer 

and more detail elements memorized 

by them. The focus of their mental map 

drawing is not on the location of individual 

houses (as commonly done), but 

on the alley of his/her kampung as the 

main location of social activities. 

They did not indicate all public facilities 

in those kampungs; only some 

that were related to his activity; such 

 

booths, public toilets, the cyber café, 

the warung, and the barbershop. They 

are relatively small facilities, but signif- 

 

areas are also memorized, such as the 

 

and a vacant land nears the bamboo 

trees. Since greenery is lacking in these 

kampungs, the availability of big trees 

is also noticed as an important element 

based on interviews and kampung’s 

map identification. There are four big 

belimbing trees (belimbing = star fruit) 

located inside the front yard of some- 

 

near the entrance of Keputran Pas- 

 

landmark. The kampungs’ dwellers 

(mostly from Keputran Pasar Kecil 

 

believe that these graves belong to 

 

inaccessible for the public (only open 

for the kampung leaders), the young 

adults respect this grave because of its 

historic sacredness. 

The young adults have strong preferences 

along the main alley especially 

spots for social meeting or hanging 



Figure 5. The dynamic evolution of the city from 1678 to 2005. 

ic 

group occupies a specific spot at a 

specific time in a day. In the day-time, 

groups of children and women occupy 

spaces near the open space (the Bull’s 

ground), while at night-time men from 

the kampung and outside do their so- 

 

has their specific territory at a particular 

time in the alleys and open spaces. 

This explicit agreement is understood 

and agreed by the kampungs dwellers, 

they never occupy any other groups. 

The kampung’s territory is seen by 

the young adults within the boundary 

of BRI Tower, parking area of BRI, the 

main street (and the pavement), Kepu- 

 

also other kampungs. Other kampungs 

that are attached to the two kampungs, 

namely kampung Kejambon, Panjunan 

ements 

to bound their territory. These 

kampungs border their kampungs, and 

they said that these kampungs are unsafe, 

ugly and too quiet. The gutter is 

an important element of navigation; 

despite its poor visibility being covered 

by dense houses on both sides. Kepu- 

 

terms of the working place for most 

kampungs’ dwellers and for the feeling 

of danger because people from 

the market like to get drunk and have 

brawls in the kampungs. 

In conceptualized their kampungs 

through maps, the focus of their map 

is not on the location of their houses, 

but on the alley of his/her kampung as 

the main location of social activities. In 

memorizing the alley, it differs based 

on the social spots: closer to the spot, 

more detail the elements been mem- 

 

public facilities elements are also related 

to the social activity in the alleys, 

besides its factor of visibility and vitality. 

In terms of sacredness, the elements 

of the ancestor’s graves are important; 

this is the only element that is absent 

from the young adults’ experiences fac- 

 

the social activity relationship and/ 

or related to negative social meaning 

are elements that bordered the kampungs’ 

territory, such as the gutter, the 

flat, the market, and the tower. These 

observations are based on a qualitative 

approach; however quantitatively, 

the two most mentioned are the cyber 

café and the areas around the warung 

of pak Tris. 

5.2. The third space 

In exploring the third space of the 

kampungs, this research observes the 

historical background of Keputran 

Kampungs before and after Independence 

in order to understand the current 

physical condition and social characters 

of the dwellers that are inherited 

from the past; and the exploration of 

the daily the rhythm of the kampungs’ 

daily life. 

The kampungs of Keputran is older 

than the city itself or the same old with 

the Soerabaja Kingdom. Based on the 

 

Keputran had been appeared. Before 

the Independence, the kampung often 

has conflict with the landlords because 

the regulation of tax payment. In approaching 

the Independence, the kampung 

has significant role especially in 

protecting the city (or the nation) from 

the British troops. The kampungs’ 

dwellers are commonly known as their 

‘arek’ spirit in defending the city with 

traditional weapons of bamboo runcing 

(bamboo runcing = sharp bamboo

65 

Figure 6. The kampungs’ alleys. 

branch). The spirit or personal character 

of ‘arek’ is embedded with the Surabayan 

young people especially from 

kampungs until today. 

pungs 

in the city are the place for immigrants 

from outside the city who 

occupy provided permanent houses 

or built non-permanent houses (slumming). 

Under the Kampung Improvement 

Programmes (KIP), the physical 

condition of kampungs in Surabaya 

was improved especially in providing 

concrete slabs for the alleys, public toilets, 

water supply and drainage. Instead 

of better living condition of kampung, 

the kampungs’ dwellers have been offered 

compensation from an office 

rental management to sell their land 

for the project of the extension of the 

business district. It was only some of 

the dwellers agreed with the compensation, 

but mostly not. Therefore, the 

negotiation between the management 

and the dwellers are continued until 

today. 

In today daily rhythm, the use of the 

kampungs’s space is varied based on 

the dimension of time, social activity 

and group of people. In the morning, 

mothers, children, and workers make 

use of the spaces especially the alley for 

their way of circulation to school and 

work place. In the afternoon, mothers, 

the hawkers and the money lenders 

are occupying the space in terms of 

transaction of things, money, news and 

 

Figure 7. The use of space in Banteng Ground. 



66 

the space is for young men and men to 

hang out, and sometimes got drunk, 

play gamble, and have brawls. The locational 

preferences of them are relatively 

similar, such as near warungs, gates, 

public facilities, or in alleys’ junction/ 

intersection; the availability of furniture 

is also important. Specifically, the 

daily activities of the young adults are 

focus on their kampungs - work places, 

and their social space in the alley – 

home in a smaller scale. 

The observation of lived space as 

above shows that in historical perspective, 

the character of ‘arek’ that is 

now being represented by the ‘Bonek’ 

character is embedded with their personal 

character of being free. ‘Bonek’ is 

a name for the fanatic fans of Surabaya 

football club. In current condition, 

‘Bonek’ is known through its reluctance 

character when there is a football 

match. The issue of eviction is giving 

them an uncertainty feeling of living in 

the kampungs. Instead of the KIP programmes, 

the dwellers feel ignorance 

from the local government, because 

the continuation of slumming process 

and the changing use of domestic to 

commercial uses. In terms of space usage, 

the alley is a meeting point of the 

community according to time, social 

activity and social group. It offers a 

multifunction usage and social structure 

that is merged and overlapped between 

private and public, and business 

and leisure needs. 

6. Discussion of the theory extension 

Through the exploration of the 

first-second space and the third space 

as above, it could be summarized that 

in understanding urban spaces, meaning 

is more important than legibility 

of urban elements. Kevin Lynch’s theory 

put emphasis on the legibility as 

the most important factor in evaluating 

and designing high quality urban 

spaces. In urban areas such as the kampungs 

when the physical and social 

conditions are in contrast with the city 

around them (identity crisis), the social 

life observation is more beneficial than 

legibility observation especially for the 

purpose of planning/design strategy. 

It is because the kampung is naturally 

built by the original people of the city 

for their life survival, which with less 

consideration from the local government 

at each stage of development. 

The understanding through the 

third space observation (include the 

first-second space) of the kampungs, 

gives a deeper understanding of this 

specific urban areas. The understanding 

is not only read the physical layer, 

but also cultural and historical layers. 

The first and second space exploration 

is inseparable, since the comparison 

of the real space (perceived or 

the first space) and conceptual space 

(conceived or the second space) is to 

study the observers’ physical and cultural 

layers of urban areas. The mental 

maps and interviews show not only the 

observers’ navigational ability in spatial 

knowledge, but also the elements’ 

meanings. The spatial/elements preferences 

in their mental maps are developed 

through the meaning of each element 

related to their social life rather 

than only its physical characteristics. 

The third space observation explores 

the cultural layers through the daily 

rhythm observation, and also historical 

layers of the kampungs. 

The three types of spaces observations 

identify the most important urban 

elements according to the observers, 

which is the spots for their social 

activities. The spots are important for 

them, which are located along the main 

alley and represent their group identity. 

These spots are areas to do their favourite 

activities triggered by the contrast 

modernization. These activities 

are expressing their life as a result of 

cultural hybridization of modern and 

traditional way of life. The activity of 

‘cukrik’ party, Bonek gathering, gambling, 

gaming, and hanging out at night 

belong to them only; represent their 

identity of living in the kampungs. The 

areas around the warung and the cyber 

café have been mentioned in each techniques 

of data gathering used in this 

research. These two elements represent 

the group’ identity of specific young 

adults in the kampungs. 

In extending Lynch’ theory especially 

in terms of adding meaning, a 

combination of Lefebvre’s, Soja’s and 

Bhabha’s theories are used in order to 

highlight the view of space as social 

production through the third space 

creation. Lefebvre’s and Soja’s theories

are applied because of their approach 

in exploring space as social production 

in three different types of spaces. The 

theory of Trialectics of Spaces from 

Soja is applied to observe meaning 

in empirical level of this research by 

studying the perceived, conceived and 

lived spaces. Bhabha’s theory is applied 

in terms of his view in third space creation 

in cultural hybridization terms. 

The Lynch’s theory in evaluating and 

studying urban elements through their 

quality in legibility should be followed 

by an exploration of meaning. The legibility 

quality is studied through the 

first and second space exploration. The 

meaning exploration is studied by the 

third space exploration. The application 

of this extension is specifically for 

urban areas that bear specific social 

condition of cultural hybridization. 

Acknowledgement 

This article is based on an empirical 

work carried out in Surabaya in 2012, 

as part of doctoral study in School of 

field, 

UK. The study is sponsored by 

- 

tion 

of Petra Christian University Surabaya- 

Indonesia. 

References 

Bhabha for 

Architects 

London: Routledge. 

 

 

of Spatial Legibility. Procedia-Social 

and Behavioral Sciences, Elsevier, 30, 

1191–1195. 

Behind the Postcolonial; 

architecture, urban space and 

political culture in Indonesia. London: 

Routledge. 

Lefebvre, H. (1996). Writings on Cities. 

Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers. 

Lynch, K. (1960). The Image Of The 

City 

What Time Is This 

Place? 

Lynch, K. (1981). Theory of Good 

City Form 

Lynch, K. (1990). City Sense and City 

Design: writings and projects of Kevin 

Lynch 

 

 

 

 

 

The Urban Design 

Reader 2nd edition ledge. 

Schmid, C. (2008). Henri Lefevbre’s 

Theory of The Production of Space: 

towards a three-dimensional dialectic. 

- 

Space, Difference, 

Everyday Life; Reading Henri 

Lefebvre 

Thirdspace; 

Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined 

Places. Oxford: Blackwell 

Publisher. 



A relative study of microclimate 

responsive design approaches to 

buildings in Cypriot settlements 

Timothy O. IYENDO 1 , Ebunoluwa Y. AKINGBASO 2 , Halil Z. ALİBABA 3 , 

Mesut B. ÖZDENİZ 4 

1 

 

Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, North Cyprus, Turkey 

2 

 

 

Turkey 

3 

 

 

Turkey 

4 

 

European University of Lefke, Lefke, North Cyprus, Turkey 



Abstract 

This study describe the microclimates, its effects on building design, and how 

it depends on the specific climate of a place. The aim of this study is to examine 

the microclimate responsive design approaches to buildings in the Cypriot settlement 

through different basic elements of bioclimatic design for human comfort. 

The study focuses on selected buildings in Famagusta and Lefkosa district 

of North Cyprus, to understand the effect of microclimate design approaches on 

the vernacular and contemporary edifices. In line with climate characteristics; 

site planning, building form and orientation, vegetation, indoor ventilation, and 

building material was considered in this study. The research techniques applied, 

includes related frameworks, on-site observation, and interview with building 

dwellers. The findings suggested that the vernacular buildings and its environment 

are more sustainable when matched to contemporary buildings. Moreover, 

the study inference suggests that contemporary buildings should incorporate vernacular 

buildings responsive design approaches to maximise human comfort. The 

implication of the study serves as a guide for further investigation on designing 

microclimate responsive buildings. 

Keywords 

Microclimate, Bioclimatic design, Vernacular housing, Cypriot settlements, 

Human comfort.


 

the local climate is not a new concept as 

such. Tracing back from history, beside 

food, shelter is one of the essentials of 

human life on earth. The first humans 

built shelters and lived in caves to protect 

themselves from harsh climatic 

conditions, such as rain, precipitation, 

 

From the beginning of time, around the 

fourth century BC, the Greeks knew 

the importance of incorporating buildings 

with climatic conditions. Likewise, 

they are knowledgeable about 

the sun’s path and the need of placing 

windows on the southern orientation 

to capture adequate needed heat for 

thermal comfort. Much progress was 

 

when interest in architectural design 

with climate was first documented by 

one of the great philosopher, Vitruvius. 

Vitruvius argued that we must take 

note at the outset of the countries and 

climate in which buildings are built 

 

For instance, in the old capital city of 

Italy in Rome, builders were aware of 

the importance of mitigating tempera- 

 

walls with stone and their shadows. 

These walls were made of stucco bricks 

and were typically twelve to twenty 

feet wide, which allowed an extended 

area to be captured in the shadows of 

the walls keeping the city cool during 

the midday hours. The stuccoed walls 

serve as climate-responsive architecture 

or constructed to make use of the 

surrounding climate and its natural 

effects. In support of this, one study 

has shown that in most ancient Roman 

cities colonnades were built along 

both sides of their major streets to hinder 

climatic elements on pedestrians 

 

example, windows are kept to a minimum 

to prevent the sun from entering 

 

 

finishes are used to reflect light to keep 

the bright environment. 

From this context, it is obvious that 

local climate varies significantly within 

a small area due to changes in altitude 

and rainfall. Building techniques of local 

climatic have been developed over 

a long history of construction, and 

these have advanced to promote passive 

climatic conditioning to protect 

inhabitants from their harsh environments. 

Those ideas and techniques of 

city planning, building form, and construction 

methods offer great insight 

 

climate simulates needs for shelter and 

influence local culture, including local 

building materials. Similarly, studies 

have studied demonstrated climatic 

issues, which include both vernacular 

and modern buildings. This can 

be seen in Vitruvius, Koppen Geiger, 

 

provides useful data about climates 

and each of these studies unfolds the 

classification of selected climatic zone 

 

individuals design with a specific local 

environmental characteristics in mind. 

This creates an avenue to manipulate 

the relationship between the climates, 

(a) 

Figure 1. (a) Archetypal surviving (1st century A.D.) exterior stucco rendering on stone-faced 

concrete walls at Ercolano; (b) an exterior stucco rendering in the Middle East (Bronski, 2010). 

 

(b)

71 

the site, and the building, which in 

turn generates a local environment or 

microclimate around the building. The 

“mini climate” that is created around 

the building can decrease the apparent 

severity of the climate, that is, the work 

the building must do to make for a 

comfortable interior and exterior environment 

around the building. There is 

that tendency, if badly handled or designed 

can increase the severity of the 

local climate of the building (Moore, 

 

2. Links between the microclimate, 

site and buildings 

 

or macroclimate of a particular geographical 

location, the design should 

take into account the relationship between 

the climate, site, and occupants, 

as well as the building itself in order to 

have a building base on the local microclimate 

of the environment under 

consideration. This supports the notion 

that human thermal comfort in building 

design is achieved by understating 

the basic principles of bioclimatic design, 

which deals with maintaining of 

thermal comfort within the building. 

Thus, thermal comfort is achieved 

when there is a heat balance between 

human beings and the surrounding in 

- 

signing 

a climate responsive building 

require proficiency in the aspect of 

the climatic analysis of the area under 

consideration as whole, thereby providing 

design strategies which favour 

the use of renewable energy, effective 

site analysis, proper choice of building 

materials, construction techniques, 

building forms, orientations, as well as 

effective use of vegetation. However, 

these design strategies depend on the 

microclimate of an area, that is to say 

that bioclimatic architecture happens 

to be a concept of architecture which 

design helps conserve resources while 

facilitating the use of the local climate 

around a dwelling to construct a green 

home or building that is passively sus- 

 

2.1. Major factors manipulating 

human comfort 

- 

 

factors affecting human comfort as, 

temperature, humidity, in the form of 

vapour and precipitation, wind and air 

sure 

to radiant heat sources (solar radi- 

 

 

to mention that the air temperature 

and mean radiant temperature of a 

homogeneous environment affect the 

“dry” heat exchange of the body by 

convection and radiation. However, 

the rate of this heat exchange depends 

on the air velocity and on the clothing. 

Under constant conditions of air velocity 

and vapour pressure, a rise in the 

air temperature is responded to by an 

increase of skin temperature and sweat 

rate. Moreover, this rate also depends 

on the air velocity and humidity levels 

 

humidity of the air on the other hand, 

indirectly affects the thermal comfort 

of the body and determines the evaporative 

capacity of the air and hence the 

cooling efficiency of sweating. 

It is generally accepted that the internal 

temperature of the human body 

should for all time be reserved contained 

by the narrow limits at around 

37°C, any variation of this value is an 

indication of sickness, and an increase 

 

may lead to serious health problem or 

even death. Likewise, air movement is 

another factor that affects the thermal 

comfort by both the evaporative capacity 

of the air and the convective heat 

exchange of the body. The effect of air 

velocity on the evaporative capacity is 

interrelated with the effect of humidity, 

as well as the effect of air velocity 

and air temperature and the collective 

heat exchange are interrelated (Gut & 

cated 

that when the air temperature is 

below skin temperature these two effects 

work in the same direction. While 

on the other hand, if the air temperature 

is above the skin temperature 

these two effects operate opposite way 

 

comfortable environment for occupants 

or intended users, significant 

aspect needed to be considered which 

includes site condition and orientation, 

plan configuration, construction 

A relative study of microclimate responsive design approaches to buildings in Cypriot settlements

72 

methods and materials, ventilation and 

shading properties, thermal mass, and 

landscape of the building surroundings. 

Furthermore, when all these elements 

combine, indeed, relaxed temperatures 

and high indoor air quality 

are attained. However, other personal 

variables that add to the human comfort 

ability includes activity, clothing, 

 

major factors needed to be considered 

when designing a climate responsive 

building includes the following: 

2.1.1. Building orientation and form 

It is important to consider the local 

climate during the first stage of building 

design. That is, an energy conscious 

design, which results in an energy efficient 

building, has to be based on the 

 

that in any building, the shape and the 

orientation of the building should be 

first defined considering the climate of 

the area, the wind, the temperature and 

the solar radiation. On the other hand, 

 

the most important design parameters 

affecting indoor thermal comfort and 

energy conservation on the building 

scale are orientation, building form, 

optical and thermo physical properties 

of the building envelope. These 

factors are of major concern in order 

to achieve the reduction and control of 

solar radiation as well as provision of 

natural ventilation and natural cooling 

of the external building surfaces by 

 

2.1.2. Building envelope and 

materials 

Building as a whole need to provide 

comfort for the occupant keeping the 

internal environment thermally balanced 

so that the occupants can perform 

their duties and the structures 

serve its function as a shelter (İpekoğ- 

 

construct a building that is thermally 

balanced, heat gain from outside of the 

building should be controlled and heat 

loss from the internal environment 

should be minimised via the building 

envelop. Contemporary methods of 

controlling heat loss and heat gain from 

a building suggests double skin facade 

as an effective means to balance the interior 

and exterior part of the building 

 

reliable material has an impact on the 

occupant depending on the climate, 

properties of materials such as ease of 

cleaning, roughness, emission of heat 

absorption of heat as well as its envi- 

 

2.1.3. Integration of renewable 

energies 

The global world today faces the 

challenge of averting the excess car- 

ly. 

It could be argued that over half of 

emitted energy lead to the accumulation 

of greenhouse gasses and ozone 

depleting gasses. Indeed, the overuse of 

the available resources has reached unacceptable 

limits, for example, regions 

like Europe has come up with measures 

of producing low energy consumption 

buildings with the aid of the European 

 

ed 

that renewable energy tends to have 

a high initial cost, but yields a prudent 

result at a later stage. Interestingly, the 

Eco friendly alternative has yielded 

subsentail benefit that promotes sustainable 

environments (Indraganti, 

 

2.1.4. Water bodies 

Water bodies are useful elements in a 

particular building environment which 

provides an alternative in designing a 

climate responsive building or environmentally 

conscious architecture 

through an intelligent use of water that 

proves to be effective in the enhancement 

of occupant comfort (Chmutina, 

 

 

and urban designers should work collectively 

toward implementation of this 

useful strategy, however, this need initial 

design consideration of individual 

buildings or units of the building. This 

strategy can be feasible when rain or 

storm water are collected and used in 

different ways in building surroundings, 

such as creating fountains, pools 

as well as pond, especially in summer 

times to enhance thermal comfort bal-

73 

2.1.5. Daylight Strategies 

Indeed, daylight has a positive and 

negative effect on the activities of 

buildings and their occupants, despite 

this, climate responsive buildings, energy 

conscious design, explore the potentials 

of natural ventilation, natural 

lighting and passive design to provide 

a comfortable environment (Susie, 

 

provision of day lighting strategy in 

buildings is to provide adequate illumination 

for the interior using the environment 

and architectural elements 

so that energy consumption can be 

reduced and visual comfort enhanced. 

It is of significance to note that daylight 

strategy is considered at the initial 

design stage in order to minimise 

the over reliance on electricity through 

transparent insulation, roof light, atriums, 

light duct and proper shading to 

avoid visibility glare from direct sun- 

 

2.1.6. Site vegetation/landscape 

Vegetation or landscape is an important 

aspect of design with climate 

and environmental conscious design. 

For example, vegetation such as trees 

can be used to protect the building 

from unwanted wind. It also provides a 

favourable atmosphere to buildings in 

sunny days, especially during summer 

as well as outdoor seating with some 

design architectural elements of outdoor 

spaces. In some places like India, 

they use deciduous trees on the south 

and eastern sides for shading, the occupied 

space during the summer and 

allowing solar penetration during the 

winter season (Kanagaraj & Mahalin- 

 

2.1.7. System participation in 

building design 

There are general system parameters 

to be considered when designing 

and building an ecological building or 

a climate responsive building, these include 

influencing parameters, design 

interface, and efficient mechanism. 

The Influencing parameters take into 

consideration factors that will an have 

effect on the proposed building and 

occupants upon completion, such as 

macro parameters, outdoor parameters, 

desired indoor parameters and 

human comfort parameters. In the 

design interface, this deal with factors 

that can be incorporated at the design 

stage to provide the desired comfort 

and function through analysis and effective 

use of macro climate, microclimate 

of the site, building design as well 

as human body and both factors work 

together to provide intelligent building. 

Similarly, the aspect of the efficient 

mechanism devoted to the macro and 

microclimate modification by addition 

or reduction of climatic factors using 

architectural elements and much more. 

Integration of passive and mechanical 

systems in building to work together 

in order to conserve energy as well as 

human regulatory and behavioural adaptation, 

which have a direct effect on 

human behaviour and their activities 

within the building (Kanagaraj & Ma- 

 

3. Microclimatic factors and human 

comfort in North Cyprus settlements 

From architecturally point of view, 

there are three focal considerations 

guiding tropical design, which includes 

the people and their needs, climate and 

its attendant ills and the materials and 

the means of building. This implies 

that, climate, sun, and humidity act as 

the main liabilities, whereas wind is an 

asset. In this view, Tzikopoulos, Karat- 

 

that, to attain comfort in hot and humid 

regions, bioclimatic factors must 

be taken into account in building construction, 

which includes topography, 

 

and movement of the sun and its impact 

during the year (i.e. Solar altitude 

 

suggests other climatic conditions such 

as prevailing wind patterns, incoming 

solar radiation, temperature, air moisture; 

environmental conditions such 

as daylight and shading of the construction 

site; mass, volume and size of 

building; local architectural standards, 

and availability of local building materials. 

In addition, the utilisation of vegetative 

cover or non-reflective flooring 

materials also helps in preventing reflected 

radiation and glare, as well as 

flattening day and night temperature 

swings within the interiors. Moreover, 

it has also been suggested that the cre- 


74 

Figure 2. (a) Location of the three basic cities in North Cyprus map (Modified by author); (b) temperature data 

for Northern Cyprus (Dinçyürek, Mallick, & Numan, 2003). 

ation of the open arcaded hall situated 

on the south and proportioned in such 

a way to keep away the high summer 

sun, while letting in the low winter can 

increase comfort in hot humid regions 

 

In line with the Mediterranean climate, 

North Cyprus is the third largest 

island situated in the north – eastern 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

2a, North Cyprus climatic features can 

be scrutinised from four main regions; 

 

 

 

northern coast, and Guzelyurt on the 

western coast. However, these regions 

are characterized in the same climatic 

zone called the semi-arid Mediterranean 

climatic zone and are in close 

proximity to each other. These regions 

can be categorised under three distinct 

climatic conditions, such as hot–arid, 

hot–humid, and composite climates. 

This is due to the geographical qualities 

such as topographical values and prox- 

 

Climatically, North Cyprus Island 

has an intense Mediterranean climate 

that comprises of typical seasons, long 

hot dry summer from (June – Septem- 

 

cloud cover or changeable rainy days 

ed 

by a short autumn and spring sea- 

 

 

 

2b, the average coldest daytime temperature 

in winter (January – Febru- 

 

the average maximum temperature in 

coastal regions is 32 oC. The maximum 

 

son 

extends from November to March, 

 

- 

 

4. North Cyprus climate responsive 

design approaches 

In hot and cold climate, climate responsive 

architecture uses special techniques 

and designs to help get the most 

benefit out of the natural environment. 

This is done by taking advantage of 

the surrounding environment and the 

average climate conditions of the re- 

 

known examples of buildings and settlements 

that employ such designs. To 

overcome variations in climatic conditions, 

North Cyprus buildings, implements 

several aspects of climate responsive 

design. However, the impact 

of climate on the architectural designs 

in rural areas can be seen more often in 

crowded villages. 

4.1. Compacted settlements/housing 

In the Vernacular Cypriot settlements, 

houses in towns and villages 

are characterized by optimal protection 

against solar radiation by mutual 

shading, which leads to compact 

settlements, narrow streets and small 

squares. The discerning factors of 

these buildings lie in the array of the 

dwellings, around social centre and 

especially in the narrow streets. These 

narrow streets that meet at the centre 

leave space open for westerly and 

more infrequently easterly winds and 

are designed in a way to shed shad-

Figure 3. (a) Map portrays a traditional quarter in Famagusta (Oktay, 2002); (b) a narrow 

Street in the traditional quarter of Arabahmet, Lefkosa (Authors archives, 2013). 

ows to lessen the impact of acute heat 

 

demonstrated in Figure 3a & b, the 

narrow streets permit breeze flows and 

which, also facilitate passive cooling. 

Buildings are closely joined (Oktay, 

 

aly 

cluster their houses close together 

facing the south in order to minimize 

 

in North Cyprus settlement, compacted 

streets make it walking easier, 

due to the shade it casts on the streets 

and allows the occupants, particularly 

the women to sit in the street (Oktay, 

 

4.2. The use of vegetation 

ban 

environment are of functional, in 

landscaping and aesthetic as well as 

the climatic importance of its radiation 

absorbent surface and its evaporative 

and shade-giving properties. The 

vegetation in and around houses also 

has definite effects on air movement. 

Landscaping or vegetation around 

buildings improves the microclimate 

outdoors and indoors. It checks hot 

and dusty winds. Planting trees around 

building help in leaves transpiration 

and reduces temperature around the 

surrounding. Shade of plants or trees 

lowers daytime temperatures and heat 

emission at night, thus resulting in 

appropriate balanced temperatures 

for the occupant comfort. It balances 

the humidity in the building environ- 

 

much of the free water is absorbed and 

during dry periods, water is evaporated 

through vegetation. Figure 4 shows 

a typical example of how vegetation is 

used in Cypriot houses. 

4.3. Utilisation of the cooling 

effect of water 

 

region within North Cyprus, for example, 

in the Kyrenia area, water bodies 

are integrated close to buildings, which 

evaporate and therefore reduces the 

surrounding temperature, as well as for 

thermal balance of the building occupants 

in most cases. 

4.4. Usage of arcades, bay windows 

(cumba) cantilevered roofs 

 

 

pitch roof structures and their overhangs 

are all the expression of the cli- 

 

Figure 4. Describes the use of vegetation in Boyunca Street in Lefkosa (Authors archives, 

2013). 


Figure 5. A typical building in the Kyrenia 

area, portraying water boding around the 

building for cooling effect (Source: Authors 

archives, 2013). 

In Cypriot settlements, arcades, porches, 

colonnades, cantilevered roof or 

components, and membranes serve 

as traditional responses to the climate 

in the villages and urban settings; 

this gives an inward looking and provides 

a transition from indoor to outdoor 

light. The most prominent climate-modifying 

element in some of 

these houses is the arcaded hall, which 

is located on the south without exception. 

The porch, which is positioned 

in the southern part of the dwelling, 

is of great worth to Cyprus traditional 

dwelling and consists of a semi-open 

and arcaded space. It is more conducive 

in winter period due to the passage 

area, which is located in between 

the closed and open areas. It allows 

penetration of sunrays in winter and 

 

summer period, it provides an ideal 

space and allows for the cool flow of 

 

 

represented in Figure 7, it also serves as 

shading elements for most of the day’s 

especial sunny periods, and for heavy 

rainfall 

Figure 6. Portraying bay windows (Cumba) 

in a street- walled city of Lefkosa (Authors 

archives, 2013). 

4.5. Using of small enclosed 

courtyards in Cypriot houses 

Most of the Cypriot houses have 

courtyards due to the weather in the 

summer period, and are almost similar 

in shape, which is either rectangular 

or square in nature. The courtyard 

is where most of the daily activities 

are carried out and is used for various 

activities, which includes social gathering 

and entertainment (such as play- 

 

and eating of food, domestic works are 

done there during spring and summer 

periods, washed cloths are dried in the 

 

 

flowers and trees are grown to provide 

a fascinating eye-bird appearance of 

nature. In addition, vegetation in the 

courtyard act as evaporative agent and 

coolants in the courtyard. They also 

serve the purpose of air filters; such 

as dust in the atmosphere within the 

courtyard. Furthermore, the courtyards 

also serve as accommodation 

for the household pets, and traditional 

oven is used for baking bread for 

the household or visitor in the court- 

 

Figure 7. Cases of porch in a single storey Cyprus traditional dwelling (Günçe, Ertürk, & 

Ertürk, 2008).

77 

Figure 8. (a) A typical old traditional village Cypriot courtyard (Pulhan, 2008); (b) an 

archetypal courtyard Cypriot dwelling from the 1960s (Ozay, 2005). 

Moreover, the courtyards serve as 

wind protected exterior spaces in winter 

and cooling effect or cool air pools 

that occur in courtyards in summer to 

satisfy effective comfort of the occupants. 

It minimises the solar radiation 

impact on the outside walls and provides 

a cool area within the building, 

which is surrounded by rooms. Other 

requirements such as safety defence, 

privacy, and lifestyle are also attained 

in the Cypriot rural traditional dwelling 

courtyard. However, a centrally 

situated courtyard may not be suitable 

for houses in North Cyprus, due to the 

severe summer heat and sometimes 

compromises this intended purpose, 

because of inadequate cross ventilation 

within the courtyard (Pulhan & Nu- 

 

Figure 9. A dwelling with an effective 

terrace along salamis road in Famagusta 

(Authors archives, 2013). 

4.6. Using balconies, terrace and 

canopies 

 

architecture, “courtyard styles” may be 

relevant for any type of building, be it 

residential, commercial, institutional 

or industrial. “Special places that are 

outside yet almost inside, open to the 

sky, usually in contact with the earth, 

but surrounded by rooms” (Blaser, 

troduced 

over their building windows 

to direct the airflow upwards and to 

serve as shading elements as well. Balconies 

above the ground floor are usually 

used as outdoor sitting area during 

the summer time when the sun intensity 

is much in order to have comfortable 

living spaces. The canopies also 

provide a sitting environment with a 

nourishing vista usually around pools, 

 

 

Cypriot dwellings or houses serve the 

purpose of food drying and clothes 

drying in some occasions. Construction 

provision of the balconies must 

ensure discontinuity of their extended, 

exposed structure to the air, which is liable 

to act as a thermal bridge to the internal 

slab. Unfortunately, most houses 

in North Cyprus are poorly designed in 

terms of balconies. The balcony is always 

narrowly constructed, especially 

in apartment buildings, and this undermines 

the intended purpose. 

4.7. The use of shading devices 

In Cyprus, shading devices are used 

in both residential and public buildings, 

but feature prominently in some 

public buildings. The need arises because 

of radiation experienced in the 

form of increased air temperature, radiant 

heat and glare mostly in the summer 

time, when there is much intense 

heating and need to keep the internal 

environment cool to control warm air 

or direct sunlight effect on the occu- 

equate 

shading reduces these effects 

considerably, and which call for both 

vertical and horizontal shading used in 

North Cyprus buildings. 


Figure 10. (a) A mix-use apartment block with combined shading devices - horizontal 

shading devices (Authors archives, 2013); (b) apartment block with horizontal shading 

devices (Ozay, 2005). 

4.8. The use of bright colours 

 

buildings in Cypriot settlements are 

carefully painted with bright colours, 

this is due to the climatic condition of 

the area, and most of the colours that 

are used in their buildings are light or 

bright colours. Bright colours are applied 

in Cypriot building facades to 

reduce reflection of sun into buildings, 

since the reflection of sunlight increas- 

plication 

of bright colours in Cypriot 

building immensely facilitates in the 

reduction of heat penetration to the indoor 

environment, thereby providing a 

conducive surroundings for occupants, 

as well as reducing the defects of sunlight 

on the exterior walls. 

4.9. The use of building materials 

In line with climatic characteristics, 

building material was carefully selected 

in the rural areas of Cypriot settlements. 

For example, in the Traditional 

building material like ‘adobe’ is commonly 

used in the village settings, as 

it is locally available materials, which 

provides Its energy efficiency and can 

 

stone infill structures were mostly 

used instead of wood. Marble is used 

as flooring covering materials with 

respect to the climatic conditions. In 

some cases, yellow limestone and adobe 

are also used. However, in the rural 

area building materials and techniques 

are chosen based on topography and 

resources of the local environment. For 

example, in Mesaorian regions, adobe 

is the most substantial building materials 

in use. Stone is commonly used in 

the mountainous region, with respect 

to climatic and topographic conditions. 

Consequently, to attain climatic 

comfort for dwellers using the natural 

 

5. Conclusion 

The study indicates that designing 

with climate in North Cyprus is of two 

fold, the vernacular and contemporary 

buildings. The vernacular buildings 

and its environment are more sustainable 

compare to the modern ones. The 

organisation in the city and villages 

differs from each other, this account 

for more appropriate in the climate accommodation. 

Climatic condition and 

social aspect differences have driven 

specific acclimatization of the people 

through the buildings. In Famagusta 

Figure 11. Portraying the use of bright 

colour in Cypriot vernacular dwellings 

(Authors archives, 2013). 

Figure 12. A building depicting availability 

of local building material (stone and adobe), 

in Arabahmet, Lefkosa (Authors archives, 

2013).

Table 1. Classification of the vernacular and contemporary settlements in terms of sustainable and non-sustainable. 

Sustainable Unsustainable Sustainable Unsustainable 

1 Figure ground 2 Use of water bodies 

The narrowness of the streets 

While on the other hand, 

and arrangement of buildings 

scattered buildings create 

simply defines the surrounding 

irrelevant space and disqualifies 

space for alternate uses and users. 

the orientation and use of spaces 

Compacted streets and buildings 

created within. 

makes walking easier. 

 

water bodies (such as pond, wtaer 

 

wetland, stream e.t.c as a cooling 

device makes living comfortable 

for both human and animal species 

within immediate environment. 

On the other hand, absence 

of any water body and at 

the same time, absence of 

vegetation around buildings 

may insure more ventilation 

cost on the inhabitation. 

3 Street layout 4 Use of windows 

Narrowed street pattern was 

a delibrate climate adaptive 

mechanism that enables 

shadow casting which cools the 

frontages for sitting and walking 

comfortability 

Some newly developed parcel 

area divisioning does nt give 

cognisance to this potential and 

therefore creates some wider 

streets along parcel blocks. 

Large or small size of window frame 

also has respective roles in creation 

of comfort in a house. Likewise, 

the wooden or aluminium frame 

materials utilized determines the 

degree of heat absorption or air 

penetration into the building. 

Recent designed buildings 

are with larger window sizes 

in smaller numbers, which 

makes the assumed volume 

of air not to be properly cross 

ventilated. 

Use of Vegetation Roof utilisation 

To provide favourable 

atmosphere in sunny days, 

certain species or combination 

of many plant are used 

to support outdoor sitting 

elements. While same tree is 

use as wind blockage in the cold 

winter wind. 

 

environment increases the 

tendency of adverse discomfort, 

increase spread of diseases, 

high cost of housing renovation 

resulting from harshness of the 

heating and cooling of building 

walls. 

 

comfort in a house is through the 

adoption of cantilevered roofs and 

porches to help maximize the air and 

solar energy in either season which is 

used in the vernacular settings. 

While inexistence of alternate 

energy control methods 

would result in the adoption 

of mechanism that are more 

cost consuming. 

7 Use of Courtyard 8 Building material 

Beyond a space, the courtyard 

was for building and streets 

linkages, social, domestic and 

ventilation derivation 

Contemporary building designs 

assumes the role of courtyard 

as waste and irrelevant thereby 

deprived of such connections. 

 

timber and yellow stone materials 

were practically meant to moderate 

climatic temperatures. 

Metal, concrete, cement 

is most unique to the 

unsustainable contemporary 

houses. 


and Lefkosa regions, several aspects 

of design with climate and sustainable 

architecture can be found easily, especially 

in term of acclimatization to the 

nature. However, this is a great im- 

 

some buildings, the concept of climate 

design and sustainability are totally 

neglected, especially in the apartment 

buildings within these regions. The 

newer developments, just similar to 

other cities in the world are neglecting 

the natural-local aspect, culture, and 

tradition of the users. The older material 

such as stone and earth has higher 

thermal lag than new constructed contemporary 

buildings. Wooden opening 

materials were effectively used-no glass 

house effect in the older houses. In addition, 

the new housing developments 

undermine the used of balconies, 

which is one of the ways to respond to 

the climatic condition for human comfort. 

When a building is designed with 

energy maximisation in mind, comfortable 

environment is achieved at a 

lesser cost. Resources used efficiently 

to judiciously manage waste and recycle 

as much as possible makes a living 

more sustainable. In the vernacular 

buildings, many of these features are 

considered greatly, while construction 

process is carried out, whereas, many 

of the contemporary buildings neglect 

the simple and basic facts that one can 

benefit from nature. Building in the 

newly developed quarters of Famagusta 

is seen to lack many of these basic 

natural mechanisms for a more conducive 

habitation, which does not only 

have an effect on man but also on the 

biological species available to the ecosystem. 

Just as a bird would inhabit on 

the trees that provides shade for man 

during a hot weather, the chances for 

such species of plant is likewise narrowed. 

Responding to climate through 

many of the above listed techniques 

creates a symbiotic relationship between 

man and nature through building 

design and construction. In this 

view, this study suggests incorporating 

the vernacular buildings responsive 

design approaches and its physical, 

environmental characteristic into the 

contemporary edifices for adequate habitants’ 

comfort. 

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Lessons from ‘archaeotecture’: 

Analysing variations in vernacular 

architecture using methods from 

archaeology 

Warebi Gabriel BRISIBE 

 

Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Rivers State University of Science and 

Technology, Port-Harcourt, Nigeria 



Abstract 

With the architecture of prehistoric sites and ancient civilizations constantly requiring 

new methodologies and forms of analysis, a new field of research the Archaeology 

of Architecture or ‘Archaeotecture’ has been designed to merge theory 

and method for that purpose. It combines aspects of ethnography, anthropology, 

archaeology and architecture to understand the material context of human social 

relations, culture and production as seen via architecture through time. Similarities 

have been drawn between prehistoric architecture and contemporary vernacular 

architecture of hunter-gatherer societies. This paper takes advantage of these 

similarities by employing methods used in ‘archaeotecture’ to ascertain cross-spatial 

and cross-temporal variations in the vernacular architecture of Ijo migrant 

fishermen in Nigeria. The Principal Co-ordinate Analysis which is a quantitative 

technique adopted from archaeology was applied in the analysis of architectural 

data to ascertain variations in vernacular built forms. The results indicated the 

existence of variations as well as the cultural transmission mechanisms that may 

have influenced these variations. The paper concludes by discussing and recommending 

the use of interdisciplinary cross-pollination of methods in examining 

variations in both vernacular and contemporary architectural studies. 

Keywords 

Variations, Archaeotecture, Vernacular architecture, Archaeology, Cultural 

transmission.


Variation involves a level of change, 

shift or deviation from a pre-established 

norm or standard. It comes 

about where alterations, additions or 

subtractions have been made to an 

existing model or standard over time. 

Variations in architecture may entail 

making slight and sometimes unnoticeable 

changes to building designs 

or materials used, or could involve a 

complete change of architecture with 

little or no notable semblance to the 

previous dwelling type (Steadman, 

 

 

This paper examines architectural 

variations across space and over time 

in the dwelling types of Ijo migrant 

fishermen in Nigeria. Ijo fishermen 

are aquatic hunter-gatherers who are 

known to migrate seasonally mainly 

following fish movement. Over time, 

daughter colonies of Ijo migrant fishing 

settlements have been formed in 

other countries along the West African 

coastline other than their ancestral 

 

result of transnational migration. 

The study from which this paper is 

derived examined variations in the base 

camp designs of Ijo migrant fishermen 

si 

Peninsula, Cameroon. Statistical 

data and analyses from that study has 

been obtained and used in this paper 

 

categorized as aquatic hunter-gatherers 

based on their nomadic lifestyle 

and reliance on aquatic resources 

 

in the material analogues, structure 

and activities of prehistoric and hunter-gatherer 

societies as discussed in the 

middle-range theory, some scholars 

propose that human societies could be 

studied in the present to discern material 

analogues with which to understand 

societies in the past and vice ver- 

 

 

the importance of “Ethnoarchaeology” 

in the study of artefacts and culture of 

current societies to make comparisons 

or parallels with past ones. Jarzombek 

 

the architecture of first societies looks 

at how indigenous societies build today 

in order to help inform the past. 

This paper also considers that “Archeotecture” 

as stated earlier, combines 

aspects of ethnography, anthropology, 

archaeology and architecture to understand 

the material context of human 

social relations, culture, production 

and spatial organisation through architecture, 

over time. Over the years 

quantitative techniques have been 

developed in archaeology to analyse 

cross-cultural and cross-temporal 

variations in material culture between 

prehistoric sites. As such, borrowing a 

methodology from archaeology to ascertain 

architectural variations in the 

vernacular built form of migrant fishermen 

is worth exploring. 

2. “Archaeotecture” -The archaeology 

of architecture 

 

rise of heritage as a national resource 

and means of establishing social and 

cultural inclusion, archaeologists 

whose primary analytical context is 

architectural, find themselves actively 

producing the object of such claims for 

heritage through their constitution of 

archaeological records and in particular 

the architectural objects of that record: 

buildings have had to move from 

being just dwellings to functional and 

 

As such, with the study of architecture 

being seen as an integral part of 

the field of archaeology, particularly 

settlement archaeology, Ayan Vila et al 

 

and multi-dimensional approach that 

views architecture as an active, living 

entity. They termed this study of architecture 

in archaeology as “archaeotecture”. 

Archaeology is traditionally concerned 

with the remains of all forms 

of material culture but archaeotecture 

focuses on the ‘monumental’ and ‘material’ 

remains of built forms. It seeks to 

decipher what prehistoric built forms 

and settlements looked like using monumental 

and material remains. 

Investigating domestic architecture 

from an ‘archaeotectural’ perspective 

involves an integration of methods and 

theories from several disciplines. In 

fields such as art history and history, 

the study of artefacts focuses on identification 

and systemization of features

and their variations which is change 

 

that studying a house as with any other 

artefact requires description and classification 

so as to understand typology, 

patterns and sequence. Steadman 

 

archaeology is in itself inspiring new 

methodologies with which to study 

built forms. 

3. Reviewing methodologies in 

assessing architectural variations 

in archaeology 

The concept of variation suggests 

that a model had existed before a 

change was made. This has led to studies 

on how standardization can be 

assessed and differentiated from variations 

in most material cultures includ- 

tified 

continuity and standardization 

of dwellings as one of six approaches 

to the study of prehistoric built space. 

He emphasized that architectural continuity 

and standardization was used 

to identify aspects of socio-economic 

change over time, and standardization 

could be measured by studying repetitive 

design patterns within sites (Cut- 

 

Other researchers who looked at 

variations in vernacular architecture 

over time and the methods they used 

 

- 

 

in surface architecture. He used So- 

 

assumes that artefact similarities are 

mainly a product of cultural transmission 

of information within a popula- 

tion 

technique that is, the presence or 

absence of a combination of variables 

which generate classes of the building 

type. The spatial distribution of the 

building types should then represent 

the spatial structure of transmission 

according to shared ideas of building 

type design among groups. 

 

 

in studying variability or variations 

in Thule Inuit architecture. Romanou 

 

of studying spatial distribution patterns. 

She compared spaces in terms of 

their integration values and architectural 

attributes to ascertain the functions 

they were used for. These functions 

were then compared between and 

within dwellings of different phases 

to observe similarities or differences 

which are indicative of change or variation 

over time. 

tive 

approach by examining architectural 

continuity or change over time 

using the layering technique. This 

method involved placing plans for one 

horizon or phase over those of another 

phase and recording similarities based 

 

of the walls in the preceding house 

aligned with those of the succeeding 

house, then the succeeding house was 

 

If on the other hand there was less than 

ing 

house, the house was termed un- 

 

also employed this method to ascertain 

social and household organisation on 

the basis of change in internal building 

configuration in the prehistoric 

 

Continuity was also observed over 

 

northern Iraq, by layering or super-im- 

 

 

of four different Neolithic phases in the 

 

Showing how people divided the space 

around and between them following 

rules that changed to cope with evolving 

social and livelihood conditions 

 

4. What constitutes vernacular 

architecture? 

Although the use of the term ‘vernacular’ 

has been popularly subscribed 

to by most scholars, there is no commonly 

accepted definition. Oliver 

 

many meanings as the cultures and 

 

is of the opinion that “the definition 

of vernacular is infinitely variable” 

 

 

vernacular architecture as architecture 

that, 

Lessons from ‘archaeotecture’: Analysing variations in vernacular architecture using methods from 

archaeology

Comprises the dwellings and all 

other buildings of the people, related 

to their environmental contexts and 

available resources, they are customary 

or community built, utilizing traditional 

technology. All forms of vernacular 

architecture are built to meet specific 

needs, accommodating the values, 

economies and ways of living of the 

 

In a study on vernacular architecture 

compiled two decades ago, vernacular 

architecture was viewed as a product, 

a process and as knowledge. As a 

product he examines the information 

 

as a process it focuses on the relation 

of complex man-environment interac- 

 

natural and built environment (Turan, 

 

scholars began focusing more on categorisation 

than on a single definition. 

Aysan, focused primarily on three 

 

process by which definitions of the 

 

process by which methodologies for 

 

and thirdly, the criteria by which buildings 

were considered to be vernacular 

 

 

that actually looked at the definition 

of vernacular design in detail. His definition 

is not based on a single charac- 

terization 

that fits between extremes 

of a continuum but tending towards 

an ideal type. Within this continuum 

is a wide range of attributes of which, 

a dwelling type may possess some but 

not necessarily all of these attributes. 

He sub-divides these attributes into 

process and product characteristics. 

Product in this case describes the nature 

and qualities of the environment, 

while process looks at how the environment 

is formed and the various factors 

that combine to bring it to be. 

Seventeen attributes make up the 

process characteristics, while twenty 

attributes make up the product characteristics. 

The product characteristics 

include the relationship between 

culture, environment, climate, natural 

resources within the geographical location 

and the eventual architectural 

product. It highlights the role all these 

aspects play in the realisation of the 

product. The process is obtaining and 

harnessing the intuitive know-how required 

in blending these different facets 

into achieving a built form. Within 

these process/product characteristics 

is the aspect of variations of the built 

model, the existence of which adds to 

the characterisation of vernacular architecture. 

 

 

characteristics have been italicised and 

highlighted as these focus on variation. 

nacular 

designs often emanate from 

single models that undergo changes, 

which result in variations over time. 

This is the product but the process 

 

one of the characteristics of a vernacular 

dwelling is the degree or extent of 

change from the original model when 

variation occurs, as well as the rate or 

speed with which this change occurs. 

However rate or degree of change is 

not considered in isolation but often 

linked to factors that influence them. 

This study is therefore not just about 

vernacular dwellings of a particular 

culture but about the aspects of being 

vernacular. In one way it tests a certain 

aspect of the vernacularism of a dwelling 

type – variation or the tendency of 

dwellings to either evolve or change. 

 

attributes providing a range or continuum 

within which the vernacular exists 

in its barest form to its most ideal 

form, what ultimately distinguishes 

vernacular designs from other forms 

of architectural designs is the relationship 

to culture. Rapoport emphasizes 

this when discussing the importance 

of culture for house form (Rapoport, 

 

and in the later volume he offers an 

explanation of the concept of culture. 

However, I believe a deconstruction of 

this concept will be more justified from 

an anthropological and sociological 

perspective, as studies in culture and 

cultural theory have been pioneered 

and spearheaded by scholars from 

these two disciplines.

Table 1. Polythetic classification of vernacular design attributes (Adapted from Rapoport 

1990). 

S/No PROCESS CHARACTERISTICS PRODUCT CHARACTERISTICS 

Identity of designers 

 

Specific model, plan forms, morphology, 

shapes, transitions 

 

Nature of relationship among Elements and 

the nature of underlying rules 

Reliance on a model with Variations Presence of specific formal qualities 

 

Presence of a single model or many 

models 

Use of specific materials, textures, colours, etc 

Extent of sharing of model 

Nature of relation to landscape, Site, 

geomorphology, etc 

 

Nature of schemata underlying the 

model 

Effectiveness of response to climate 

 

Consistency of use of a single 

 

Efficiency in use of resources 

Of the house-settlement system 

 

Types of relationships among models In Complexity at largest scale due to place 

different types of environments 

specificity 

Specifics of choice model of design 

Complexity at other scales due to use of a 

Single model with variations 

 

Congruence of choice model and its 

Choice criteria with shared ideals of 

users 

Clarity, legibility and comprehensibility of the 

environment due to the order expressed by 

the model used 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the relation between environment and 

Culture/lifestyle 

Use of implicit/unwritten vs. Explicit/ 

Legalistic design criteria 

 

Consciousness of the design process 

Degree of constancy/invariance vs. 

change/originality (and speed of change 

over time) of the basic method 

Form of temporal change 

Extent of sharing of knowledge about 

design and construction 

Open-endedness allowing additive, 

subtractive and other changes 

Presence of ‘stable equilibrium’ (vs. the 

 

Complexity due to variations over time 

(changes to model not of model) 

Open-endedness regarding activities 

 

environment (large range of non-visual 

 

 

Effectiveness of environment as a setting for 

Lifestyle and activity systems and other 

aspects of culture 

Ability of settings to communicate 

Effectively to users 

Relative importance of fixed-feature element 

Vs. semi-fixed feature element 

4.1. Ascertaining variations in 

vernacular architecture 

With the preceding argument made 

by Rapoport, we can say that change 

in itself is one of the characteristics of 

being vernacular or vernacular archi- 

 

that change is one of the main issues 

dominating the vernacular architecture 

discourse, with questions regarding 

the staticity, evolutionary changing 

patterns or purposeful dynamism 

of vernacular built forms resurfacing 

 

suggests that in approaching housing 

studies in general, lessons can be 

learned from the vernacular in the recording 

and documentation of building 

traditions and typological changes 

with time and in assessing changing 


archaeology

needs of its occupants through time. 

As such, they suggest that in order to 

understand variations resulting from 

change in architecture over time lessons 

ought to be borrowed from the 

vernacular. 

However, this paper goes a step 

further to suggest that in the study of 

change and variation in dwellings, vernacular 

architecture has derived and 

can derive more lessons from ‘archeotecture’ 

and so can housing studies. 

For variation or change over time to be 

fully understood, especially as it relates 

 

that architecture ought to be studied 

gested 

that vernacular architecture be 

studied as a product and an artefact. 

This is because most of the techniques 

for assessing standardization and variations 

have been developed mainly in 

the field of archaeology for studying 

variations in artefacts of material culture. 

However, these techniques have 

been applied not only to artefacts, but 

to architecture as well (Jordan and 

 

 

 

4.2. Variations and the theories of 

cultural transmission 

Three main avenues by which 

change or variations can be introduced 

into architecture over time will 

be discussed when examining various 

theories on cultural transmission. The 

concept was originally referred to as 

diffusionism and was popular among 

 

now commonly referred to as cultural 

transmission with several theories developed 

around this concept. The main 

difference being that while diffusionists 

focused only on change, transmissionists 

expanded their research into rates 

of change, rates of error, conditions 

that affect the varying rates of change 

and different transmission mecha- 

 

Expressions of culture such as craft, 

music, folklore, language and art 

are traditions that are handed-down 

through generations. In some cultures, 

patterns of production are careful- 

 

but even in such cultures, where there 

are standardized forms of production 

processes, cultural evolution brings 

about certain changes in the transmission 

process or product through 

ined 

how variations in material culture 

evolve over generations through 

cultural transmission. Although time 

has been accredited as the main vehicle 

of change, time in itself does not 

necessarily effect change on material 

culture. Other factors often acting in 

conjunction with time have been identified 

as the main agents of change. The 

authors suggest that there are two main 

mechanisms by which variation is produced 

in material culture: variations 

generated unintentionally as a result 

of copying errors or borrowing other 

 

and variations produced intentionally 

by cognitive mechanisms. Either way, 

such inaccuracies or deliberate changes 

could occur during production and 

an accumulation of these could result 

in significant variations. 

Cognitive mechanisms are deliberate 

or intentional modifications made 

to an original pattern that brings about 

variations. They can also be innovations 

necessitated by production of 

material culture in a different context 

or through changing “worldviews” of 

 

 

come about as a response to new challenges 

posed by a different climate or 

location. Several studies carried out 

in this area have all attempted to answer 

questions relating to variation or 

change. Such as, how much change can 

be attributed to copying errors when 

reproducing material culture? (Eerkens 

 

be attributed to cognitive mechanisms 

effected by the expansion or splitting 

of a society into daughter populations, 

with each introducing modifications 

into what was originally the cultural 

norms? This is also known as phylogenesis 

or ‘branching’ (Collard and 

 

ly, 

how much change can be attributed 

to lateral borrowing of other cultural 

traits from adjacent groups through 

inter-community contacts? This concept 

is referred to as ethnogenesis or

field of archaeology, cultural anthropology, 

linguistics and evolutionary biology 

have examined these issues using 

mainly quantitative methods adopted 

from evolutionary biological studies. 

Although the forces or mechanisms 

that bring about variations have been 

identified, the question of which areas 

or at what point in the cultural transmission 

process, these forces tend to 

act still remains. This information is vital 

to this study as it helps to ascertain 

the points where variations are most 

likely to occur during the transmission 

of cultural information. 

In relation to migration, this paper 

examines how much change can be 

attributed to cognitive mechanisms 

brought about by the expansion or 

splitting of a society into daughter populations 

during migration. Also, how 

much change can be attributed to lateral 

borrowing of other cultural traits 

from other groups encountered during 

migration? The former is known as 

phylogenesis or ‘branching’ (Collard 

 

 

while the latter is referred to as eth- 

 

 

 

This paper shows how quantitative 

methods borrowed from archaeology 

are employed to test the influence of 

immanent forces such as ‘phylogenesis 

or branching’ and/or externalistic forces 

such as ‘ethnogenesis or blending’ 

in architectural variation. The aim is 

to ascertain the effect of migration on 

the migrant fisher base camp dwellings 

 

 

4.3. Identifying causes of architectural 

variations quantitatively 

The study was initiated, based on 

the supposition that issues relating 

to migration, could result in changes 

that constitute significant variations 

between the dwelling models. These 

changes may either be developed from 

within the society itself or brought 

about by external influence from other 

neighbouring groups. In this research 

four of the neighbouring fishing 

 

Ilajes and Urhobos were selected for 

comparative study. Also, these groups 

practice migrant fishing and build base 

camp dwellings. Only architectural 

data involving external features of the 

base camp dwellings which were collected 

have been used. These external 

features or traits are required to produce 

the dichotomous or binary data 

used in the analysis. 

In addition to the architectural data 

obtained from the neighbouring ethnic 

groups, corresponding data from the 

 

state was also included. Firstly, to serve 

as a basis for comparison between the 

 

 

control to indicate if any of the other 

ethnic groups have any form of relatedness 

to the parent Ijo ethnic group 

 

sibilities 

between them. A list of all exterior 

features of base camp dwellings 

 

dichotomous data below. 

4.4. Dichotomous/binary data 

The main architectural traits in the 

 

 

as well. These sub-traits are known 

as multistate variables and have been 

 

records that a trait is present amongst 

 

records traits that are absent. The use 

 

this form of data is being referred to as 

 

corded 

include: construction elements, 

house components or other associated 

features. 

4.5. Measuring similarity: 

Coefficients and dichotomous data 

To represent the data in dichoto- 

ternal 

architectural features or traits 

were first identified. These traits are 

a compilation of the external features 

si 

peninsula common to all the five 

groups being compared, including the 


archaeology

Table 2. Presence/Absence (dichotomous) data showing external architectural traits of each ethnic group (adapted 

from Brisibe 2011). 

Trait External Features Migrant Ethic Neighbours in Bakassi 

Trait 

No. 

 

Trait description 

Ibibio Andoni Ilaje Urhobo 

1 Main entry and other openings 

I 

 

of house 

 

Ii Use of doors 

Iii Use of smoke exits 

2 Shape 

Rectangular 

3 Roof 

I 

Ii 

4 Roof overhang 

I Extended 

Ii Reduced 

5 Roof Materials 

I 

Woven raffia palm 

 

 

Ii Zinc sheets 

6 Wall CladdingMaterial 

I Planks: Horizontal 

Ii 

Iii Thatch: Vertical 

Iv 

Whole palm fronds: 

Horizontal 

 

V 

Palm frond stems: 

Vertical 

 

7 Bathing facility 

I Separate unit 

Ii 

Unit connected to main 

building 

 

Iii No bathing facility 

8 Verandah 

I Large and spacious 

Ii Small 

Iii No verandah space 

9 Hearth space 

I 

Connected to main 

building 

 

Ii 

Separated from main 

building 

 

10 Communal building 

I Religious purposes 

Ii Social purposes 

11 Roof material for religious hall 

I Zinc sheets 

Ii Thatch 

12 Connecting walkways 

I 

Ii 

13 Mini Jetty 

14 Embankments 

I Horizontal logs 

Ii Vertical timber stakes

Ijos. The technique which used in analysing 

dichotomous data to ascertain 

similarity between the groups is the 

ined 

the use of coefficients for the purpose 

of measuring similarity. However, 

in this study Coefficients were used 

simply to derive the matrix for the 

Principal Coordinates Analysis, which 

is the quantitative method employed to 

analyse the data. The Coefficients used 

 

the Jaccard Coefficient and the Alternative 

to the Jaccard Coefficient. 

An average of the three coefficients 

of the matrices was taken and the re- 

 

 

could be interpreted such that, half the 

attributes of the external architectural 

features of one group are present in 

another group. These matrices were 

then used in the Principal Coordinates 

Analysis to ascertain similarities between 

groups and ultimately the source 

of the variations. 

4.6. Interpreting principal co-ordinate 

analysis: Similarities between ethnic 

groups 

To analyse the data matrix and derive 

two dimensional scatter diagrams 

that indicate similarities between the 

 

Table 3. Average of all three coefficients 

(Source: Brisibe, 2011). 

Zs Zj Za 

0.73 

0.41 

0.62 

0.55 

0.51 

0.41 

0.68 

0.48 

0.71 

0.58 

0.48 

0.50 

0.67 

0.78 

 

was used. Three different matrix data 

were used in this analysis and these are 

 

Coefficient, the Jaccard Coefficient and 

the alternative to the Jaccard Coefficient. 

The three different matrices were 

analysed separately to see if the results 

of the various scattergrams they generate 

would be similar. 

The scatter diagram or scattergram 

is a simple two-dimensional representation 

of the results with the ethnic 

groups indicated as points in the space. 

The distance between these points on 

the scatter diagram represents the similarity 

between the ethnic groups. 

4.7. Discussion on matrix of 

coefficients and principal co-ordinate 

analysis 

The interpretation of the results obtained 

from the matrix of coefficient 

 

 

bears less than half the attributes of 

the other group, it suggests that there 

are fewer similarities between both 

- 

 

strong similarities between the two 

groups. This result does not indicate if 

the two groups share a common ances- 

- 

 

if the similarities are due to ‘blending’ 

or ‘branching’, the Principal Co-ordi- 

 

result represented in two-dimensional 

scatter diagrams or scattergrams. 

4.8. Interpretation of scatter diagram 

generated from all three coefficient 

matrices 

ficient 

where negative matches are con- 

 

 

groups with the strongest similarities 

in terms of external architectural 

features in their base camp buildings. 

This is supported by the clustering of 

the points within the bottom-right 

quadrant in the scattergram. This only 

partly supports the results of the simple 

matching coefficient by indicating 

- 

 

between these two points is the short- 


archaeology

est. However, the fact that negative 

matches have been considered in the 

build up to this scatter diagram has to 

be considered. 

The scatter diagram derived from 

the alternative to Jaccard Coefficient 

 

bares strong similarities to both Ijos 

 

the initial findings that phylogenetic or 

branching forces exist between Ijos in 

ic 

or blending forces exist between Ijos 

 

further show that the strongest simi- 

 

and their Urhobo neighbours. Similarities 

between the Ijo and the Urhobos 

tions 

between the Ijos and their parent 

 

5. Discussions and conclusions 

The PCA analysis therefore reveals 

that one of the causes of variations between 

the Ijo base camp dwellings in 

 

 

from the Urhobos, whom they had 

more contact with during migration. 

However, it is important to note that 

the traits borrowed from their neighbouring 

group relates more to building 

components and external architectural 

 

spatial configuration. 

 

shows that the use of connecting walkways 

to indicate kinship ties and the 

use of living areas was used only by Ijos 

 

the architectural traits were not borrowed 

but cognitively developed. This 

means that in addition to lateral borrowing 

of traits, variations in Ijo base 

ed 

from cognitive modifications made 

by successive generations of fishermen 

over the years. Hence, the causes of 

variations in Ijo migrant fisher architecture 

can be traced to two sources or 

factors: lateral borrowing of traits from 

neighbouring groups as well as cognitive 

modifications made by the Ijos in 

 

Another important link made in 

this study is that between culture and 

change. This link is an attestation of 

Figure 1. Scattergram showing the similarity of the groups from 

simple matching coefficient (Source: Brisibe, 2011). 

Figure 2. Scattergram of group similarity generated from Jaccard 

Coefficient Matrix (Source: Brisibe, 2011). 

Figure 3. Scattergram of group similarity generated from 

Alternative to Jaccard Coefficient Matrix (Source: Brisibe, 2011).

the advantage of interdisciplinary research, 

combining sociological and 

anthropological theories in the more 

practical fields of architecture and archaeology. 

Social and cultural change 

can be regarded as the ‘domino effect’ 

of cultural transmission, following 

the theories of cultural transmission 

 

evidently the biggest contribution by 

archaeologists in this interdisciplinary 

union is the development of methodologies 

to facilitate the understanding 

of cultural transmission and variations 

in material culture. With current studies 

on architectural variation over time 

mostly involving longitudinal spatial 

classification methods, these are methodological 

and theoretical contributions 

that both vernacular and contemporary 

architectural studies could 

learn from, in ascertaining effects and 

causes of variations in dwelling. 

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archaeology

Structural transformations of 

traditional architecture from 

Hittites to Ottomans in Bogazkoy 

Selin KÜÇÜK 

 

Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey 



Abstract 

In this study, a regular and temporal transformation of construction techniques 

between Hittite Traditional Architecture and Ottoman Traditional Architecture 

has been examined. Traditional houses, as a production of a manuscript culture, 

reflect an economic growth by their scale and advanced construction techniques. 

Hattusha, as a capital city of Hittites in Bronze Age and Bogazkoy as a region that 

wealthy immigrants (Dulkadirogullari) settled in Ottoman Age had been developing 

cities of different cultures. 

One fictional Hittite house and an existing Ottoman House (Özelevi) are the 

archetypes. These two archetypes in the southern part of Çorum had emerged 

with same materials in the same region and had proposed almost same structural 

solutions to environmental conditions in spite of approximately three thousands 

of years between them. 

Mud brick, natural stone and timber were the only construction materials used 

in buildings in Anatolia, quite different from the materials of the modern world. 

Accordingly, culture may define planning characteristics, yet local properties 

qualify construction techniques. Many studies show that the local construction 

materials and technologies used in the past are more sustainable than the ones 

used today. Consequently, transformations and adaptations of architecture, which 

generates awareness of sustainability, explored in those regions may help develop 

a good understanding of how the local traditional architecture can still help the 

construction of sustainable settlements. 

A secondary study will also examine how energy efficient buildings were built 

in Turkey in the hope that these building types could offer lessons to resist against 

newly emerging concrete giants. 

Keywords 

Hittite housing, Ottoman housing, Transformation, Traditional architecture, 

Energy efficiency.


Mesopotamia and Asia Minor nicknamed 

‘Motherland of Civilizations’ 

sheltered some of the wealthiest civilizations 

and cultures of the world 

through the ages. However, technical 

and technological improvements 

caused economic reforms which eventually 

suppressed the growth of local 

architecture have forced people to live 

in densely-built mega structures in 

developing and industrialized cities of 

Turkey during last century. Thus villages 

and village houses have often been 

deserted or abandoned. Transformations 

from local architecture to concrete 

multi-storey apartments show the 

chaos that emerged in architecture. 

‘Deconstruction’ of the key phrases 

and terms employed in this paper 

would help the readers to get through 

to the thesis being presented. ‘Transformations 

of Traditional Architecture’ 

was preferred instead of ‘Evolution of 

ment 

of Local Architecture’ for the title. 

 

architecture’ is used in the meaning of 

architecture that constituted of local 

natural properties as local materials, 

local climate and local landscape. Traditional 

architecture integrates local 

properties with anthropological properties 

like experimentation of local 

construction techniques, cultural adaptations 

and occupant’s requirements. 

Either transformation, development or 

evolution describe a ‘change’ during the 

time. However the difference is if they 

define a positive, negative or neutral 

change. Due to the change observed 

in traditional architecture, both in the 

negative and positive, ‘transformation’ 

as a term was employed to define the 

change. There is an architectural wealth 

from each social group either civic, traditional 

or monumental buildings in 

Hattusha. Accordingly, since vernacular 

architecture identifies domestic architecture 

rather than traditional and 

monumental buildings, the term ‘traditional 

architecture’ which involves 

both domestic and monumental references, 

has been preferred. 

Despite having similar materials and 

invariable environmental conditions, 

construction techniques improve cumulatively 

in a local environment. 

Thus every building and any specified 

time through ages has its own identity, 

like humans. In this sense, identity 

of buildings are not changing because 

their identities are different. The varying 

things are ‘local techniques’ according 

to the experiential factor and 

‘traditional characteristics’ according 

to societies settled in. In addition to 

this, architectural imitations such as 

certain hotels in Hattusha were emulated 

to Hittite, Ottoman or Ancient 

Greek buildings which do not have 

identity, are apart from the matters examined 

in this research. These kind of 

imitations with their fake facades do 

not even symbolize any adaptations. 

Traditional houses were the most 

developed house building types constructed 

with local techniques apart 

from monumental buildings in pre-industrial 

term. Target behind traditional 

type’s enlarged dimensions in accordance 

with vernacular’s minimum 

space are satisfying nonessential human 

needs in addition to functionality 

and supplementing cultural properties 

on plan. 

The Hittite Capital City Hattusha 

 

lia 

are situated on the slopes of a high 

rocky topography. There are the Elmalı 

Mountains in the northwest side and 

Zincirli Mountains in the southern 

side on which the highest point Kam- 

 

level is Budaközü Stream which passes 

through the Boğazköy settlement 

plain, draws in Hattusha and reaches 

 

 

In Hattusha, a previous modest 

village had existed which has then 

 

 

years, different civilizations with miscellaneous 

beliefs, traditions and technologies 

have come to be established 

and settled in this location (Asurian, 

Hittite, Phrygrian, Hellenistic, Otto- 

ings 

from these cultures either underground 

or on earth are now struggling 

to survive with the modern world. 

Some of them are still being used by 

villagers although they would like to 

live in better conditions. 

 

1 

The reference 

‘Küçük, S. & 

Şahin, M. (2014). 

Archaeoacoustics: 

The Archaeology 

of Sound. Linda 

C. Eneix (ed.), The 

OTSF Foundation: 

Florida’ involves 

interactive sections 

of Hattusha which 

varies by ages.

Figure 1. Borders of Çorum which contains 

Boğazköy in southern part (Source: author). 

This study aims to generate a background 

for prospective energy efficiency 

comparison of Hittite Housing and 

a specific Ottoman House which were 

built in Hattusha. Because of having little 

evidence about Hittite construction, 

prospective efficiency results would be 

taken from an idealized reconstruction 

model of a fictional Hittite house. 

However, the Ottoman house which 

still stands and partially in use would 

give nearly correct results with respect 

to its exact three-dimensional model. 

Two and three-dimensional drawings 

and energy calculations would be done 

both manually and by utilizing computer-based 

programs. 

It is essential to explain how and 

with whose aid the fictional Hittite 

House’s prospective model was reconstructed. 

Initially, the extant local 

Figure 4. Section of Hattusha (Source: Selin Küçük, Echopolis, 

2013). 

Figure 2. Boğazköy village and Hattusha 

(Seeher, 2011). 

buildings were photographed and their 

 

 

for unobtainable information of construction 

techniques and building elements 

such as chimneys and openings 

within the walls. The study specially 

benefitted from Jürgen and Ayşe Seeher’s 

experimental archaeology stud- 

- 

 

interpretations on Hittite construction. 

2. Transformations of traditional 

architecture in Hattusha 

The cumulative experience of building 

materials’ behavior and structural 

solutions have improved over thousands 

of years. Structural solutions 

developed according to sensory observations 

until modern science accessed 

the technology to get climatic data. 

There is evidence that shows early 

small and scattered settlements 

from Chalcolithic Period in Hattusha 

around Büyükkaya Region. The Lower 

City and Büyükkale Regions were the 

settlements that had been used especially 

by Assurian Trade Colonies and 

 

Buildings were generally unsymmetrically 

planned, even though they had 

similar planning organizations with 

Hittite Houses. 

ments 

in Hattusha, fire places, chimneys, 

openings, roofs and water management 

systems of houses have been 

transformed. However, building materials 

and construction technics are al- 

istent 

prop structure of solid walls in 

Hittite architecture were presented later 

on just as in the case of Özelevi. 

Instinctive treatments and further 

methods of rural area construction 

Structural transformations of traditional architecture from Hittites to Ottomans in Bogazkoy

have emerged, because people had 

reached this region coming from many 

cities. In fact, Özelevi has acquired 

slightly different characteristics compared 

to the village houses. It has larger 

windows instead of small windows, 

hipped roofs instead of plain roofs and 

are of enormous size instead of the 

modest size of the rural counterpart. 

In other words, Özelevi doesn’t reflect 

the ordinary characteristics of most 

of Boğazköy local houses for having 

registered design anxiety of an Ottoman 

house. However, it is an adaptation 

attempt of an Ottoman House to 

 

Boğazköy Houses that are still partially 

in use reflect the in-between period of 

time from Hittites to Ottoman Age. 

Both traditional houses from Hittite 

and Ottoman periods have geometrically 

straight and smoothly divided 

spaces and level differences of grounds 

observed in separated spaces. Both 

have unitary planning characteristic. 

Figure 5. A house in Büyükkale from Karum 

Age (Source: Naumann, 1991). 

2.1. Fireplaces and chimneys 

Chimney construction has proceeded 

by stages until modern intra-wall, 

intra-pavement or extra-tubular systems 

using varying materials. Comparisons 

between ovens of any Hittite 

House and Ottoman House indicates 

that the smoke occurred by the oven 

removed from interiors through different 

systems. Hittite probably ejected 

smoke via holes in housetops in Hittite 

age. The two ovens in the central 

rooms of Gal Mesedi House, which are 

not attached to the walls, support this 

an 

houses description in Koyuncuk as 

an example. In the description, there 

are circular planned domed houses 

described with a hole in the centre of 

 

oven in the centre of the living area and 

smoke emitted via an opening on the 

top. Dome’s function is to gather smoke 

before emitting. There are no circular 

planned buildings except a Turkish 

Bath (hamam) and Byzantine Church 

in Hattusha. Since most of the examples, 

even a high status person’s or a 

villager’s, are quadri-laterally planned, 

and there may be an inter-relation 

for chimney systems. Thus, there was 

probably a hood uptake raised from 

 

Additionally, there should be a wooden 

cover which was accessible with a 

deck ladder to shut the opening. However, 

double roomed simple-planned 

houses have been found in Büyükkaya 

Figure 6. Koyuncuk Houses (Source: Baytin, 

1951). 

Figure 7. Fireplace and chimney of a Hittite house (Source: 

author).

Figure 8. Filled fireplace of Özelevi (Source: author). 

from Early Hittite Age, where there is 

an inner wall façade attached next to a 

fireplace. This informs us about an unusual 

application for ejecting smoke. 

Here, there is a clay pipe system which 

extends from the fireplace upwards by 

 

 

It is known from Hattusha ruins that 

Hittite fireplaces had a simple structure; 

semi-circular or rectangular in 

shape, which is made of compacted 

 

2.2. Openings 

Openings affect human life owing 

to their shape, material and aesthetic 

appearance. These significant parts 

of buildings have been transformed 

through the ages. However the previous 

applications have significant contribution 

to the current implementations. 

Figure 9. Various interior and exterior windows and doors from 

Özelevi (Source: author). 

Dark caves and underground spaces 

which have no openings except an 

entrance were the initial shelters that 

people hid and protected themselves 

from strenuous environmental conditions. 

Caves became insufficient 

shelters since people needed to connect 

with natural light. Therefore, by 

constructing their own roofs and wall 

covered spaces with a hole at the top, 

they let the light come in. Immediately 

afterwards, more openings have been 

created on the wall in order to establish 

connections with nature biologically 

and psychologically. There are such important 

innovations as the transition 

from circular plans to rectangular floor 

plans and the use of different materials 

to build walls which directly affected 

the door and window constructions. 

It is known that openings placed 

within exterior walls or roofs were 

formerly closed with covers made of 

wooden, cotton and similar materials 

 

utilized same techniques to close small 

openings within the exterior walls of 

their houses. 

By the invention of glass and various 

shading and fencing systems in 

conjunction with their joint details and 

insulation solutions, openings evolved 

through time. Even though Hittite 

housing lacked this technology, massive 

mud-brick walls should supply a 

significant comfort level for interior 

spaces. Integration of these technologies 

would increase this level. 

Chimney holes within the plain 

roof, as long as their covers are open, 

provide daylight. 

2.3. Roofs 

Previous flat or dome shaped roofs 

that are made of the same materials 

with the walls and are generally 

constructed contiguous of the walls 

evolved into integrated exceptional 

systems having their own structure by 

using roof tiles or cladding materials. 

Disadvantage or weakness of clay material 

against humidity and raining activity 

has been removed by utilizing these 

water-resistant materials and systems. 

On the contrary, eaves and hipped roof 

are used in traditional Turkish House 

as it can be seen in Özelevi. 


2.4. Water management/sanitary 

installation 

Several Hittite Dams in Anatolia 

show their advanced knowledge and 

technology in water management sys- 

 

very close to Hattuşa, in Alacahöyük. 

In Hattusha, in Hittite Age, drainage 

systems diffused various houses on the 

narrow streets. This supports the idea 

of the presence of water management 

systems that were supplying water 

mostly from the local water sources. 

 

Organization and a permanent consideration 

of waterworks were facilitated 

by the foundation of the General 

Directorate of Civil Works (Bayındırlık 

 

Turkey. Moreover, drinking water had 

been supplied to Ankara the capital 

city of Turkey and the closest big city 

to Boğazköy by opening of the Çubuk- 

 

does not have sanitary installations, 

and even though its construction date 

is still not identified, it is believed to 

have been constructed earlier than 

the times mentioned above. However, 

there is a hole within the entrance hall 

floor, drawing off interior water via 

clay pipes, streaming north-west direction 

and reaching the retaining wall of 

 

2.5. Prop structure 

Despite being solid walls, prop 

structure has been used in addition to 

lacing courses (horizontal elements) 

in many local buildings in Boğazköy 

in the last few centuries. However, ac- 

 

and drawings, there were no vertical 

diagonal structural elements (props) in 

a solid wall even in another regions in 

ancient Anatolia. Yet all the supporting 

structural elements were vertical and 

horizontal. 

3. Proposal for a comparison 

of energy efficiency between 

Hittite and Ottoman housing 

Energy efficiency and renewable energy 

became very important subjects 

 

 

efficient building technology improved 

and many new systems have been de- 

Figure 10. Prospective reconstruction of a Hittite House 

(Source:author). 

Figure 11. Reconstruction of a Hittite house in Lower City by U. 

Betin (Source: Seeher, 2011). 

Figure 12. Local Boğazköy houses, sketches by Naumann in 1952 

(Source: Naumann, 1991). 

Figure 13. Özelevi North-west façade (Source: author).

Figure 14. Plan of Gal Mesedi House 

(Schachner, 2015) (Source: Selin Küçük @ 

DAI). 

signed. However, it should be noted 

that Hattusha village houses have been 

constructed for thousands of years in 

energy efficient ways without any sophisticated 

technologies. In addition 

to this, integration of the new efficient 

technologies to these village houses 

would yield much better efficiency results. 

In Turkey, since immigration of 

villagers to big cities and lack of builders, 

there is no more implementation 

possibility of them except reconstruction 

of specific buildings to construct 

such village houses. 

Climatic data from the building’s region, 

orientation of building and interior 

spaces, dimensions of rooms and 

openings, heating sources and types 

are significant parts of information 

necessary to consider energy efficiency 

 

Climatic conditions are immediately 

effective on local architecture. Highest 

comfort conditions for the users can be 

provided by consuming lowest energy 

Figure 15. Plan of Özelevi (Source: author). 

in conjunction with local climate based 

 

Heat transmission values of building 

components would be determined ac- 

 

 

transmission values for opaque and 

transparent components should be 

used for calculations. Prevailing wind 

 

 

 

to obtain passive ventilation through 

openings. 

Exterior design temperature value 

for Çorum which is higher than aver- 

 

°C principally in order to determine 

the heating load. Maximum raining 

activity, which has been showed in the 

table below, is in May. 

Since relative humidity is remarkably 

low in Central Anatolia and Çorum 

is within a cold dry climatic zone, 

building adaptations such as small 

windows in order to keep warm air in- 

Figure 16. Wall ruins in Büyükkale A: infill and vertical wooden lacing course; B: mudbrick 

wall; C: horizontal wooden lacing course D: stone foundation (Naumann, 1991). 


side in winters and cool air in summers 

and thick walls as high heat insulation 

elements have appeared subsequently. 

People constructed living spaces 

for themselves and their animals according 

to their observations without 

scientific climatic data for thousands 

of years. Present scientific data would 

probably show how comfortable spaces 

they generated by using common 

sense. 

4. Conclusion 

Archaeological regions that are still 

in use or had been used for thousands 

of years demonstrate temporal transformation 

of architecture. Turkey has a 

great fortune of having research on that 

sort of places. Especially, ancient sites 

surrounded within thick walls, which 

symbolize influential civilizations, 

are relatively preserved. Additionally, 

modern villages have more interaction 

with previous local architecture. Ancient 

Ankara Castle and the settlement 

surrounding by its walls, Old City of 

Gaziantep and further examples are 

available. 

Excavating living areas and collecting 

information of occupants and 

construction techniques was the initial 

activity of this study. Observations of 

local architecture through time shows 

that people learnt from previous experiences 

and improved construction 

techniques cumulatively over thousands 

of years. 

It is understood that every place has 

its own history and background as well 

as unique characteristics. However, 

this study can be seen as a prototype 

for studies to be conducted in other 

regions in Turkey to investigate history 

of Hattusha region according to its 

variable occupants and construction 

techniques. 

Figure 17. Reconstruction of the walls in 

Great Temple, 1: foundation and socle stone 

blocks; 2: timber framework; 3:fill of earth 

and stones; 4: mudbricks; 5: wall plaster; 

6: lime-plastered floor on a layer of packed 

earth (Source: Seeher, 2011). 

Figure 18. Prop Structure of Özelevi 

(Source: author). 

Figure 19. Sketches from Boğazköy houses (Source: author). 

Figure 20. Average weather data of Çorum (Source: www.corum.climatemps.com, 2014).

Figure 21. Natural lighting and ventilation draft scheme of Özelevi (Source: author). 

Figure 22. Natural lighting draft scheme of Özelevi that executed manually (Source: author) 

1 

The reference 

‘Küçük, S. & 

Şahin, M. (2014). 

Archaeoacoustics: 

The Archaeology 

of Sound. Linda 

C. Eneix (ed.), The 

OTSF Foundation: 

Florida’ involves 

interactive sections 

of Hattusha which 

varies by ages. 

Proliferation of modern industrial 

cities may not change, yet rural areas 

are still mainly preserved especially 

in Central Anatolia. There are clever 

buildings designed by sensitive people 

which are still waiting to be discovered. 

However, forgetting local architecture 

and using only modern materials 

without traditional experiences would 

result in the world changing negatively 

and would lead to forgetting the lessons 

that can be learnt from the histo- 

 

 

movement almost over the world made 

a stand against contextually disconnection 

of modernism’s built environment 

from its natural and cultural environ- 

tional 

Movement, existing traditional 

pattern of Anatolia had been considerably 

surveyed and documented (Eyüce, 

 

The critical point is designing according 

to local information and constructing 

still ‘local’. Remembering 

what ‘local architecture’ means, would 

 

talks and local architecture makes its 

speech understandable. 

References 

Barınaktan Öte: 

Anadolu’da Kır Yapıları, Tepe Mimarlık 

Kültür Merkezi, Ankara. 

A. Müller-Karpe, E. Rieken, W. 

Sommerfeld, Saeculum. Gedenkschrift 

für Heinrich Otten anlasslich seines 

 

 

Bacalar tekniği, 

yapısı, mimarisi ve Türk yapıcılığında 

baca. İstanbul: İstanbul Matbaacılık 

Climate, Average Weather of Turkey, 

Corum Climate & Temperature, Available 

online, http://www.corum.clima- 

 

Sungurlu, Boğazkale 

yöresinin iklim tipleri ve bazı öneriler. 

The Journal of Academic Social 


Hakkımızda: Tarihçe, Available online, 

http://dsi.gov.tr/kurumsal-yapi/hak- 

 

Türk Evi: Osmanlı 

Dönemi-I. İstanbul: Türkiye Anıt Çevre 

 

Geleneksel Yapılar 

ve Mekanlar. İstanbul: Birsen Yayınevi 

Hausladen G., Saldanha M., Liedl 

Climate Design: 

Solutions for Buildings that Can 

Do More with Less Technology, Basel: 

Birkhäuser 

Pencere bul: 

Yay Yayıncılık 

Hittite Walls in 

Boğazköy: A reconstruction of audio 

buffer zones through time, in: e-Pro- 

 

 

sion, 

Selin Küçük. 

Eski Anadolu 

mimarlığı. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu 

Basımevi 

Tarihten günümüze 

Anadolu’ da konut ve yerleşme (ed. Abbasoğlu, 

H., Özdoğan, M., Tanyeli, U. & 

Tapan, M.) ‘Hitit Krallığı’ nın başkenti 

Hattuşa’ da konut’ (s. 99-115). İstanbul: 

 

Energy efficiency 

and renewables: recent experience on 

mainland Europe. Herefordshire: Energy 

Advisory Associates 

Hattusha guide: a 

day in the Hittite capital. Istanbul: Ege 

Yayınları 

Geleneksel Türk mimarisinde 

yapı sistem ve elemanları. 

İstanbul: Türkiye Anıt Çevre Turizm 

 

ları, 

Unpublished Master dissertation, 

Trakya University, Edirne, TR. 

Evaluation of Thermal 

Performance of Gypsum Stabilized 

Adobe (Alker) for a School Building in 

İstanbul. Proceedings for the first international 

conference living in earth- 

 

-

Vernacular architecture as an 

alternative design approach with 

interpretation of Paul Ricoeur’s 

critical theory 

Maria I HIDAYATUN 1 , Josef PRIJOTOMO 2 , Murni RACHMAWATI 3 

1 

 

 

2 

 

 

3 

 

 

Indonesia 



Abstract 

The aim of this study is to find an alternative design approach that can answer 

the challenges of global warming and universalization. By conducting a study 

on the possibility of vernacular architecture as one of the alternative design approaches, 

to obtain a design that is oriented to the locality but still receive the 

latest technology in order to obtain sustainable design. 

This study used a descriptive method with rhetoric as analysis techniques, to 

explain how the vernacular architecture can be used as a design approach that is 

significant at this time. This study is a library research so that the data used is the 

data in the form of paper documents and images obtained in the form of personal 

documentation and documentation done other researchers, as well as the writings 

of experts architecture. To support the analysis in order to get results, then use the 

interpretation of Paul Ricoeur’s critical theory as a basis for analysis. 

The result of this research is an approach to the design of vernacular architecture 

as a method. It is expected that by using this approach can produce a design 

that can answer the above challenges and provide identity in its design, so that the 

values of the locality and the uniqueness of the design can be raised as a design 

force, hopefully. 

Keywords 

Vernacular architecture, Design approach, Paul Ricoeur.


lar 

architecture becomes interesting 

to study materials and even a lot of 

research and discussions with both 

academics and practitioners. Vernacular 

architecture if it is seen as a folk 

architecture of the past, then it would 

only be a stop discussion on the under- 

while, 

Global warming and the issue 

of universalization and international- 

 

world forces us to be thinking of a way 

or method that can be used as a design 

approach that can address the above 

challenges. In addition, advances in 

technology and materials is also an obstacle 

in doing the design, therefore, it 

takes a study to find an appropriate design 

approach, in order to remedy the 

situation. 

Vernacular architecture is by Ru- 

- 

 

described as folk architecture. The architecture 

is rooted in folk certainly 

works that reflect the community and 

edge 

is contained in the applied technology 

and occurring form and tested 

by time, as described both by Ozkan 

 

evolved from within communities and 

perfected itself with the test of time in 

conformity with societal, and technological 

climatic condition, and Law- 

 

human constructs that result from the 

interrelations between ecological, economic, 

material, political and social 

factors. Thus, vernacular architecture 

is expected to be one of the solutions 

to the challenges mentioned above by 

doing a reinterpretation in order to obtain 

optimal results for the survival and 

sustainability. 

The objective of the research is to 

find a method that can be used to perform 

design approach that will address 

the challenges of globalization, universalization, 

and internationalization 

which causes loss characteristics and 

identity of architectural works. This 

method is expected to accommodate 

a design that can raise the value and 

potential of local, resulting in a work 

of architecture that reflects the identity 

and characteristics of the environment 

in which the building is erected 

as such, then its presence is not alien 

to the environment and local communities. 

 

to perform the architectural design approach 

is usually referred to as archi- 

 

of Design can be described in a num- 

 

creation of a plan or convention for the 

construction of an object or a system (as 

in architectural blueprints, engineering 

drawings, business processes, circuit 

- 

- 

 

some cases the direct construction of 

an object (as in pottery, engineering, 

management, and cowboy coding and 

 

 

 

specification of an object, manifested 

 

goals, in a particular environment, using 

a set of primitive components, satisfying 

a set of requirements, subject to 

 

a design, in an environment (where 

 

In addition to these explanations, the 

design can also be in the description of 

both the process of making things (de- 

 

 

is a user-centered ... problem- solving 

 

sign 

is the craft of visualizing concrete 

solutions that serve human needs and 

 

some of the statements above design is 

the focus in this paper is the approach 

that will assist in the design. 

sary 

also be explained about the design 

 

a design approach is a general philosophy 

that may or may not include a 

 

to guide the overall goal of the design. 

Other approaches are to guide the ten- 

 

of approaches may be used if they do 

not conflict.

2. Method and material 

This study is part of my dissertation 

research and is a qualitative and descriptive 

research with Paul Ricoeur 

critical theory as a basis for analysis. 

 

for the techniques, to explain how the 

vernacular can be used as one of the 

significant design approaches at this 

point. The data used is the data in the 

form of paper documents and images 

obtained in the form of personal documentation 

or documentation of other 

researchers who have ever done, as well 

as the writings of experts’ architecture. 

 

to explain how the vernacular can be 

used as an alternative approach on architectural 

design. 

Paul Ricoeur’s critical theory (Ka- 

tation 

of vernacular buildings that can 

be analogized as a text that became his 

subject. The power of critical theory by 

Ricoeur is able to help configure a state 

into a narrative that changes the meaning 

with describing and evaluate them 

 

tion, 

means it done the reading, understanding, 

and explanation of a text, in 

this case, is the vernacular buildings. 

Ricoeur describes the interpretation 

as a movement toward the validity of 

the allegations and of explanation towards 

comprehension. Interpretation 

consists of allegations that are based 

on the experiences generated in the 

explanations that have to be validated 

by others, which ended in comprehension, 

which is another name to understanding 

informed and enriched with 

objective validation process (Kaplan, 

configuration 

of the narrative expe- 

 

interpretation of a model consisting of 

a description, explanation, argumentation 

and inter-subjective validation. 

In this interpretation theory, Ricoeur 

also takes over Dilthey distinction between 

explanation and understanding, 

but Ricoeur maintains that attitudes explanations 

and conflicting understanding 

must be integrated into a general 

theory of interpretation. Explanation 

and understanding are two moments in 

a dialectical unity and is a moment in a 

broader interpretation theory (Kaplan, 

 

 

all reach. Reading means interpreting 

and interpreting means understanding 

 

3. Result and discussion 

The results of the analysis that has 

been done by using narrative and rhetoric 

in the discussion, it was found 

that vernacular architecture as knowledge 

of the past was able to meet the 

challenges of globalization, internationalization 

and universalization. The 

ability to address these challenges has 

caused vernacular orientation and contains 

the knowledge about the natural 

environment and society, technology 

and materials, and the values of a local 

building. 

 

Ricoeur as the basis of the analysis, the 

knowledge of the past as the potential 

and power to understand, explain and 

be read as a result of interpretation 

which later became a concept to be 

expressed in the architectural design. 

Thus, the process is an approach to design 

that is done through the concept 

of vernacular as a method. 

Vernacular as a design approach 

can be described in the discussion that 

raised some examples of contemporary 

architectural works based on the 

work of the past through reading or 

interpretation of the material, shape, 

technology, and the natural environment. 

The results of the interpretation 

are subjective because it is influenced 

by background actors, so it is no longer 

the result of the design of the com- 

 

 

the language and style of the local 

 

new form of vernacular or vernacular 

contemporary. 

3.1. Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural 

Center 

- 

 

work inspired by local materials, the 

basic shape, and technology, but with 

new functionality designed carefully. 

Piano was reading of the traditional 

- 

Vernacular architecture as an alternative design approach with interpretation of Paul Ricoeur’s 

critical theory

donia through the material, form, and 

technology. Piano interpret the whole 

building into a concept of the spirit 

which is ephemeral life. Here is understood 

that nature is ephemeral, therefore, 

the material taken from nature 

impermanent by nature anyway, so 

humans must exercise care to preserve 

with the redevelopment of the building 

construction, learn the technology and 

update the material. It is like that de- 

 

The spirit of the Pacific is ephemeral: 

traditional Kanak buildings are born 

in unison with nature and make use of 

 

the village’s continuity over time is not 

bound to the survival of each individual 

building, but rather to the preservation 

of a specific construction scheme. 

Building upon this civilization’s typical 

 

There are two things to consider in 

reinterpretation the traditional Kanak 

 

first revived construction Kanak capabilities 

and second use of new materials 

such as glass, aluminum, steel and 

the use of advanced technologies in addition 

to the natural materials of wood 

and stone. This is to keep the impression 

of the character of the traditional 

Kanak building remains reflected, as 

- 

 

Building upon this civilization’s typical 

deep bond with nature, the project 

followed two main guidelines: on the 

one hand evoking Kanak construction 

capabilities, while on the other 

hand making use of modern materials, 

such as glass, aluminium, steel and 

advanced lightweight technologies, in 

addition to traditional materials, such 

 

 

Technology related to tectonics in 

design approach of the cultural center 

building is also becoming an import- 

 

character and identity building. How 

do to interpret the expansion and 

re-interpretation of the strength of its 

design, it can be observed in a solution 

of its tectonic details. 

ing 

is a dwelling house with one function, 

but Piano can be able to develop 

a large scale building both in terms of 

functionality as well as scale and not 

 

environment shall be referenced to or- 

 

 

the traditional Kanak concept, as de- 

 

“The identity of the Kanak is not 

only reinforced through the form of 

the building but also through its relationship 

with the natural landscape… 

 

exterior spaces which further explore 

the relationship of the Kanak culture 

 

pathway which winds through the 

dense natural vegetation, traditional 

ceremonial grounds of the Kanak with 

traditional huts, an outdoor auditorium, 

and residences for visiting artists, 

lecturers, scholars and students. These 

Figure 1. Photo of the Marie-Jean Tjibaou 

Cultural Center and the Traditional Karnak 

Building (Source: Golling’s, http://www. 

fondazionerenzopiano.org/project/85/jeanmarie-tjibaou-cultural-center/genesis/). 

Figure 2. Photo of the Marie-Jean Tjibaou Cultural Center detail 

construction (Source: Vasal, http://www.rpbw.com/project/41/ 

jean-marie-tjibaou-cultural-center/#).

111 

spaces, as well as the main building, integrate 

themselves and take advantage 

of the natural beauty of the site.” (Kari, 

 

3.2. Sendangsono 

- 

 

 

through Javanese architecture as ver- 

 

 

 

of how to design the architecture, as in 

write the following text: 

chitecture’ 

is to speak humanity with 

Figure 3. Photo of the Marie-Jean Tjibaou Cultural Center 

landscape (Source: Golling’s, http://www.fondazionerenzopiano. 

org/project/85/jean-marie-tjibaou-cultural-center/genesis/). 

Figure 4. Photo of the public building in Sendangsono pilgrimage 

(Source: Erwinthon postcard 1999). 

Figure 5. Photo of the detail landscape and architecture (Source: 

Erwinthon postcard 1999). 

imagery and its essence, such as its materials, 

its form and its composition... 

The ethos of the ideal architectural language 

and its appreciation is not primarily 

related with extravagant, luxury 

and expensiveness... Thus the introduction 

of the eminence of the architectural 

language is honesty, decency, integrity 

or as advised by philosopher Thomas 

 

vertatis (the beauty and ellegance ra- 

 

 

gunwijaya 

when readings or interpretation 

of Javanese buildings put forward 

the concept of simplicity, so when 

 

building, material as basic references 

because the material used in Javanese 

building is a natural material and sim- 

 

building, but there is absolutely no 

monumental impression tends even 

simple, honest and natural. Besides the 

material, the technology is also a part 

gunwijaya 

does this through technology 

by conducting re-interpretation and 

modify it. 

Javanese house cannot be separated 

nese 

always lies in a wide yard, so that 

between the house and yard becomes a 

complete unity. When this condition is 

cept 

of building and nature / environment 

becomes the basis for the design 

of the whole pilgrimage complex. Ev- 

 

concern to completion based on the 

vernacular Javanese architecture. In 

this processing project, landscape, material, 

shape, technology and tectonic 

has done with Javanese vernacular architecture 

design approach. 

3.3. St. Mary Puhsarang Kediri 

Church 

 

 

church building that is located in Kediri, 

East Java, Indonesia, not the middle 

of the city but in the countryside, the 

slope of the mountain and amid dense 

population. Pont was designing this 

church with the basic church idea for 

the local community and as misipost. 

- 


critical theory

112 

ty, it is the basis for the design of the 

 

Pont then read and interpret at once 

about the essence Javanese through a 

 

house form, materials, structure and 

construction, scale and environment, 

the design was made. 

Pont interprets Javanese home forms 

in principle similar to as a tent with 

arguments that do not really need the 

Javanese house wall, which essentially 

is a place for shelter, shelter from rain 

and the sun, not merely to take refuge 

 

It is also related to structure and 

construction, Pont tried to reinterpret 

the heavy Javanese structure becomes 

light structure without abandoning 

the essence of its structural, as well as 

 

 

the guidelines but are expressed in a 

manner and form new ones, resulting 

vanese 

characteristics. 

There is one thing that is interesting 

how Pont understands, explain and 

then interpreting the construction of 

the roof covering, with studied roof 

principles construction of the Javanese 

building, Pont found that the flexural 

properties of wood construction that 

can be replaced with a steel cable construction 

in the construction of the 

roof covering. 

 

the Javanese house building, Pont understands 

that use of the nature material 

is the strength of the Javanese architecture, 

therefore, Pont maintains the 

use of natural materials in the building. 

Figure 6. Photo of the transformation process from Javanese 

construction to Puhsarang church construction (Source: Maria I 

Hidayatun documentation, 2005). 

Figure 7. Photo of the detail roof coverings (Source: Maria I 

Hidayatun documentation, 2014). 

Deeper concern is situated on the 

tectonic, uniqueness in interpreting 

the details associated with spiritual 

 

the main guidelines for architectural 

completely resolve this church (Hi- 

 

 

that the design approach based on ver- 

 

Pont becomes a design force that can 

show the dynamics, harmony and unity 

and perfection of the whole building 

and the environment / nature, between 

Javanese and the spirituality. In 

this building is being demonstrated as 

 

and universality, that every part is use- 

 

 

clear that the vernacular as a tool can 

Figure 8. Photo of the St Marry Puhsarang Kediri Church complex (Source: Maria I 

Hidayatun documentation, 2003).

113 

globalization, as well as the universalization 

and internationalization. 

other 

alternative design approach in 

addressing the latest issues. 

Figure 9. Diagram of vernacular design approach (Source: Maria 

I Hidayatun, 2014). 

be used to help make the process of architectural 

design in order to answer 

about the issue and the phenomenon 

of globalization, internationalization 

and universalization. Vernacular oriented 

local wealth is able to overcome 

the symptoms of damage to nature by 

returning to the use and appreciation 

of local potential / local, with how to 

read, understand and explain and then 

interpreting back with knowledge and 

positive potential at the moment. 

4. Conclusion 

 

velopment 

of a global era can not be 

avoided, and it becomes a challenge to 

be overcome and addressed in order 

to minimize the occurrence of global 

warming and the loss of identity of a 

community is reflected in the architecture. 

Design approach with vernacular 

as a tool is an answer that can be justified. 

Therefore, there are two important 

points that must become consider, 

 

1. Parameter vernacular architecture 

als, 

nature and the environment, technology 

and structure. 

2. Interpretation as a basis of analysis. 

This theory has the advantage of 

doing readings, understanding, and 

explanation because interpretation can 

accommodate vernacular architecture 

parameters in order to get the design 

that can meet the challenges of today 

although the interpretation is subjective. 

Therefore, depending on the background 

of her interpreters. 

Vernacular as one of the alternative 

design approach can be used to answer 

the challenges of global warming and 

References 

Ricoeur’s 

Critical Theory 

 

Design Management, 

Managing Design Strategy, 

Process, and Implementation 

 

 

 

Renzo Piano. http://www.fondazione- 

rie-tjibaou-cultural-center/genesis/, 

 

Belajar 

Arsitektur Nusantara dari Gerja Puhsarang, 

Kediri, Tinjauan Ke-Bineka Tunggal 

Ika-an. 

 

 

- 

 

 

Nilai-Nilai Kesetempatan dan Kesemestaan 

dalam Regionalisme Arsitektur di 

Indonesia - 

 

- 

 

Designing 

for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered 

Products and Services, 

Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, 

Indiana. 

Learning 

from the Vernacular, in Lindsay 

 

- 

 

- 

 

Wastu Citra, 

PT. Gramedia, Jakarta, Indonesia 

 

 

tural 

future, Humanities Research 

 

Oxford dictionary, http://www. askoxford. 

com/concise_oed/design?- 

 

Traditional- 


critical theory

ism and Vernacular Architecture in 

the Twenty-First Century, in Lindsay 

 

- 

 

- 

 

Time and 

Narrative, vol II 

 

Architecture 

Without Architects: A Short Introduction 

to Non-Pedigreed Architecture, 

 

 

Globalization: 

A Critical Introduction, Palgrave 

 

 

http://www. 

galinsky.com/buildings/tjibaou/ - 

 

- 

dazion 

 

jean-marie-tjibaou-cultural-center/ 

 

 

Piano Building Workshop, http://www. 

-

Vernacular to modern in the search 

of sustainable development 

Shikha PATIDAR 1 , Brishbhanlali RAGHUWANSHI 2 

1 

 

Architecture, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, India 

2 

 

Architecture, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, India 



Abstract 

India has a rich cultural heritage. Madhya Pradesh is a state located in the Central 

India. It is known for its tribal culture and habitat. Each tribe has a unique 

settlement due to climate, topography and availability of materials. The culture 

and architecture are closely knitted. The paper aims to study the settlement of 

‘Saharia’ a primitive tribe from Madhya Pradesh. The objective is to understand its 

socio-cultural, ecological, architectural and economic aspects. The methodology 

adopted is to document and analyse ‘Saharia’ tribe on these aspects. Globalization 

had brought a major change in social and cultural life of people.The result focuses 

on the adaptation of appropriate technology using locally available materials and 

knowledge. It requires an innovative and creative approach to incorporate the 

traditional knowledge in the contemporary design. The work of architects who 

worked on similar ideology are studied. The paper concludes by learning lessons 

from vernacular architecture and its adaptation in the modern context. 

Keywords 

Adaptation, Settlement pattern, Sustainable development, Tribe, Vernacular.

Figure 1. Map of India showing differnet states (Source: http://geocurrents.info/ -Map.png). 

Figure 2. Map of Madhya Pradesh showing districts (Source: http://www.ndma.gov.in). 

Figure 3. Map of India showing tribes population in India (Source: http://tribal.nic.in). 


Madhya Pradesh is a state located 

in the Central India. It touches five 

states namely Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar 

Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. 

The state can be divided in four 

cultural zones such as Bundelkhand, 

 

zone has its own cultural identity such 

as language, dialects, customs, rituals 

and beliefs. The state is famous for 

its tribal arts and crafts in bamboo, 

wood, metal, metal casting, pottery, 

terracotta and textiles. According to 

 

 

 

 

 

of them are Saharia,Gond, Bhil, Baiga 

and Korku. 

2. Culture and Architecture of 

Madhya Pradesh 

The state is famous for tribal culture 

and folk traditions. It is also known for 

its visual and performing arts. These art 

forms are closely associated with their 

beliefs, customs, religion and values. In 

textiles Mahaeshwari, Chanderi sarees 

are known for weaving, Bagh and Batik 

are known for printing. These designs 

are evolved and inspired from the surrounding 

environment. The weaving 

pattern in Maheshwari sarees ‘Laharia’ 

is most dominating; inspired from the 

 

These patterns of textiles are also 

refleted in the vernacular architecture. 

 

daily life. It is a community activity 

performed each day after the work. 

Therefore, these activities have evolved 

the necessity of a community space like 

courtyard and chaupal in the settlement 

pattern. This resulted in a strong 

social binding among the community . 

Each tribe has its own way of settlement 

pattern on the basis of their culture and 

lifestyle like Saharia has circular, Bhil 

has scattered and Korku has linear. The 

interior walls of houses are depicted 

with the figures of birds, animals, trees 

and god-goddess through relief work. 

 

depicted on the walls are Pithora, Sanjha 

and on the floors are Mandana, Alpana. 

They adorn their roof tiles with 

human images and some figure which 

have something to do with witch-craft 

and evil spirts. 

Figure 4. Plan showing circular settlement pattern of Saharia tribe (Source: Author). 

Figure 5. Plan showing scattered settlement pattern of Bhil tribe (Source: Author). 

Figure 6. Plan showing linear settlement pattern of Korku tribe (Source: Author).

117 

Figure 7. The route map till ‘Khariyapura’ village (Source: https://www.google.co.in/maps). 

Figure 8. The geology of the near by villages (Source: https://www.google.co.in/maps/search). 

Figure 9. The settlement of Saharia tribe (Source: https://www.google.co.in/maps/search/). 

3. Objective 

The objective of the paper is to understand 

the socio-cultural, ecological, 

architectural and economic aspects of 

‘Saharia’ tribe. Saharia is a primitive 

tribe of Madhya Pradesh. They were 

formerly the dominant branch of the 

 

4. Methodology 

Morena distric has been chosen for 

the study of Saharia tribe, it is located 

on the north-west of Madhya Pradesh. 

The total population of Morena is 

 

 

ulation. 

As per the scheduled castes in 

the Constitution of India, Saharias are 

 

has been documented and analysed on 

various aspect of tribal settlement. 

5. Documentation of different 

aspects of vernacular settlement 

(a) Socio-cultural aspect 

Saharia word is derived from Persian 

word sahra, which means jungle. 

Saharias are called so because they live 

in jungle, dependent on forest for their 

livelihood. The tribe took their name 

from their habit of carrying axe in their 

hands. They belong to the cultural zone 

of Bundelkhand. They are found in 

Guna, Gwalior, Shivpuri, Bhind, Morena, 

Vidisha, Raisen districts of Madhya 

Pradesh. Saharia tribe lives in a closely 

knitted community among themselves 

but in isolation from the village and 

other tribes. The Morena district has 

 

 

As the tribal culture has a long 

standing stability in terms of its own 

identity. There is a greater unity of expression 

between its architecture and 

other areas of expression. It reflects in 

the way they dress, the way they built 

their houses and beautify them and 

even greater in the objects of their daily 

use. The fairs and festivals are an indispensible 

part of their life. 

awali, 

Tejaji and Assar puja (festival 

of rain). The God-Goddess worshiped 

are namely Thakur Baba and Beegasan 

Mata. The ‘oral tradition’ of stories, 

anecdotes, folk tales and puzzles are 

very popular among them (Mondhe, 

lar 

songs are Banna-bannai (blessings) 

and Rasiya (romantic songs) on the 

occassion of birth and marriages. 

Men wear a small dhoti (loincloth), 

saloako (shirt) and a safa (turban). 

Women wear a long skirt (lugda/ghaghara), 

upper garments (angi/coli/ 

 

usually have their own unique designs 

of jewelley and ornaments. The popular 

motifs are snakes; fish and butterfly 

are intricately carved in the jewellery. 

They tattoo their bodies elaborately. 

They believe that every material thing 

is left here in this world but the only 

thing which goes with them to God is 

Figure 10. The unique forms of animistic ritual (Source: http://bravefestival.pl). 

Figure 11. The unique forms of animistic ritual (Source: http://bravefestival.pl). 

Figure 12. Tribal dance of Saharia tribe (Source: Shikha Patidar). 

Vernacular to modern in the search of sustainable development

their tattoo marks. Tattooing is one of 

the traditional art of adorning women 

 

(b) Ecological aspect 

Ecological isolation influenced the 

Saharias to remain as cultural isolates 

 

beliefs associated with trees, most 

villages have secret spaces under the 

trees. Trees with medicinal values are 

 

Vachellia nilotica. 

As per case study, in Khariyapura 

village the settlement is on a plateau 

surrounded by the hills, cultivated land 

and forest. These type of settlements 

are evoloved from the ecological setting 

and helps them to keep a vigil and 

 

plateau, it is not easy for a stranger to 

find out a Saharia village. The Sahariyas 

maintained ecological equilibrium 

with their environment for ages, 

despite low level of technology (The 

Saharia Tribe: A saga of struggle for 

existence). 

There is a tradition of Gotra representing 

the family they belong. Usually 

they are named after plants, trees and 

 

Salkia- shorea robusta (tree), Phool 

Baguliya- stork (bird). The principal 

species of trees found in this area are 

Acaric arbica, Bassia latifolia. The region 

has a large variety of wild animals, 

especially in the area covered by forests. 

The animals commonly found are 

tiger, jungle pig, snakes etc. A variety 

of birds are found such as the grey partridge, 

pea fowl, peacock. 

(c) Architectural aspect 

Site selection 

Pahargarh is a village surrounded 

by the hills, there are few settlements, 

whereas ‘Khariyapura’ area is selected 

for a case study. There is a river close 

to the settlement. The surface is hard 

with sandy soil. The vegetation is of dry 

and deciduous variety. This is due to 

the nature of soil and partly due to the 

climatic condition of the region. 

Climate, typography and geology 

The climate varies with the natural 

divisions. The area experiences extremes 

of temperature during summers 

and winters. The Saharias are mainly 

inhabited in the hilly tract and south 

and central plateau areas. The hilly 

tracts in the western part are made up 

of sandstone which offers greater resis- 

 

The village 

A typical Saharia village is set 

against the background of hills and 

jungles with a stream nearby. They live 

in a cluster of huts on a hillock or highlands 

which remain green with plants 

and other shrubs during the rainy season, 

but dry during the summer. They 

live in separate hamlets in multi-ethnic 

villages. Sometimes, they also have two 

or more hamlets in a single village. Saharia 

always like to settle nearer to water 

source and forests to get sufficient 

supply of wild roots, tubers, fruits, veg- 

 

a crematorium at a distance from the 

village; memorials of dead are in the 

form of square platform. 

Settlement pattern 

The settlement is connected by the 

pedestrian pathway to the main road. 

The houses are oriented towards east, 

north and west forming a circular pattern. 

The entrance to the settlement 

is from the south. The front facade of 

all the houses are towards the centre. 

They have a tradition of joint family. 

The joint families have a bigger cluster 

while nuclear have smaller ones. 

After marriage, young couple makes 

a new house for themselves, adjacent 

to the family cluster. There is a place 

of worship in the centre of the settlement 

and adjacent to it is a community 

space called Choupal, where grandparent 

look after their children while parents 

are working on the fields. It is also 

a place where people sit together and 

discuss social and religious matters. It 

is also used to accommodate the guests 

during occassions. The settlement utility 

spaces like a well for drinking water, 

a small grocery shop for daily needs 

and they have to go to weekly market 

called ‘haat’ for major shopping. 

There is also has a primary school 

and a health centre. They sing and 

dance during festivals and ceremonies. 

The whole settlement pattern is called 

“Saharana” in local dialect. A Saharana

Figure 13. The settlement pattern of Saharia tribe (Source: Mandal, 1998). 

Figure 14. The Saharana or a commnity space (Source: Mandal, 1998). 

Figure 15. The Saharia settlement in the ecological setting (Source: Author). 

means where the Saharia families lives 

in a cluster. At the time of marriage 

and on festive occasions the people of a 

Saharana come forward freely and participate. 

Members of a Saharana co-operate 

with each other and reciprocate at 

 

Dwelling 

The Saharia dwelling is called Tapra. 

The houses are rectangular in shape, 

divided into two parts. One part is used 

for storage; the other is utilized for 

cooking, sleeping and the centre there 

is a niche in the wall for worshipping. 

A corner of a family courtyard is used 

for bathing, though they usually take 

bath at tank, well or a streamlet. They 

don’t have lavatory in the house; they 

have a tradition to go in the open fields 

for nature’s call. A small open space 

in front of a house is used as courtyard. 

It is a multipurpose space used 

for cooking, drinking water storage, 

and household work. Boundary wall 

 

border of the house, used as informal 

sitting space. Beside this is a platform 

 

the open. The functions and aesthetics 

are closely related to each other. There 

is no division between the function 

and the aesthetic, the material and use 

of it. The walls are painted. Windows 

are not found due to extreme climatic 

conditions. The absence of plinth keeps 

the floor damp. A cattle shed is at the 

back of cooking area. They also have 

shed for pigs and chickens. In some 

other places it is found where locally 

available material is stone. Most of 

the construction is done by stone only. 

They perform their major activities in 

open. The main objects of stone craft 

in the village areas are idols of locally 

worshipped deities. Horses occupy a 

significant status as a symbol of power 

and force. It is found in different forms 

in murals, sculpture and even in the 

structural members of the built form. 

Construction method and techniques 

The materials used for construction 

of houses depend on locally available 

material. Houses are load bearing 

structure of random rubble masonry 

and mud mortar. They go for shallow 

foundation because of hard strata. The 

walls are made up of stones, plastered 

with mud; cow-dung is used as a finishing 

material. The walls are painted 

with lime, minerals and herbal colours. 

ity 

purposes. In order to prevent clay 

surfaces from cracking and crumbling 

a fresh coat of clay and cow dung is applied 

from time to time. 

Pitched roof is a common form of 

roof, regarded as the cheapest alternative 

for covering a structure. It is 

Figure 16. Plan of Saharia dwelling at Kahariya village (Source: Shikha Patidar). 

Figure 17. Elevation of the dwelling (Source: Shikha Patidar). 


Figure 18. The cooking space in the dwelling (Source: Author). 

Figure 19. The bathing space in the dwelling (Source: Author). 

Figure 20. The informal sitting space in front of the dwelling (Source: Author). 

constructed in wood or stone. Wooden 

pitched roof consists of a system of 

joists, rafters and purlins arranged in 

the form of a triangular shaped truss. 

The wooden doors are pivoted, ledged 

and battened and paneled. Paneled 

doors made of single plank and carved 

with the motifs of birds, animals, human 

figure and geometry design. 

orated 

with the relief work. The Saharia 

women besmear the main doorframes, 

doorsills, courtyard and kitchen with a 

paste of yellow clay, chalk and ochre. 

They paint auspicious figures with 

these materials. This painting is done 

not only on special occasions and almost 

daily in the kitchen. This shows 

their aesthetic sense even in daily routine 

activities. It is very difficult for 

urbane to appreciate the vision behind 

this (Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum). 

The clay figures are prevalent to 

mark both auspicious as well as inauspicious 

occasions. The construction 

method and techniques has evovled 

by the process of trail and error for 

ages. Stone image concretize a spiritual 

longing ensuring the continuance of a 

 

Aesthetic 

The walls are decorated with geometric 

patterns, floral and animal 

figures. The wall paintings and floor 

paintings apart from serving ritualistic 

purposes are believed to create a 

harmonious atmosphere in the house. 

They have stabilised mud flooring 

covered with cow dung and decorated 

with coloured clay borders defining the 

spaces. The clay commonly available is 

yellow ochre, white and red. A broad 

border painted in the house along its 

base lends grandeur to the dwelling. 

They are symbols drawn afresh each 

time in the courtyard, on the threshold 

and in other spaces of the house. 

Auspicious symbols drawn on the 

floor with rice paste ochre or yellow 

earth color is done by women drawn 

during festivals or rituals connected 

with seasonal changes, sowing of crops, 

the onset of rain, harvest or significant 

occasion in their family such as birth, 

puberty, marriage, pregnancy and 

death. The simple decoration of ochre 

and mud on the platform for keeping 

earthen pots and on sides of niches add 

charm to the surroundings. The relief 

work is usually done at the entrance 

and on the walls during the construction 

of the house, when the wall is wet. 

The similar relief work appears on the 

grain storage bins which is made of 

clay and husk. 

(d) Economic aspect 

Traditionally they are agriculturers, 

labourers and collectors of forest products 

and sellers of herbal medicines. 

Their agricultural income is marginal 

but they get substantial additional income 

from working in the forests and 

Figure 21. The construction of stone wall with mud plaster (Source: Author). 

Figure 22. The timber truss with the supporting wooden members (Source: Author). 

Figure 23. The stone roof with the supporting stone members (Source: Author).

121 

Figure 24. The decoration in the worshipping area (Source: Author). 

Figure 25. The floor decorated with yellow ochre (Source: Author). 

Figure 26. The ledged and battened door (Source: Author). 

Figure 27. The relief work on the granary (Source: Author). 

collecting minor forest produce such 

as honey, edible gums. They are good 

huntsmen. The main business is gathering 

and selling of forest wood, gum, 

honey, fruits and vegetables. Some of 

them are settled cultivators. The people 

of ‘Sahariyas’ tribe never bothered 

of their future, because they were confident 

that forests, which they respect 

and protect, would never leave them 

hungry. However, the other groups of 

society have exploited the forests to tilt, 

for meeting their self interests (The Saharia 

Tribe: A saga of struggle for existence). 

They possess a few cots (khatiya), 

some utensils, iron implements, 

scanty clothes, light bedding and small 

granaries. Bamboo baskets of different 

shapes and sizes are found in every 

house for daily use. One grinding 

stone is an essential item for a Saharia 

source 

management and respect the 

natural resoures like water, land and 

forest. They know the appropriate use 

the materials and try to use it without 

secondary processing. There is minimum 

wastage of energy and resources. 

Multipurpose uses of space make 

the houses small and economical. The 

houses are designed with the bare min- 

 

construction, the main trunk of the 

tree with desired diameter and length 

is used as the main supports, the smaller 

pieces of branches as rafters, purlins, 

battens and the leaves, bushes, grass as 

the covering material. 

6. Integration of vernacular and 

modern 

Vernacular traditions lead a way 

towards the sustainable built environment. 

The valuable lessons from 

vernacular can be integrated with the 

modern to produce sustainable de- 

 

need understanding of users way of 

life, social and cultural values. Aryana 

 

Charles Correa and Anandgram by 

 

examples of integration of vernacular 

and modern. Architects like Louis 

Kahn, Lourie Baker, Shirish Beri, Revathi 

and Vasanth Kamath, Satprem 

Maini, Anupama Kundoo and Yatin 

Pandya have incorporated the principles 

of vernacular traditions in their 

contemporary buildings. 

 

selected as an example of resettlement. 

- 

 

and Vasanth Kamath their work is 

a creative synthesis of attitudes and 

technologies into an aesthetic habitat 

and a way of life. They believe in using 

natural resources and utilize them 

to the most and are on a mission to 

Figure 28. The unit after 30 years (Source: http://www.kamathdesign.org/project/anandgram). 

Figure 29. The setion of a cluster (Source: http://www.kamathdesign.org/project/anandgram). 

Figure 30. The detailed plan of a cluster (Source: http://www.kamathdesign.org/project/anandgram). 

Figure 31. The plan of a settlement structure (Source: http://www.kamathdesign.org/project/anandgram). 


122 

Table 1. Lessons from Vernacular Architecture of Saharia Tribe (Source: Author). 

Aspects 

Socio-cultural 

Ecological 

Architectural 

Economic 

Parameters 

 

 

 

Community participation 

Belief and rituals 

Worshipping nature 

Gotra (family name or identity) 

Building with nature 

Association with domestic 

animals 


Climate responsive 


 

Materials 

Construction method 

Aesthetics 

Livelihood 

Resource management 

Waste management 

Particulars 

They usually have joint families. When a couple gets married they built a new 

house in the same cluster. 

 

Men wear- shirt, loincloth and turban. Women wear ghangha, choli, sari.They 

wear ornaments of gold and silver depicting the nature. 

The houses are constructed by themseleves and by community participation. 

In the centre of a settlement they have a place of worship. The ornamentation of 

the house is assosciated with beliefs and rituals. 

They worship some specific trees on special occasion. Some of them have 

 

 

shorea robusta (tree), Phool Baguliya- stork (bird). Therefore they never harm 

them. 

Houses are built respecting the typography. 

Animals are integral part of their family they keep cow, goat, pig, chicken. 

The houses are built on plateau surrounded by the hills, site is usually close to the 

source of water. The construction is done on non-fertile land. 

The house form is evoloved as per the climatic condition. Less openings are 

provided due to exterme temperature. 

It has circular settlement pattern with the community space at the centre. 

 

Locally avaliable material like sandstone, laterite, mud, wood and grass. 

Shallow foundation, load bearing structure with stone masonry, mud plaster, 

wooden trusees, stone slabs and wooden doors. 

The walls and doors are decorated with the relief work. The murals depicted on 

the walls are Pithora, Sanjha and on the floors are Mandana, Alpana. 

 

Judicial use of materials. 

Recycling of material. 

substitute concrete, cement and energy-consuming 

systems with sun, 

water, wind and soil. Ecology must 

be understood to encompass both 

nature and culture. The settlement is 

designed for traditional community 

of performing artists and craftsmen 

in their own traditional pattern by intergraing 

values, customs, beliefs and 

lifestyle. The challange was to provide 

the built-fabric to the community in 

relation to the urban form. It is one of 

the best examples of reflection of culture 

in architecture in the contemporary 

design. (Revathi Kamath) 

(a) Beach house at Deogad, 

Maharastra 

The design of this beach house stems 

from a basic simplicity of lifestyle and 

from its symbiotic relationship with 

nature. The main entrance to the house 

meanders through the portal created 

by the two existing Cashurina trees. 

The Undal tree with a seating platform 

and Tulasi forms the vista through the 

car porch. The house is basically one 

single unified space under one roof, 

with functions differentiated by low 

partition walls, curtains, levels etc. 

to create a continues uninterrupted 

merging with the surrounding nature 

gad).

Table 2. Adaptation of Vernacular in Modern Architecture (Source: Author). 

Aspects Parameters Particulars 

 

 

 

Mixed culture therefore celebrate Hoil, Christams, Eid. 


 

Influenced by western culure 

Community participation 

Less community participation 

Ecological 

Architectural 

Economic 

Belief and rituals 

Worshipping nature 

Gotra (family name/ identity) 

Building with nature 

Association with domestic 

animals 


Climate responsive 


 

Multi-purpose space 

Materials 

Construction method 

Aesthetics 

Lifestyle 

Cost effective 

Resource management 

Waste management 

They are not depicted or identified in the dwellings as their identities. 

Houses are not built as per the natural setting. 

 

Most of the buildings are not eco-friendly nor climate responsive. 

 

 

agriculture land is also used for construction. 

Less climate responsive, house forms are not as per the climatic condition. They 

are depended on mechanical devices. 

 

‘Saharia’ can be adopted. Ar. Revathi Kamath has adopted principles vernacular 

 

They are designed as per the economic statues like High income group (HIG), 

Middle income group (MIG) and Low income group (LIG). 

 

principles of vernacular architecture in his modern house. 

Market oriented materials are used, locally avaliable materials are neglected. 

Ar. Laurie Baker has adopted principles of vernacular architecture with the 

adoption of locally material and techniques. 

Locally avaliable material can be upgraded with the help of modern technology. 

Ar. Satprem Maine has adopted in Mud architecture. 

There is no identity of the region. Contemporary art can incorporated in 

architecture, Ar. Charles Correa has adopted in Vidhan Sabha, Bhopal. 

Globalization had brought a change in social life and cultural identity. 

Comparative market, transportation cost is more. When appropriate material is 

used, it is cost effective. 

 

secondary materia should be done. 

 

done projects using waste materials. 

Figure 32. The site plan of the residence (Source: http://architecturenewsplus.com). 

Figure 33. The cross- sections of the residence. (Source: http://architecturenewsplus.com/). 


124 

Figure 34. The building is an eco-friendly structures (Source: http://thehindu.com). 

Figure 35. Jaali wall provide light and ventilation. (Source:http://earthbagbuilding.com). 

Figure 36. Jaali wall providiving natural light (Source: http://desertmonster.wordpress.com). 

(b) Laurie Baker in Kerala 

“I dont think Ive ever been inspired 

by what other architects have done but 

more by what ordinary craftsmen have 

created (Laurie Baker). Laurie Baker in 

in his designs, asserted the appropriateness 

of the traditional construction 

to local condition, adapting existing locally 

available materials and traditional 

methods to contemporary urban structures. 

The beautiful use of exposed 

bricks in walls, arches, jaali patterns. 

He is renowned for his initatives in cost 

effective and energy efficient designs. 

(c) Satprem Maini in Auroville 

Building with earth has a great past, 

and also a promising future everywhere 

in the world. Proper management 

of natural resources is essential 

for sustainable development, says Satprem. 

Satprem specializes in the use 

of raw earth as a building material and 

especially compressed stabilised earth 

blocks (CSEB). He has also specialised 

in the construction of arches, vaults 

and domes built with earth, disaster 

resistance with CSEB and earthen heritage 

conservation. The CSEB, designed 

by Satprem, are made by mixing earth 

 

cement. This mix is then compressed in 

a manual press. The blocks are energy 

effective as it does not require burning. 

It is also cost effective (Maini) 

(d) Charles Correa- contemporary 

art in architecture 

 

brilliantly inventive in his deployment 

of certain timeless themes in Indian culture 

and philosophy – journey, passage, 

void and the representation of the cosmos. 

He uses them as a means to creating 

ambitious new spaces and structures. 

His deep understanding of the 

implications of climate, demographics, 

transport and community life has a universal 

quality and has helped structure 

the thematic arrangement of the exhibition.” 

Rooted both in modernism and 

the rich traditions of people, place and 

climate. (Charles Correa) 

(e) Yatin Pandya – recyling waste 

material 

Recycling domestic waste as building 

components is an environmental, 

economic and aesthetic imperative. 

“Holistic architecture is experientially 

engaging, environmentally sustaining, 

socio-culturally responsive and most importantly 

contextually appropriate. Context 

in terms of culture, climate and construction. 

In the context of India history 

is alive through lived in traditions. We 

are lucky to find repository of traditional 

wisdom through its deep long passage of 

time. We endeavor to create contextually 

relevant contemporary resolutions that 

inspire from the rich Indian traditions 

and yet aspire for its future dreams.” (Yatin 

Pandya).- 

Figure 37. The Vikas Community, Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India (Source: http://cseindia.org). 

Figure 38. The Vikas Community, Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India (Source: http://cseindia.org). 

Figure 39. The training centre of the Auroville Earth Institute (Source: http://earthauroville).

Figure 40. The Vidhan Sabha, Bhopal (Source: http://en.wikiarquitectura.com). 

Figure 41. The contemporary art in Vidhan Sabha, Bhopal (Source: http://jangarh-singhshyam.in). 

Figure 42. Arts Centre, Jaipur, Jawahar Kala Kendra (Source: http://jawahar-kala-kendra). 

7. Conclusion 

The key parameter of sustainability 

is the social and cultural relevance. The 

diversity of the local culture is eloquent 

in the way they treat and manage their 

environment. The built environment is 

shaped by the values and cultural believes 

of the community. Globalization 

has brought a major change in the lifestyle. 

The patterns of evolution, adapting 

to the change in traditions, is critical 

for the continuity of cultures. 

In contemporary architecture, it 

is important to identify the need for 

human comfort. As the climate is 

changing rapidly, the settlement has 

to be modified and adapted to fulfill 

the changing needs and lifestyles. The 

buildings should be climate responsive 

and energy efficent. It is not advised to 

shun the tradition completely, continuity 

with the past is essential for the sustainability 

of a community as a whole. 

The focus of ecological sustainability is 

to create a balance between man and 

his environment including both natural 

and man-made. The aim is to work 

with nature and not against it. 

Physical sustainability is one of the 

most tangible forms of sustainability. 

As the needs and values of the society 

changes, the buildings either adapt 

themselves to suit the new demands or 

neglected or get replaced by the modern 

ones. The world is witnessing the 

repercussions of globalization. 

Consequently, the vernacular form 

of architecture is rapidly being replaced 

with new industrial materials 

such as steel and concrete. It has been 

observed that when building fail to 

meet the basic requirements of contemporary 

standards, conflicts arises 

and often leads to overcrowding. To 

increase physical sustainability, restore 

the buildings, cultural character with 

community partnership and their tradition 

knowledge. Upgradation and 

adaptive use of locally available material 

should be encouraged. 

Economic sustainability can be 

achieved by low cost techniques, environmental 

friendly and energy ef- 

 

multiple use of spaces and judicial use 

materials and resources. 

“Satisfying the spiritual economic 

and material needs of the people is determining 

condition for sustainable architecture 

and every decision concerning 

areas, the design of a building must 

be sensitive to the culture, the resources, 

and the character of the place. The 

risk is global standards global modes of 

building and global processes will overwhelm 

the local context” (Willianson et 

 

To achieve sustainability in the living 

environment, a balance needs to 

be achieved between the available resources 

and needs of a contemporary 

Figure 43. The filler slabs made from glass and plastic (Source: http://insideoutside.in). 

Figure 44. The digital waste, cds used to make doors (Source: manav-sadhna). 

Figure 45. Recycled glass, plastic bottles used as partition walls (Source: http://insideoutside.in). 


society. The survival of the past will 

depend completely on the ability to 

adapt to the needs of the future. It can 

therefore be concluded that sustainable 

development can only be achieved by 

learning, understanding and appreciating 

the past. The traditional settlements 

are eloquent the traditional wisdom in 

sustainable development. They are developed 

as a sensitive response to climate, 

topography culture and natural 

resources and therefore sustainable in 

social, economical and cultural sense. 

Acknowledgments 

We are greatly thankful to department 

of Culture, Archology, Tribal 

Research Institute, Tribal Museum, 

State Archological Museum of Madhya 

Pradesh. 

Glossary 

Bhil: one of the main tribes living in 

 

Byelaws: rules governing the building 

construction activities of a place. 

Chaupal: denotes a common meeting 

place in a village which is owned by 

the whole community in Hindu. 

Dusharra: festival to commemorate 

the victory of Loord Rama over Ravana 

the demon-god; also celebrating 

Shakti’s killing of the demon Mahishasura. 

Dwelling: is the name given to a 

house form or for living somewhere. 

Gotra: a descent from a common 

ancestor/ family name or identity 

Haat: weekely market 

Jaali: lattices made of bamboo, grass 

and clay, used on mud houses in Sarguja, 

Raigarh. Made by women, these 

lattices are an example of traditional 

village architecture. 

Pithora: votive wall painting made 

by the Bhils, worshipped with sacrifices. 

Sahariya: primitive tribe living in 

Gwalior, Shivpuri and Morena in the 

north-westrn part of Madhya Pradesh. 

The people of this tribe consider Sabari 

of Ramayana to their first ancestor. 

References 

 

guin 

Group 

na 

Jile ki Saharia Janjati ka Sanskritik 

Pralakhan. In: Bhopal: Tribal Research 

Institute 

- 

 

org/project/anandgram 

Madhya Pradesh Triba Museum. 

seum.com/tribes-sahariya.html 

re 

and Cultural Change in the Saharia 

 

Ltd 

 

and Saharia. Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): 

Aadijati Kalyan Vibhaj Madhya 

Pradesh Sasan 

 

 

 

Patidar, S. n.d. Madhy Pradesh ke 

 

Jansampark 

 

Crafts of Madhya Pradesh. Ahmedabad: 

Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 

Ahmedabad in association with Vanya 

Prakashan, Bhopal 

ditions 

Contemporary Architecture. 

 

Institute (TERI). TERI Press 

 

http://www.slideshare/the-sahariyatribe 

 

bals_in_Madhya_Pradesh

Re-dignifying vernacular for 

constructing national identity: 

Elitism, grand traditions and 

cultural revival in Bahrain 

Ranjith DAYARATNE 

 

University of Bahrain, Isa Town, Bahrain 



Abstract 

Since the discovery of oil, the decline of the pearl industry and the emergence 

of modern architecture, most vernacular buildings in Bahrain had become dilapidated. 

Over time, their occupiers had moved onto other modern and luxurious 

buildings that are available aplenty now, although often lacking in local identity 

and national character. Recently, there is a renewed interest in the historical vernacular, 

considered necessary to be rejuvenated for the infusion of national pride 

and construction of national identity. The Ministry of Culture as well as reputed 

architects have adopted strategies of ‘re-dignifying the historical vernacular’ of 

Bahrain with the intention of rekindling the interest in the historical traditions 

and re-infusing them to modern life. This paper examines a number of re-dignified 

buildings, and re-invented grand traditions of Bahrain and how they are 

being re-modeled for the present day consumption. It advances the theory that 

architecture and national identity are intertwined through ‘elitism’ and ‘grand traditions’, 

and buildings that embody such narratives are considered culturally rich. 

It thus re-assesses the reproduction of vernacular being articulated in the present 

context of globalization. 

Keywords 

Bahrain, Grand traditions, National identity, Re-dignifying vernacular.


The significance of vernacular for 

the construction of identity of a nation 

is often overlooked and not explicitly 

acknowledged, although evidence 

abounds in countries where rich vernacular 

had existed. Bahrain, an is- 

 

 

country where this link has recently 

become explicitly articulated by the 

state, aptly supported and acknowledged 

by the general public. Undeniably, 

Bahrain has been endowed with 

rich traditions and vernacular that 

claim a significant history of more than 

 

vernacular is nothing to be surprised 

of. Identity however is not something 

static and is to be constructed not only 

by means of rejuvenating the vernacular. 

It is multi-faceted and thus vernacular 

provides a veneer of that identity 

which is immersed in the past that 

can be projected into the future. This 

duality of its potential re-deployment 

endows it with a complexity and richness 

that need to be understood and 

grasped with their nuances of existence 

and articulation. This paper seeks to 

examine a number of recently executed 

projects rejuvenating the vernacular 

traditions of Bahrain and delves into 

the links they exhibit with the ‘forms of 

traditions’ and cultural facets, together 

with the socio-economic and socio-political 

meanings associated with 

their makings. 

 

modernism that was employed often 

to generate pride and national identity 

in many societies which were in the 

process of inventing themselves anew. 

Even a country like India with abundance 

of rich vernacular recovering 

from years of colonization sought not 

to return to roots but to seek alternatives 

from modern architecture in their 

quest for national pride. For example 

in commissioning Chandigarh, it has 

been said, 

“Our basic purpose [in Chandigarh] 

is to create a sense of pride in the citizen, 

not only in his own city, but in India, 

its past and its potential imminent 

future …. We are seeking symbols, to 

restore or to create pride and confidence 

in [the Indian] himself and his 

 

Post–modernism however brought 

to light the value and relevance of traditions 

and the vernacular and have 

re-infused the sense of culture and 

history as a significant component of 

identity construction. Geoffery Bawa, 

the Sri Lankan architect who spearheaded 

critical regionalism indeed 

created numerous projects of such 

revisionist approaches from the construction 

of the holiday resorts to the 

national parliament of Sri Lanka. In 

fact, when construction of national 

identity is the objective of a project, it 

has become quite common for many 

to return to the vernacular in search 

for the roots and the culture core that 

nurtures and cherishes the traits that 

are to define identity. Perhaps it is for 

 

later regretted the erasure of all its vernacular 

and historical buildings in the 

pursuit of a new modernism and fast 

 

 

2. Theorizing national identity, 

vernacular culture, and elitism 

The concept of a ‘‘nation’’ is the manifestation 

of various internalized and 

externalized forces and conceptualizations 

of a group of people whose existence 

situates them in a locality as well 

as globally, contributing to a sense of 

belonging and attachment to the group 

of their own. Identity is a social construct 

that emanates from this sense 

of belonging which enables people to 

distinguish themselves against ‘others’. 

tion 

of everyday living of people contributes 

both directly and indirectly to 

this process through material as well as 

non-material attributes. Indeed, at the 

heart of this lies an inalienable bond 

between people and the land upon 

which they ‘dwell’. However, it is only 

if architecture possesses such possibilities 

to inculcate a bond between people 

and places, and provide unique symbols 

and material artifacts of character 

that they will be treated as being able to 

represent the nation. 

structed 

material world concretizes 

and expresses the values of a society 

and its founding ideologies. McMa-

and asserts that collective identity of 

a people is reflected through material 

culture and that architecture is one of 

its expressive mediums. In fact, it is 

well known that architecture creates 

meanings, and that architectural elements 

produce symbolism, narratives 

and ideological connotations (Good- 

tional 

architecture’ thus reflects the 

perceived self of its people through 

styles, elements, order and compositional 

languages it employs. National 

identity however is imagined to exist 

without or even before material culture 

comes into existence and therefore architecture, 

which then it represents. To 

the contrary, it is argued that as a tangible 

manifestation of a way of thinking 

and inhabiting the world concretized 

through symbols, architecture by itself 

does create national identity rather 

than simply reflect it. 

Throughout history and across 

the world, architecture has produced 

unique and intrinsic symbols for articulating 

the notions of nations representing 

many different people. Classical 

architecture accomplished this task 

gracefully through the monuments 

while the vernacular lent a humble and 

 

to the construction of identity in two 

ways. First, it inculcated an attachment 

to the past, glorified it and continued 

to make them be present, at any given 

time. Secondly, it endowed legitimacy 

to those who authored them to 

 

crats 

derived their power through the 

 

to these were symbolic meanings derived 

from myth and mysticism. For 

example, classical orientalism couched 

in notions of cosmic energies and supernatural 

connections brought about 

a sense of commonality and belonging 

among people who believed in them 

which the rulers employed to assert 

ture 

was thus engaged to authorize 

accepted ideologies and to construct 

a collective consciousness as a socially 

cohesive imagination fostering a strong 

sense of attachment to a geo-political 

body among a given group of people. 

When skillfully crafted, architecture 

thus persuades consensus and brings 

about a sense of belonging necessary 

for constructing the notion of a nation 

and help sustain a group of people in 

collective unity. 

 

‘‘have always possessed the emotive 

collective qualities’’ that can bring a 

nation together, and that architecture 

is indeed such a symbol. Symbols as 

material representations of people are 

impregnated with latent and manifest 

- 

 

culture, symbolism and tradition are 

at the base of national identity. In his 

seminal book ‘‘the invention of tradition’’, 

he explains that traditions are often 

constructed and given a semblance 

of historical continuity and legitimacy, 

when in fact they are mere innovations 

of older customs or very novel 

and relatively recent creations. Often, 

the continuities or meanings claimed 

are argued to be misconceptions of the 

historic past or myths. 

Multiple processes are sought to 

construct nationhood, although often 

the historical traditions are taken as 

one of the most desirable. Historical 

traditions embody the imagined continuity 

of historical narrative, social 

and cultural relevance and the collective 

consciousness of the communities 

of the past. However, as Colquhoun 

argues, ‘‘the use of the past to supply 

models [a way of practicing historicism] 

for the present depends upon 

the ideological distortions of the past’’ 

 

not construct identity per se. Nevertheless, 

each collective of people and the 

geo-body that provides for anchorage 

of their collective identity adopt multiple 

techniques and strategies including 

the practice of historicism not only to 

construct the nation, but also to re-define 

and deploy the notions of nation as 

an essential component of their being. 

Often, among such techniques, 

deployment of what is perceived as 

‘an authentic character’, generated by 

uniqueness of culture has always played 

a significant role. In fact, Rapoport 

ture 

over numerous physical factors 

in the making of the domestic form 

and its contribution to the generation 

Re-dignifying vernacular for constructing national identity elitism, grand traditions and cultural 

revival in Bahrain

of character of rural settings. Similar- 

 

lationships 

between culture and architectural 

traditions (i.e. folk, vernacu- 

 

clearly establish that, culture, tradition 

and authentic character inherent in the 

vernacular are intrinsic manifestations 

of the values of a given group of people 

and therefore have the potency to 

generate symbols for the construction 

of national identity. Hobsbawm and 

gest 

that it is ‘selective traditions’ that 

help articulate ‘architectural identity’ 

that are effectively deployed to narrate 

the notions of a nation. 

tween 

‘grand design traditions’ and 

‘folk design traditions’, which can be 

associated respectively with ‘high’ and 

‘other levels’ of cultures of a given so- 

 

similar cultural division. Wijetunge 

 

establishes that in fact, these variations 

of traditions possessed and articulated 

by elites, sub-elites and peasants need 

to be clearly understood in terms of 

their potency for establishing national 

identity since they play different roles. 

 

between elites, sub-elites and peasants 

articulate veneers of national Identity 

through grand and folk traditions. He 

points out that as Mosca defines, the 

elite are not only raised high above the 

rest of society but are in fact, intimately 

connected with the masses through 

the ‘sub-elites’. This larger group of 

sub elites represents for all intents and 

purposes ‘the society’, and were also 

referred to as the ‘middle-class’ in the 

 

does not only supply recruits to the 

governing elite class, but composes 

a vital element in the government of 

society. Within the middle-class, we 

may find ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ strata, 

 

former comprised of those in “professional, 

technical and [relatively] higher 

managerial occupations”. The lower 

conversely, will extend to the ones in 

the “more routine clerical and administrative 

jobs”. The middle-class could 

also be placed on par with the idea of 

‘intelligentsia’. 

 

‘middle-class’ or more specifically of 

the sub-elites that is taken as truly representative 

of a society and defines the 

identity of a nation. Firstly, they stand 

out as the majority. Secondly, they form 

the middle-ground. Most importantly 

however, they form the essential links 

 

the case of the past, the aristocrats and 

the peasants and in the contemporary 

 

often also referred to as the rich and 

the poor. This means that neither the 

elitist architecture nor the architecture 

of the poor have the legitimacy and the 

authority to represent, and therefore 

claim to construct national identity 

by themselves. This paper argues that 

this ‘vernacular of the middle-class’ or 

the ‘sub-elite’ burrows selectively from 

the Grand and Folk traditions, and 

re-deploys them as appropriate to be 

representative of both simultaneously 

yet also constructs a unique veneer of 

traditions and thus holds the power to 

represent and construct the notions of 

a nation. 

3. Constructing nation: The case of 

Bahrain 

In Bahrain, the explicit movements 

to construct a national identity began 

only a few decades after the discovery 

of oil, rising from a society organized 

largely in a tribal fashion inhabiting 

the island for centuries. Nationalism 

for Bahrain, however, has not been a 

struggle against ‘‘others’’ from whom 

control and hegemony had to be regained. 

More specifically, it has been 

an internal manifestation that gathered 

the ‘‘self ’’ of smaller groups, whose 

sense of a larger nation had almost 

being absent. In fact, despite having 

been in existence for centuries, its society 

had been incoherently organized 

under the jurisdictions and allegiances 

to regional leaderships in the form 

of ‘‘Sheikdoms’’. Prior to the present 

dynasty of rulers who took control in 

gional 

rulers either from Persia or the 

neighbouring sheikdoms. The idea of 

a nation, national identity and sovereignty 

had not figured in those regional 

formations and confrontations as

Figure 1. Bahrain- the location amidst 

‘other’ culturally similar nations (Source: 

Google maps). 

defining and rallying notions. 

Since the discovery of oil, Bahrain 

has moved across many fronts to construct 

a sense of statehood and a nation, 

through the construction of national 

symbols or the promotion of reconstructed 

historical narratives. They 

have endeavored to assert their social 

and cultural uniqueness and construct 

adequate representations through material 

culture. The search was for styles 

in the arts and architecture that was 

inherently their own, which reflected 

true ‘‘Bahraini identity’’, and opposed 

those trends raging in Europe, particularly 

those of the British, which had 

begun to influence Bahrain as a British 

Protectorate. However, its first production 

of ‘‘national’’ architecture—the 

 

Bahrain—was also designed by a Brit- 

 

centrally located as an entry gate to the 

Manama Souq, Belgrave attempted to 

localize a predominantly British-style 

building by introducing arches and recesses 

around the windows. The traditional 

Bahraini roof parapet and motif 

details transformed to fit in with the 

style of the building was a feeble attempt 

to balance the fusion of an alien style to 

the vernacular styles of Bahrain. With 

the sense of national identity taking a 

more articulated form, its inadequacy 

as a national monument was strongly 

furbish 

it in order to incorporate more 

powerful Islamic architectural features. 

 

been rejuvenated together with the tra- 

Figure 2. Bab-Al Bahrain-the gateway 

to Bahrain (Source: Ministry of Culture, 

Bahrain). 

 

its centrality so that it gained significance 

again as a national monument 

generating a national public space. In 

a larger scheme of Re-diginification 

 

Bahrain takes up the highest position 

longing 

and representative of the state, 

and spearheads the glorification of the 

 

Bahrain however is solely inadequate 

to generate an authentic character that 

can be claimed to belong to the Bahraini 

people considering the fact that 

there have been more elaborate and authentic 

architecture its people had produced 

developing their characteristics 

in response to climate, ways of life and 

culture over time. It is undeniable that 

the ‘buildings-of-the-everyday’, and of 

the sub elites possessed richer character 

which can be deployed, re-dignified 

and glorified to claim a unique identity 

for Bahrain. 

3.1. Architecture, nation and 

vernacularism 

In constructing national identity 

since discovery of oil, two interrelated 

trends had emerged in the Gulf region 

 

to look to one’s own cultural heritage to 

find a truly national style in architecture. 

The other was the use of European 

classicism, subtly modified to create 

a national character to arise through 

international form. In Bahrain, the former 

led to the discovery of a vernacular-influenced 

architecture, with tenets 

stemming from the ancient past that 

prevailed predominantly in the Muharraq 

Island. Interestingly, both these 

trends were also present in the nations 

of many other states that were emerging 

from the clutches of the British 


revival in Bahrain

a suitable hybrid could be developed. 

Figure 3. Imitated Palladian Villas – 

vernacular of the middle class seeking a new 

Identity in Bahrain (Source: Author). 

Empire in the global south and led to 

similar outcomes. Of focus here are the 

practices that have evolved in the domestic 

architectural scene of Bahrain, 

which have been driven by individual 

fascinations, market forces and popular 

 

the villas and residential buildings imitated 

Palladian architectural forms and 

symbolism in preference to the historical 

vernacular. In fact, symmetry in 

form, elaborate domes, pediments and 

porticos reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance 

were seen as legitimate forms 

that could establish the newly gained 

place in the world. The sub-elites were 

quick to abandon the traditional and 

the vernacular as they perceived these 

to be belonging to the past and not having 

the symbolism to project the newly 

acquired wealth or the flamboyance of 

the status of a ‘rich nation’. 

This ‘new vernacular’ imitating the 

Palladian villas owes much to the perception 

that they offered the expression 

of values of the new elites whose 

oil wealth took them to the European 

capitals at ease. Indeed, it was necessary 

to project a semblance of flamboyance 

and ostentation. The tall columns, 

the pediments and other symbolic elements 

aptly offered a sense of wealth 

and aristocracy, the natives had hardly 

possessed before the discovery of oil 

yet acquired overnight and had to be 

displayed and presented to the world 

and unto themselves. Plethora of such 

dwellings surrounded by high, ornate 

and illuminated enclosure walls had 

emerged and continue to inspire the 

contemporary elites and sub-elites who 

find this international form, easy to be 

fused with some local symbols so that 

3.2. Vernacularism 

However, it was soon discovered by 

the state that if there is an architecture 

that reflected the deep roots of people 

inhabiting the island, it would be the 

traditional urbanism of Muharraq and 

the vernacular of its sub-elites who 

had made it the capital of Bahrain before 

it was set aside to be the second 

city pursuant to the first wave of globalisation. 

This was facilitated by the 

research done by an expatriate on the 

architecture of Muharraq highlighting 

the value and significance of the ver- 

 

Undeniably, the global perceptions and 

focus on the preservation of heritage 

that had emerged in the world had also 

awakened the state authorities to look 

at the dilapidated city in a new light. 

In fact, Bahrain’s present capital city 

Manama does possess historical vernacular 

and could have also been a 

potential area of rejuvenation and glorification. 

However, at the beginning, 

Manama was seen as somewhat devoid 

of such characteristic architecture, particularly 

because much had been aban- 

 

also occupied by the Indian migrant 

labourers who had arrived after the 

discovery of oil, as cheap accommodation. 

However, more recently, vernacular 

of the Manama’s sub-elites have also 

received focused attention in addition 

to those of Muharraq. 

The revitalization and urban renewal 

of Muharraq was thus not only an 

attempt to develop the region of which 

some quarters were in a dilapidated 

state, but also a conscious attempt to 

redefine the cultural identity and the 

nation of Bahrain. Beginning with the 

publication of the works of Yarwood 

 

has recognized an enclave of Muharraq 

as the heart of the nation through the 

establishment of a series of historical 

vernacular centered around Sheik 

Ibrahim Cultural Centre, comprised 

of the renovated and re-presented residences 

of the Sheiks and cultural gurus 

 

Bahrain. 

This spatial enclave of the ‘‘heart of 

the nation’’ is located close to the Sheik

Figure 4. Re-dignified historical vernacular: Bin Matar House in Muharraq (Source: 

Author). 

 

 

khalifa, and Siyadi House, built by the 

 

Siyadi. They provide the significance 

and ambience for the location, while 

the narrow alleyways and other elements 

prevalent in the area add to this 

ambience. These elements represent a 

balance between sensitivities to climate 

and needs of privacy with fine, exquisite 

internal ornamentation to counter 

the barren desert and create pleasant 

and habitable spaces. In re-dignifyng 

the ‘heart of the nation’, specific historical 

vernacular carefully chosen from 

the former residences of the sub-elites 

have been renovated, and re-presented 

having been re-glorified by means 

of documentation, renaming, and by 

celebratory events being organized 

there. The buildings and spaces show 

the numerous traits that Bahrainis 

would cherish and celebrate as uniquely 

theirs. 

 

stands out and provides a fine example 

of vernacular architecture of the 

sub elites that represent the identity 

 

name of the building is Memory of 

the Place – Bin Matar House, and this 

name reflects the dual function of this 

traditional building in presenting the 

identity of a people. Firstly, the building 

embodies a definite cultural identity 

through its specific architecture and 

 

also a repository of memories, through 

the individuals that lived in the building 

and the events that took place there. 

The Bin Matar House is dedicated to 

conserving both traditional Bahraini 

architecture as well as the memory of 

the Bin Matar family” (Sheik Ibrahim 

 

Salman Bin Matter was the most 

 

century Bahrain. His dwelling had 

been constructed in a traditional Bahraini 

manner, using palm tree trunks, 

sea-stone and gypsum. The traditional 

ceilings made of a palm leaf and wood 

beam combination in red and black are 

unique to Bahrain. It also displays the 

authentic building character emanating 

from walls finished with a rugged 

texture, white washed and allowed to 

weather. 

3.3. Bahrain Pearl Trail 

Complimentary to these is the 

unique setting of the Bahrain Pearl 

Trail now recognized as a world heritage 

site. Here, the historical vernacular 

of the sub-elites as well as those of 

the lower strata of the society who had 

toiled in the days when Bahrain was 

considered the ‘Pearl of the Gulf ’ as a 

result of the precious natural pearls has 

been re-presented. The vernacular of 

the pearl craft however is neither a single 

location nor a building. It is indeed 

a pathway that one can walk along 

and discover numerous elements that 

rekindle a historical narrative. Beginning 

from the “oyster beds where the 

divers may have captured the pearls, 

the seashore and its festival at the be- 

 

the ship building sites in front of them 

to the historic markets and residences 


revival in Bahrain

Building title 

Shaikh Ebrahim bin 

Mohammed Center 

for Culture and 

Research 

Original ownership and 

purpose 

original majlis of Shaikh 

Ebrahim bin Mohammed 

 

 

 

Bahrain 

Notable characteristics of Architecture 

Bland façade with patterned recesses. 

 

with a patio facing the alleyway. Extensively 

detailed wooden craftsmanship in the doorway. 

Patterned stucco on walls in the interior with a 

wooden decorative stairway at the double height 

 

These are typical of traditional Bahraini 

vernacular 

 

House 

 

residence 

Façade with square and patterned recesses. 

 

to break the skyline. Breakers in the corners on 

the parapets. Extensive use of arches. Current 

building is internally modified, although still 

retains the character and ambience particularly 

with creaftsmanship of wood work and white 

walls. 

 

House 

 

 

foremost figure in poetry and 

literature for over half a century 

Geometrical decorative plant decorations in 

doors and windows. Bahraini colonial style with 

grand spaces of high volumes. Criss- crossed 

wooden balustrades and recessed square 

patterns in the walls both inside and outside. 

Interior modified in the present building to a 

more modern appearance. 

Mohammed Bin 

Faris Sut Music 

Bahraini singer and musician 

Mohammed bin Faris was a 

 

 

Original residence 

 

the shape of squares as well as arch form 

particularly above doors. Open courtyard has 

now been enclosed with glass roof. Elaborately 

decorative wooden doors and some decorative 

metal work all provide an ambience of 

simplicity and charm. 

House of coffee 

 

traditional Bahraini houses 

This has a blank traditional façade abutting the 

alleyway. Walls still have the square recesses in 

the walls to break the monotony. Simple single 

un-decorative entrance. However, the Interior 

has been modified to a modern coffee shop as 

seen in this image. 

 

 

preservation of the art of dying 

and unique Bahraini art of 

 

 

tree, displays fine workmanship of rugged walls 

and wooden doors and windows. Traditional 

timber ceilings and a roof top with a thick 

white balustrade typically present in Traditional 

houses. 

Information 

Centre 

Used to be a local majlis 

meaning a gathering place 

for men 

Features traditional Bahraini architecture 

with quite number of decorative wooden 

doors. Walls heavily recessed with squares 

to create a pattern. White washed walls with 

a ruggedly and unevenly finished surface. 

 

cheerful space indoors and simple façade to 

the outside. 

Figure 5. Vernacular of the elites and sub-elites representing the nation of Bahrain.

Figure 6. Isa Bin Ali House and the Mosque and bait Siyadi in the pearl Trail. 

of those involved in the economic sys- 

 

 

that had come into being through intricate 

relations between the sub elites 

and the workers of the pearl industry. 

The two miles long pathway brings 

back the neighbourhood to life, glorifies 

and presents the everyday dwellings 

and places that had once represented 

the core activity of Bahrain that 

gave rise to its culture and defined the 

people of the island as pearl divers and 

 

of one of the grand merchants, and a 

gamut of dwellings of those who took 

part in the pearling industry culminating 

in the house of a nukhida (sea ves- 

 

The significance of the pearl trail 

in the signification of the culture and 

identity of Bahrain has been clearly 

expressed, when UNESCO has stated 

 

“The site is the last remaining complete 

example of the cultural tradition 

of pearling and the wealth it generated 

at a time when the trade dominated 

 

 

ing 

example of traditional utilization 

of the sea’s resources and human interaction 

with the environment, which 

shaped both the economy and cultural 

identity of the island’s society”. (UNE- 

 

3.4. Elements in the landscape 

 

larger landscape of the historical vernacular 

of the sub elites also contribute 

to the construction of national identi- 

 

for example, are a unique but common 

spatial practice of most Islamic cities. 

In Manama and Muharraq, such alleyways 

abound and signify the vernacular 

characteristics that have emerged in 

response to the harsh climate as well as 

the needs of the family and social life 

 

Moreover, the wind towers share a 

common language across the region, 

although variations exist. The Bahraini 

wind tower is an architectural element 

that has now become a marker of its 

national identity, which has gained 

 

openings orientated towards the good 

winds acts as a funnel, catching the 

breeze and drawing it down into the 

cavities below where the living spaces 

are located, while releasing the hot air 

 

the early forms of ‘‘air conditioning’’ by 

natural means. It is a built element that 

provides for iconic imagery, expresses 

local ingenuity in responding to the 

harsh climate and therefore can be 

lamic-Bahraini 

identity for all times. 

Equally reproduced are the unique, 

wooden-poled palm-mat ceilings that 

had helped construct a flat mud roof, 

for Bahraini traditional houses to 

combat the scorching sun. Traditional 

urbanism has caught the public imagination 

and has given rise to a return 

to such elements and spaces as a way 

of authoring national identity through 

architecture, in the current wave of 

globalisation where such authenticity 

has cultural capital. For example, Gulf 


revival in Bahrain

Figure 7. Alleyways and wind towers in Manama (Source: Author). 

lar 

architectural practice that attempts 

to reconstruct culture and identity 

through contemporary Bahraini architecture 

and employs quite skillfully 

the numerous elements and spatialities 

of the historical vernacular to create 

buildings and spaces where one feels a 

greater sense of belonging to the past 

while progressing to the luxury of the 

future. Interestingly, a large number of 

contemporary sub elites have taken to 

construct their ‘modern’ dwellings in 

the styles of historical vernacular traditions 

as offered by the Gulf House 

Engineering and others. 

3.5. Forms of traditions and cultural 

facets of the dignified vernacular 

It is argued that the core cultural 

facets of the Bahraini Society cannot 

indeed be usurped from any of the 

other veneers representing the contemporary 

life styles and practices but 

the historical vernacular itself, as often 

proudly announced by the Ministry of 

Culture and other state agencies. Evidently, 

since the establishment of the 

Cultural Enclave in Muharraq, and the 

establishment of the Pearl Trail, the 

‘Timeout Bahrain’ a website that discusses 

culture in Bahrain declared that 

‘there is something of a cultural explosion 

in Bahrain right now’ (Timeout 

 

ways in which the re-diginification of 

the historical vernacular seem to have 

created snow-balling effects in the society 

where many middle class in particular 

have begun to appreciate what 

had existed in the past and how they 

can indeed be resurrected to define 

their unique identity in the context of 

growing consumerism, multi-culturalism 

and globalisation. 

These core cultural facets as resurrected 

through the re-dignified vernacular 

can be presented as follows. 


 

quite consciously selected and re-dignified 

the historical vernacular of the 

elites and sub elites as a means of constructing 

a veneer of national identity 

on the foundations of the past. While 

the more modern enclaves in Bahrain 

such as the Bahrain Financial Harbor 

and the World Trade Centre offer a sophisticated 

veneer depicting the modern 

and progressive nature of the nation, 

there are other veneers of idenity 

narrated by other traditions. One of the 

most unique among them is the death 

landscapes, that exists only in Bah- 

 

historical vernacular provide the core 

around which all of the other veneers 

 

says, identity is not fixed. Rather it is 

fluid and contingent. In fact it is always 

evolving. In the case of Bahrain, distinct 

national cultural assets have been 

reconstructed from the recent histo- 

 

particularly from the grand traditions 

and historical vernacular of the elites 

 

is a process of self-discovery, as ar- 

 

demonstrates that among the multiple 

strategies to self-discover and assemble 

a multitude of facets to represent the 

notions of the nation, historical vernacular 

of the elites and the sub-elites 

have been found to be the most potent. 

It is clear that through re-dignification, 

images have been produced that can be

now presented claiming the re-discovery 

of a valuable culture core that lays 

a substantially powerful foundation for 

the construction of the nation. 

- 

 

has thus succeeded. This is comparable 

with the progressive identities of the 

 

cate, 

dignify and present similar powerful 

vernacular for the construction of 

the notion of National Idenity of theirs. 

In fact, Bahrain has recently claimed to 

be becoming the ‘cultural capital’ of 

the Gulf, by articulating these cultural 

veneers by constructing further cultural 

manifestations upon them. These 

demonstrate both the fragile and com- 

- 

thing 

natural, permanent and definite, 

but is a social construction, formed by 

the creation of the “other’’ identities. It 

is through the other that one can recognize 

one’s own identity. 

This paper argued that national 

identity is intertwined with ‘elitism’ and 

‘grand traditions’, and buildings that 

embody such narratives are considered 

culturally rich. To a great extent, the 

Bahraini developments subscribe to 

this argument. However, the grand traditions 

do not have to be produced entirely 

by the elites and sub elites. It can 

easily absorb and accommodate the 

ordinary as the case of the Pearl Trail 

 

grand traditions and the material constructions 

of the elites and sub-elites 

lead, the re-dignification is buttressed 

upon the pearl diver’s numerous traditional 

crafts of pearling, ship building 

and pearl processing of the lower class, 

all of which are essential for the narra- 

view 

however, it is the sub elites —the 

nukhida— the sea captains and other 

rankers who tie them altogether and 

provide the web of the narrative. 

Finally, the intriguing question is, 

how does the historical vernacular of 

the elites, sub-elites and the ordinary 

play a role in the construction of identity 

when the real communities no 

longer exist and the buildings so dignified 

are devoid of life and presence 

of the same wholeness that would have 

though 

in the case of the Pearl Trail, 

there is a serious attempt to bring a 

sense of this previous life and situation 

for experience, this is particularly evident 

in some of the interiors of the dignified 

vernacular at the Sheik Ibrahim 

 

too modern. Moreover, the events that 

often take place there, are also far too 

alienated from the life and the places 

they intend to depict. This suggests 

that the approach of re-dignification 

of the historical vernacular of the elites 

and sub-elites has great potentials to 

construct national identity but has its 

own limitations. On the one hand, they 

 

for imagination, just like objects of 

exhibition in the landscape and suggest 

meanings and values. They have 

the potential if only the events taking 

place there can re-enact the historical 

traditions. On the other hand, Even 

with such a limited potential, historical 

vernacular cannot be removed from 

the landscape. If it is done, construction 

of national identity will collapse 

in the absence of a core around which 

the other veneers of identity could be 

mounted. 

References 

 

 

- 

 

- 

 

- 

 

Postcolonial India. 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

 

- 

 

 

 


revival in Bahrain

Proceedings of the international con- 

 

 

ings 

mean. In N. Goodman & C. Elgin 

 

 

 

Inventing traditions. In E. Hobsbawm 

 

bridge 

University Press. 

 

 

 

 

 

in The Invention of Tradition, Cam- 

 

- 

 

 

Periplus Editions. 

 

 

- 

 

 

garian 

national style in architecture 

 

submitted to the Central European 

 

 

 

loss of a past constructed in the pres- 

- 

- 

 

 

regional architecture and identity in 

 

- 

 

 

 

and Culture, Prentice Hall. 

- 

 

Sheik Ibrahim Cultural Centre, 

- 

 

 

 

 

contemporary social thought. Berke- 

 

 

- 

- 

- 

 

UNESCO World Heritage Site Pro- 

 

 

chitecture 

of the Sinhalese Elite in the 

 

Thesis submitted to Nottingham Trent 

 

 

 

New Left Books. 

 

 

Open University. 

 

 

lishing.

Urban planning approaches in 

divided cities 

Gizem CANER 1 , Fulin BÖLEN 2 

1 

 

Graduate School of Science, Engineering and Technology, Istanbul Technical 

University, Istanbul, Turkey 

2 

 

Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey 

 

 

Abstract 

This paper provides a comparative analysis of planning approaches in divided 

cities in order to investigate the role of planning in alleviating or exacerbating 

urban division in these societies. It analyses four urban areas—Berlin, Beirut, 

Belfast, Jerusalem—either of which has experienced or still experiences extreme 

divisions related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, and/or culture. Each case study 

is investigated in terms of planning approaches before division and after reunification 

(if applicable). 

The relation between division and planning is reciprocal: planning effects, and 

is effected by urban division. Therefore, it is generally assumed that traditional 

planning approaches are insufficient and that the recognized engagement methods 

of planners in the planning process are ineffective to overcome the problems 

posed by divided cities. Theoretically, a variety of urban scholars have proposed 

different perspectives on this challenge. In analysing the role of planning in divided 

cities, both the role of planners, and planning interventions are evaluated 

within the light of related literature. 

The case studies indicate that even though different planning approaches have 

different consequences on the ground, there is a universal trend in harmony with 

the rest of the world in reshaping these cities. This conclusion draws another one; 

the contemporary planning interventions in divided cities do not address the root 

causes of division. Hence, incorporation of ‘difference’ as a prominent feature of 

the city to its plans is not addressed as it should be in these special cases. 

Keywords 

Urban space, Divided cities, Divided societies, Urban planning, Segregation.


A search on the term ‘divided city’ 

reveals the work of a variety of urban 

scholars who use the same term but 

have very different research perspectives. 

These different approaches appear 

in a duality. The first discourse focuses 

on divided cities as places where divisions 

of capitalist production processes 

are more pronounced. They emphasise 

class, race and gender relations, urban 

segregation and increasing inequality 

between the affluent and deprived city 

districts as their main concerns. Their 

geographical concern is with global 

 

- 

 

 

 

In the last three decades however, 

there has been a growing body of literature 

concerned about a more specific 

form of urban division, classified 

 

divided cities are less in numbers and 

indicate physical or political contestations 

in certain special cases. Wellknown 

examples of such cities are 

 

 

working in this field (see, for exam- 

 

 

- 

 

 

what came to be known as the ‘Divided 

Cities Discourse’ (DCD). 

This paper is concerned with the 

second type of divided cities and resides 

with the literature generated by 

DCD writers. In this framework, the 

first section of the paper gives a brief 

literature review regarding planning in 

divided cities. It identifies the existing 

models of planning approaches suggested 

by different scholars and, hence, 

sets a basis for comparison and evaluation 

for case studies. The following 

section is devoted to a comprehensive 

comparative analysis of the case studies, 

regarding planning approaches 

before division and (if applicable) after 

 

is drawn to visualise and summarise 

planning approaches, professional attitudes 

and actual interventions in each 

city to observe commonalities as well 

as incoherencies between case studies. 

This conclusion will reveal that in spite 

of the unique attributes these cities 

shelter, their contemporary planning 

approaches are in harmony with the 

rest of the world in reshaping the urban. 

All in all, it is expected that this 

paper will contribute to further studies 

which aim to understand urban division 

and strive to change it with the 

help of urban planning. 

2. Planning in divided cities 

When dealing with divided cities, 

planning profession becomes insufficient 

to cope with the fierce situations 

caused by contestations over space. 

In such circumstances, it has to be 

re-conceptualized to go beyond the 

narrow framework of physical landuse 

planning. Taking into account that 

planning has the power to change the 

spatial, economic, social, and political 

dimensions of urban space, the question 

becomes, which of these dimensions 

can be used to intensify or lessen 

contestations over space in divided 

cities? 

 

 

urban ethnic dimensions which are 

used in planning processes to exert 

control or repression in divided cities: 

1) The is the most 

powerful tool used to control and distribute 

ethnic groups spatially via the 

 

land ownership, drawing of jurisdictional 

boundaries, displacements etc. 

are also important tools for control (El- 

 

can be used to include or exclude different 

sections of society from access 

 

is used to allocate 

urban services and spending. The negative 

and positive externalities of urbanisation 

are distributed by planning 

processes causing situations like deprivation 

or dependence of certain areas; 

and, 4) The where 

group identity is maintained or threatened 

through cultural institutions, education 

and religious expression. 

According to these scholars, planning 

has to deal with these conditions 

in order to achieve an effective plan-

141 

Table 1. 

 

Neutral Strategy 

: Address urban symptoms 

of ethnic conflict at individual 

level 

Partisan Strategy 

 

disparities 

Equity Strategy 

: Address urban symptoms 

of ethnic conflict at ethnic group 

level 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strategies 

Employs technical criteria in allocating urban resources and 

services 

Distances itself from issues of ethnic identity, power inequalities 

and political exclusion 

 

the claims of disenfranchised group 

Strategies seek to entrench and expand territorial claims or 

enforce exclusionary control of access 

Gives primacy to ethnic affiliation in order to decrease inter-group 

inequalities 

Allocation of urban services and spending is based on group 

identity 

Resolver Strategy 

Address root causes/ 

sovereignty issues 

 

 

To connect urban issues to root causes of urban polarization 

Impacts and authority of government policy is challenged 

1 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ning process in divided cities. Building 

tisan 

and resolver planning approaches 

gests 

a four-model approach that can 

be conceptualised around the degree it 

addresses above-mentioned urban ethnic 

dimensions (Table 1). 

- 

, approaches to division 

technically and distances itself from 

the problems caused by division; 2) 

, aims to increase disparities 

between two groups and seeks 

to empower the dominant group’s au- 

, gives 

primacy to ethnic group identity and 

allocates urban services based on this 

identity; 4) , connects 

urban problems to division and addresses 

root causes of division. 

 

 

identify an ‘ethnocratic strategy’ where 

all dimensions of planning (territorial, 

procedural, economic and cultural) 

combine to create the ethnocratic city; 

“this city is classified and represented as 

mixed but it is dominated by one ethno-national 

group. Urban citizenship 

[in the ethnocratic city] is unequal, 

with resources and services allocated 

on the basis of ethnicity, not residency. 

Urban politics are ethnicised, with a 

Urban planning approaches in divided cities 

gradual process of ethno-political polarization. 

Housing and employment 

markets are officially open, yet marked 

by deep patterns of ethnic segregation.” 

 

strategy appears a step further from 

 

In their book, 

 

conclude that planning in these cities 

has to encompass a collaborative 

model. This approach denotes public 

policy decision-making that is inclusive 

and based on dialogue among all 

stakeholders, producing ideally con- 

 

Communicative, dialogic, argumentative 

or deliberative planning are related 

concepts to collaborative planning 

 

- 

rative 

planning in divided cities is that 

there are multiple and rival publics instead 

of a single one. Since public discourse 

is closely linked to public space, 

they suggest that shared spaces have 

to be created for shared futures. The 

difference of shared space from public 

space is that there is not only contact, 

fers 

to these places as “sites of cultural 

transgression of a prosaic nature” and 

gives examples like colleges, leisure 

places, and neighbourhood ventures

142 

like common gardens. The shared fu- 

 

talking about, should be based on creating 

soft boundaries for facilitating integrated 

living and collaborative working 

across divides, rooted in principles 

of inclusion, respect for diversity, equity 

and interdependence. To achieve all 

this, the aim should shift from managing 

division, to transforming it. 

uate 

the role of planning in mediating 

conflicts by a dual classification. According 

to them, are 

where conflicting interests are being 

absorbed and resolved or contained by 

established mechanisms of mediation, 

to the extent that they do not erupt into 

violence. In on the 

other hand, there is destructive confrontation, 

where accepted norms and 

mechanisms of mediation fail. These 

authors’ views suggest that architecture 

and urban planning can become tools 

in the conflict themselves. In the case 

of mediated conflicts, the subjects are 

‘ordinary’ cities (Amin and Graham, 

 

mechanisms keep the conflict mediated 

to a degree. On the other hand, unmediated 

conflicts are more appropriate 

for explaining the challenges faced 

by planners in divided cities. 

 

above mentioned collaborative, communicative, 

deliberative, or discursive 

planning debates focus on ‘the role of 

rather than . This 

raises another important subject for 

planning in divided cities; professional 

responses. To evaluate the role of 

planners in divided cities, we will reside 

with Calame and Charlesworth’s 

fessional 

approaches; compliance, 

avoidance, engagement and advocacy. 

These professional approaches reflect 

the planner perspectives of Bollens’ 

 

coincide with Bollens’ 

sionals 

show a degree of willingness 

to comply with the orders of political 

masters. This attitude induces ignorance 

of political pressures and invites 

irrelevant implementations (interventions 

are generally in public and commercial 

spaces that are perceived to be 

more ‘neutral’); eventually generating 

discontent among urban communities. 

also reflects the 

ever, 

in a more severe context. Unlike 

strategies of compliance where planners 

intervene in ‘neutral’ grounds; 

planners who engage with an attitude 

of avoidance withhold their participation 

until a clear political outcome (for 

example, peace agreement) is achieved. 

They tend to disengage from the ethnic 

conflict and remain passive. 

can be pursued via various 

routes. Engagement through centralised 

planning can cause planners to 

 

if the municipality the planners are 

relying on is lopsided. Engagement 

through collaborative planning can become 

successful only if it is supported 

by politicians (local government etc.) 

and/or a social reform. If maintained, 

 

equity and resolver planning models. 

Engagement through privatisation occurs 

when the local government becomes 

too dysfunctional to provide a 

platform for professional intervention. 

By giving in to market forces, professionals 

once again engage neutrally. 

, like engagement 

through collaboration, coincide with 

 

models. Here, planning professionals 

confront the political processes that 

cause conflict; they advocate for the 

well-being of their city and the urban 

community; and in the way, they create 

a public debate. 

Case studies below are evaluated 

within this theoretical framework with 

a temporal approach. A comparative 

analysis is carried out regarding planning 

systems, planners’ responses and 

planning interventions in order to 

portray the contemporary situation in 

each city. 

3. Comparative analysis: Case studies 

In each case study, introductory information 

on the historical evolution 

of division will be given. This will be 

followed by presenting planning approaches 

during division and after reunification 

(if applicable). We will also 

be able to observe the effects/interventions 

of these planning approaches on

Figure 1. 

the urban ground. As a consequence, 

the role of planning in divided cities 

will be understood comprehensively. 

3.1. Berlin 

History of division in Berlin 

Berlin is different from other case 

studies examined in this study because 

it resembles an ideological separation 

caused by political differences, rather 

than ethnic, national or religious ones. 

Berlin was forcibly separated between 

the Allied powers—British, Ameri- 

ond 

World War. While the rest of the 

country was divided into four zones of 

occupation, Berlin, as the seat of the 

Allied Control Council, was excluded 

from all the zones and put under a sep- 

 

 

viet 

Union) sectors. West Berlin was an 

exclave in Soviet territory, with road, 

air and rail connections to West Ger- 

 

 

and the Soviet Union accelerated and 

caused the City Council, which managed 

the city as a unity, to disintegrate. 

A separate council was set up in the 

East, claiming to be the only legitimate 

 

culminated in the formation of two 

rival states; in Western Germany the 

 

comprising the American, British, and 

- 

 

 

- 

 

Bonn. 

Despite the political division, there 

 

this time, The Berlin Wall was erected 

to restrict movement and was armed 

by military and police forces of the 

 

mutual non-recognition and ideological 

conflict; the two sides claimed to be 

the only legitimate successor of former 

Berlin. 

 

 

eventually led to the removal of the wall 

Urban planning approaches in divided cities

144 

erally 

seen as the end of the Cold War 

and disintegration of eastern European 

 

 

Planning during division 

Due to ideological differences between 

Capitalist and Socialist regimes, 

planning discourses evolved differently 

ilarities 

can be observed as well. In 

 

both sides were mainly concerned 

with clearing the rubbles of war and 

reconstruction. Then came the process 

of mega housing projects, usually implemented 

on the outskirts of Berlin 

in both sides. In the last phase, both 

authorities were more concerned with 

conservation efforts in city centres. 

In the East, planning and implementation 

were centralized at the state 

level. The plans showed no sign of the 

west and the development of the city 

was pursued as if the city would never 

reunite. Urban construction was 

 

 

tion 

on growth of the city and support 

for the construction of skyscrapers, 

were consistent with western modern- 

 

 

In the West, the main instrument that 

guided development was the land-use 

 

administrative department responsible 

for city planning, it contrasted with the 

East’s centralized decision-making and 

implementation processes. These plans 

were made “as if no sector boundary 

existed, and as if the city planning of- 

 

plans for the central area stretched 

eastwards to include the historic in- 

 

 

included in pale grey, and major routes 

that would be reconnected following 

reunification were indicated by dashes 

 

to the East, construction that would 

impede a future reunification was not 

permitted. 

As can be seen, planning model of 

ners 

employed technical skills only 

to allocate urban resources and ser- 

tralised 

planning and complied with 

the political administrators. Strategies 

of avoidance, rendering the planning 

process ineffective in the face of political 

realities were also in effect. On the 

other hand, planning in the West did 

not ignore the other side and did not 

 

engaged through centralised planning, 

but here, the political administrators 

anticipated a future reunion, rendering 

professionals more effective and 

responsible in the process. 

Planning after reunification 

With the fall of Berlin Wall, immediate 

action to reunite the city took 

 

were: 

ing 

East and West in terms of infrastructure 

and spatial organization. 

ditions, 

green spaces, clean air and 

water provision, and establishment 

of equal living standards between 

the inhabitants of the East and West 

 

The capital; re-establishing Berlin as 

the capital of a reunified Germany. 

This demanded the revitalisation of 

central functions of a capital city; 

which meant new construction sites 

for new buildings and renovation of 

usable older ones to serve governmental 

needs. 

Showcase Berlin; constructing an 

image as well as a set of modern 

national 

corporations’ investments 

had to be redirected to Berlin to create 

a competitive, global city. 

The main doctrine which shaped 

planning processes after reunification 

came to be identified as ‘ - 

’; postulated at the International 

Building Exhibition (IBA) 

held right after the fall of the wall. It 

describes “a critical re-appropriation 

of the past’s particular urban virtues” 

tives 

of planning were shaped according 

to historical claims. The emphasis 

-

who do not find this approach fulfilling 

 

the urban environment after reunification 

did not shelter great historical 

artefacts and was rather an empty 

plate; anything could have been done 

in these vacant lands. 

A coordinating committee was designated 

(Specialist Group on Space 

near the Border), composed of relevant 

district planning officers with a 

balanced participation from the East 

rative 

planning approach had hints of 

equity and resolver planning models 

 

professional engagement and advocacy 

strategies proposed by Calame and 

 

edged 

in all the plans that were creat- 

ation 

was to preserve the memory of 

the wall; by locating landmarks; leaving 

walkways and bicycle paths along 

the border strip; and preventing temporary 

uses along the border zone. A 

 

Development Office gives details on 

certain developments which occurred 

after reunification around the Wall: 

“By far the largest amount of freed 

land was devoted to green spaces and 

 

 

 

land area, while the rest is part of the 

 

 

Berlin planning activity has since 

been focused on a number of large 

projects which are centred in the inner 

city. These projects have generated 

criticism in several respects, for in- 

vate 

market decides what will be built, 

only the form of the buildings are open 

 

is an example for such 

large scaled, market-driven projects. 

3.2. Beirut 

History of division in Beirut 

Beirut has always functioned as 

a multicultural city where religious 

groups coexisted, but lived in separate 

enclaves, with few mixed neighbour- 

th 

 

lived in the south and west, while the 

 

east of the city. 

 

 

rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. 

Immigrants coming from neighbouring 

countries preferred to reside 

with their own ‘kind’. Consequently, 

 

 

 

 

 

 

urban fringes, increasing the Sunni 

 

 

a demarcation line which divided the 

city along the former commercial axis; 

‘ 

drawn. This line accentuated territorial 

 

 

When the suburbs of the city ex- 

- 

 

 

- 

 

tions 

to take over. The exact demarcation 

line established during the hostil- 

 

 

 

 

brought back to power, with equal rep- 

 

in administration. However, it is gen- 

- 

 

 

and planning remains indifferent to 

this reality. There are still clashes between 

different religious groups as we 

 

 

Planning during division 

In pre-war Beirut, institutional 

structures of planning had shortcom- 

sociated 

with the phenomena of primacy 

and over-urbanization (Tabet, 

 

approaches to planning since the first 

years of independence. 


Figure 2. 

 

traumatic events, the war seemed to 

missioned 

to rebuild the city centre, to 

restore its centrality, and to improve its 

 

 

ri 

took over the reconstruction project 

and commissioned a master plan. In 

 

again took hold of Beirut, interrupting 

the reconstruction process. 

Planning after reunification 

- 

centrated 

in Beirut’s Central District 

(BCD) and became marked with 

ny 

Solidere ect 

is on-going and it promises social 

recovery through economic renewal 

al 

cityscape is being created by futur- 

 

and this process is under great critique 

 

 

 

The necessity of a single private 

company was justified by two reasons: 

1) extreme fragmentation of property 

rights in certain zones of the city centre; 

and 2) financial and administrative 

incapacity of the city to carry out 

the needed reconstruction at the time 

 

 

 

 

allocated for new developments such 

as a marina, hotels and global commerce, 

and only 21 ha of which are part 

 

tematically 

cleared the war damaged 

urban fabric, creating a 

 

 

 

structures in the downtown were damaged 

beyond repair, yet only a third of 

this destruction was war-inflicted. 

These developments coupled with

- 

 

unease in public, academic and civic 

realms. The main concerns of criticism 

are: 

The usage of state resources to 

transform the central city into an island 

for the rich, while most of the 

country remains underdeveloped 

and segmented due to economic 

inequalities and sectarian divides 

 

 

an economic value, such as public 

transport or social housing, are not 

 

Shaping public space by private enterprise 

marginalizes the State from 

planning process and raises questions 

about public wellbeing and 

 

Discontinuity from historical bonds 

challenges Beirut’s cultural and his- 

- 

 

As we have observed, in Beirut, 

planning during the years of division 

 

 

planning model was adapted due to ignoring 

the root causes of division and 

trying to build a city anew. Engagement 

through privatisation was seen as 

inevitable in the face of a dysfunctional 

administration. However, this approach 

rendered the planners neutral 

and passive in the face of a divided city. 

3.3. Belfast 

History of division in Belfast 

Ethnic conflict in Belfast has its 

- 

 

population, new towns outside city 

- 

- 

th century, labour 

need was mainly met from these rural 

Catholics. Disturbances rose as the 

numbers of Catholics increased. They 

 

 

 

Irish nationalism grew in opposition 

to the movements in support of 

union with Great Britain, consequently 

transforming the conflict into a political 

one. A new political label was add- 

 

and ethnic (Irish-British) divisions; 

 

 

 

 

- 

gree 

of regional autonomy, with Belfast 

as their capital. As a consequence, segregation 

in Belfast gradually increased 

 

 

 

 

referred to as ‘The Troubles’. As segregation 

increased, the concentration of 

each ethnic group increased, and the 

boundaries between two groups became 

well-defined with physical barriers 

(peace walls). The government 

supported these walls aiming to minimize 

or eliminate conflict among the 

two groups; hence they were intended 

to be temporary. However today, these 

walls still remain and many others have 

subsequently been added to the urban 

 

- 

 

The duration of The Troubles date 

 

 

agreements changed the nature of political 

violence rather than eliminated 

day, 

division still lingers and new peace 

lines are demanded and planned to be 

built in addition to the existing ones. 

Planning during ‘The Troubles’ 

During The Troubles, planning in 

 

of formal technocratic neutrality (Ellis, 

 

there was no effort to tackle residential 

segregation from the field of planning 

 

- 

tion 

to stabilize the volatile political 

conflict. Due to this centralized system 

of policy-making, the locally elected 

Belfast City Council had little poli- 

 

ed 

in Department of the Environment, 

 


Figure 3. 

 

The operative principles of Belfast 

urban policymakers and administrators 

were to: (1) position government’s 

role and image in Belfast as a 

participant not biased toward either 

 

that government policy does not exacerbate 

sectarian tensions by managing 

ethnic space in a way that reacts to, 

and reflects, residents’ wishes (Bol- 

 

distanced itself from any involvement 

in politics and by ignoring the sectarian 

divides in the society, perpetuated 

them further. 

In the three decades of direct rule, 

hardly any effort was made to understand, 

evaluate or prioritize the significance 

of residential segregation within 

planning, urban regeneration or hous- 

 

 

Planning after Good Friday Agreement 

The peace process developed a new 

administrative order; the centralized 

structure of the government was 

partments 

were made responsible for 

planning issues: Department of Envi- 

 

Development. 

The severity of political violence 

created an urgent need for communi- 

- 

 

partments 

to present equity schemes, 

aiming to: 1) promote community relations; 

2) celebrate cultural diversity; 

 

delivery; and, 4) promote equality 

through a representative workforce 

 

a commitment both to tackle the effects 

of residential segregation and to 

promote neutral sites for employment, 

 

 

In order to address equality schemes 

and promote good relations, a ‘community 

cohesion’ objective was adopt- 

- 

 

foster development which contributes 

to community relations, recognises

cultural diversity and reduces socio- 

- 

 

Because of the legislative weight of 

the equality provisions, its delivery has 

not been as effective as first envisaged 

 

 

bodies have taken up some of the challenges, 

these commitments are not followed 

through to development plans 

and planning policy (Gaffikin et al., 

 

- 

 

 

planning”, whereby industrial, business 

or public space is planned as a buffer 

between contentious areas. This can be 

seen as a positive alternative to building 

a peace line, however it does not 

guarantee that conflict will decrease 

since it does not mean that these areas 

 

ern 

Ireland has been widely acknowl- 

 

- 

vestment 

and the attempt to counter 

the image of a city at war, a 

approach to city planning has been 

adapted. This approach helped create 

“the legacy that now bedevils the cen- 

 

its vast road projects and proliferation 

of vacant land. Show case areas are selected 

for prestigious projects to be implemented, 

such as the Titanic Quarter, 

and new apartment blocks for city-centre 

living have been built. As a consequence, 

as Gaffikin et al. assert; “while 

some now regard this ‘new’ Belfast as a 

cosmopolitan oasis, surrounded largely 

by the ‘old’ fortress Belfast of sectarian 

enclaves, the spatial splits in the city 

are more differentiated” (Gaffikin et al., 

 

 

agreement has nevertheless remained 

ment 

of planners have been compliance, 

avoidance and technical neutrality 

since the beginning of the division 

process. Belfast has become a stereotype 

for exemplifying the ‘neutral plan- 

 

we have emphasized, this is a widely 

accepted phenomenon. 

3.4 Jerusalem 

History of division in Jerusalem 

To trace the history of division in 

 

that one must fix the starting point to 

 

was established. But the conflict took a 

 

during the British rule. 

Jerusalem was the capital of British 

 

 

composed of religious quarters, and 

the British carried on administering 

 

However, British quarters were more 

autonomous than their predecessors, 

munities 

to develop into cohesive and 

self-sustaining societies (Benvenisti, 

 

national 

support for an Israeli state 

- 

 

This resulted in the termination of Brit- 

 

 

Arab-Israeli War, the formal division 

- 

 

national 

armistice lines between Israel 

and Jordan as well as East and West 

Jerusalem. The city became socially, 

physically and functionally divided. 

Jerusalem was not reunified by 

agreement, but instead by an occu- 

 

War. East Jerusalem was incorporated 

into Israel and this was not recognized 

by the international community or the 

 

the city were reunited by force, they remained 

hostile even though the Green 

 

The persisting mental wall among 

communities is joined by a physical 

 

throughout Jerusalem and the West 

Bank. This is, in a sense, a re-division 

of the city. Systems of physical and 

electronic separation are being built 

- 

 

(beyond the internationally recog- 


egional barrier separates Israeli Jeru- 

 

east. Today, a bird’s eye of Jerusalem 

shows this complex patchwork of settlements 

and villages across the city, 

 

Planning during British mandate 

(1914-1948) 

 

Jerusalem was administered and 

 

use plans were prepared which all had 

one common feature; the separation 

of the sacred Old City from the religious 

territories that surrounded it, 

transforming it into a - 

 

never materialized. Even though the 

British administered the whole city as 

one urban entity in all infrastructural 

elements, the inter-communal struggle 

led to separate Arab/Jewish communal 

services, and eventually to separate development 

of commerce and economy. 

Planning during division (1948-1967) 

and after reunification 

 

 

the direction of British planning system; 

many of the new suburbs continued 

to be designed as individual 

enclaves, accessed and structured by 

primary road systems and separated 

 

these enclaves were mainly built only 

for the Jewish population for national- 

icies 

have been shaped by objectives of 

national security and political control” 

 

of the goals of planning policies after 

 

To extend the Jewish city demographically 

and geographically. 

To control the heights for military 

security, requiring Jewish neighbourhoods 

to be built on strategic 

hilltops or in areas needed to secure 

hilltops. 

To reconnect the formerly partitioned 

areas. 

To build Jewish neighbourhoods 

so that division of the city in terms 

of political control and sovereignty 

Figure 4. 

 

would never again be possible. 

ning 

policies of Israel as “Judaisation” 

 

 

sive 

Jewish neighbourhoods. 

This kind of planning is nominated 

as “partisan” planning (Benvenisti, 

 

a radical form of “frontier urbanism” 

 

- 

 

 

ed 

communities is the main form of 

 

These statements are an evidence of 

how architecture, planning and urban 

design are used as a tool in the conflict 

 

 

fence’ dividing Israel from the West 

Bank is being built amid growing international 

concern. Israel repeatedly 

states that the wall is for security, with

infiltration from the West Bank, especially 

suicide bombers. 

 

launched, which was the first plan to 

include the whole area of Jerusalem, 

including the east. To this day, the plan 

has not yet been approved due to revisions 

and critiques but is a frame of 

reference for current planning decisions 

in Jerusalem (url-4). The plan is 

highly criticized for having racist overtones 

and discriminatory approaches. 

Only one Arab is included in the plan- 

- 

 

 

the plan is inapplicable as it is unrealistic. 

It ignores the spatial consequences 

 

states that the complicated situations 

arising from its presence will be treated 

 

 

 

ethnocratic regime’ where all dimensions 

of planning (territorial, procedural, 

economic and cultural) combine 

to create the ‘ethnocratic city’ is actually 

given to explain Jerusalem’s urban 

policies and planning approaches. 

The well-acknowledged partisan 

planning model of Jerusalem is mostly 

possible because the Israeli planners 

are engaging through centralised 

planning, without questioning the 

directives from above. They perceive 

themselves as technical experts, comply 

with the authorities and disengage 

from the ethnic conflict and remain 

passive. Hence, it would not be wrong 

to assert that, it is unlikely to observe 

such a degree of partisanship in planning 

in any other urban context. 


Assessment of planning approaches 

during division firstly reveals that, 

division has deliberately been overlooked 

by certain cities (East Berlin, 

Belfast); while in others, planning was/ 

is used as a tool to divide a city even 

further (Jerusalem). In the case of Beirut, 

planning during years of division 

was out of question since the city was 

in total chaos. 

Secondly, during division, the two 

sides of the divide develop according 

 

instance, in Berlin, the East acknowl- 

 

 

the other hand, the absence of planning 

due to either civil war (Beirut, Jerusalem) 

or ineffective planning authorities 

(Belfast, Beirut, East Jerusalem) 

cause different development patterns 

to occur in two sides of the city. This 

becomes a major problem after reunification. 

Another problem originating from 

years of division and burdening the 

city after reunification occurs in cities 

 

only due to the fact that these cities are 

planned to operate in a self-sufficient 

manner during the years of division, 

but also, in some, the dividing line is 

ignored and construction impeding a 

future reunification is supported. East 

Berlin has chosen this path. Today, this 

is the main reason why the two halves 

of the city still cannot be fully integrated 

(physically). 

Indifference of planning to specific 

problems faced by divided cities, or 

in other words, , can 

promote divisions in the city. Belfast 

amples 

of this situation. Even though 

measures of equity have been strate- 

 

Agreement, not referring to root causes 

of division did not help much in 

eliminating differences. 

After reunification, one of the main 

challenges becomes planning a city 

that was once planned by two bodies. 

 

had to restore its planning institutions 

among other problems caused by divi- 

 

a necessity and the question of public 

interest turns into one of the most debated 

issues. If the process of planning 

is conducted by a private institution 

(like Solidere in Beirut) protecting the 

interests of the public becomes questionable. 

Even if planning is performed 

by government institutions, both sides 

may not benefit as equals (as it is in 

Jerusalem today). A seemingly simple 

procedure in a ‘normal city’, like 

the addition of a bus line, can become 

problematic in a divided city 

The tendency of all case studies to 


Table 2. 

City Planning Approach Physical Interventions Professional Responses 

Berlin 

Area reconstruction 

 

 

Engagement through collaborative planning 

Beirut 

Urban 

redevelopment 

Beirut Central District 

Engagement through privatization 

Belfast 

Area redevelopment 

 

(i.e. Titanic Quarter) 

Engagement through centralized planning / 

 

Jerusalem 

Urban development 

strategies 

 

Separation 

Engagement through centralized planning 

/ Compliance / Avoidance / Technocratic / 

 

showcase their cities as competitive 

and global is in line with what other 

cities around the world are doing today. 

Divided cities want to show the 

world that they are not different and 

that they can compete with other cities 

 

Solidere’s development strategy of the 

BCD as a super-modern island has no 

historical claims and is in great contrast 

with the city’s present-day problems 

(related to its history of division).This 

approach pulls them away from the realities 

of that they are (or once were) 

divided. However, by acknowledging 

the wall’s existence, Berlin seems to be 

a step further in this regard. The aim to 

re-build the city with an image dating 

to pre-war period has been helpful in 

promoting commonalities between the 

two sides, rather than their differences. 

The main concern of this paper has 

been to investigate whether current 

interventions in divided cities are addressing 

the problems deriving from 

division, or not. Even though different 

planning approaches have been 

adapted in each case study, the results 

reveal that their planning processes are 

no different than that of other cities 

around the world. 

In accordance with the theoretical 

framework given in the introduction, 

conclusions drawn from the comparative 

analysis of contemporary planning 

approaches have been summarized in 

Table 2. Berlin stands out among other 

divided cities as the example of most 

successfully achieved reunification. 

The fact that planning in Berlin does 

not ignore the existence of the Berlin 

Wall and instead embraces it and uses 

it as an advantage, needs to be emphasized. 

There is a collaborative planning 

process which integrates the planners 

of East and West to make plans that 

integrate the East and West of the city. 

At the same time, the aim to showcase 

the city as a global one is causing proj- 

- 

aspree 

are being built in the city to raise 

its reputation as a global city. 

 

claiming to accomplish social recovery 

via economic development, has proven 

to be successful only for the latter. 

Economic recovery of the city and the 

country since reunification as a whole 

cannot be ignored, but this approach 

could have been more successful if 

economic recovery was supported by 

social and physical policies which included 

the whole of the city, instead of 

only the central district. 

The fact that Belfast was divided 

from entirely within the organism, 

with no war or any other intervention 

(other than colonisation) to the urban 

system, makes its reunification process 

much harder. There is an illusion 

of normalcy in the city. This is why; 

planning in Belfast generally seems to 

favour its hyper-segregated structure. 

 

of the central planning authority to act 

neutral regarding divisions in the city. 

And as in Berlin and Beirut, Belfast 

tries to place itself back on the world 

map by enduring major area redevelopment 

projects, like the Titanic Quarter. 

Jerusalem is the most postulated example 

of how planning can be used as

a tool in divided cities. Here, planning 

is used to reshape the urban structure 

and community according to the dominant 

society’s norms and principles. 

This process is referred to as 

 

ians 

and they are only included in the 

cal 

discourses are prominent in planning 

procedures and they are not questioned 

by the planners. 

The case studies indicate that even 

though different planning approaches 

have different consequences on the 

ground, there is a universal trend in 

harmony with the rest of the world in 

reshaping the urban. This approach 

is based on showcasing the city as a 

place to invest in, in order to increase 

its competitiveness in the global network 

of cities. This conclusion draws 

another one; the contemporary planning 

interventions in divided cities do 

not address the root causes of division. 

Hence, incorporation of ‘difference’ as 

a prominent feature of the city to its 

plans is not addressed as it should be 

in these special cases. In other words, 

implementing modern, major projects 

in a piecemeal manner is not helping 

these cities to face their history and 

present. 

This paper aimed to investigate 

planning approaches of divided cities 

in addressing their problems deriving 

from division. All in all, it is believed 

that this paper will contribute to further 

studies which aim to understand 

urban division and strive to change it 

with the help of urban planning. 

As explained in the introduction, the 

term divided city may refer to two different 

types of cities (global cities and 

divided cities) in urban literature. The 

comparative perspective of urban division 

studies is usually focussed only 

among divided cities within themselves 

or global ones, but not between them. 

 

two types of cities may help to close 

this gap by providing a comprehensive 

comparative perspective. 

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url-4

A critical review of ornament in 

contemporary architectural 

theory and practice 

Deniz BALIK 1 , Açalya ALLMER 2 

1 

 

 

2 

 

 

 


Abstract 

For over a century, the controversial issue of ornament has oscillated between 

the two extreme conditions of being condemned and praised. Although current 

architecture receives ornament enthusiastically due to its design potentials, it still 

remains as a problematic and critical topic, as it maintains its blurry and slippery 

character. The aim of this study is to construct the theoretical framework of ornament 

in the twenty-first century architectural domain. The paper intends to investigate 

the reemergence of this-yet-ambiguous issue to evaluate its new aspects, 

and redefine its limits in contemporary architectural theory and practice. Being 

much more than an intricate architectural element, an in-depth study of ornament 

overlaps its reemergence with social, cultural, and economical status quo. 

Through the examination of specific contemporary case studies, this study makes 

a layered reading of architectural ornament as an instrument of image-driven 

contemporary culture within spectacle-laden public sphere. In contemporary 

architecture, the digital, structural, sensual, representational, and symbolic facets 

stratify ornament metaphorically and literally, making it an intense medium 

of impression and expression. Ornamental buildings emerge as embodiments of 

consumption, exhibition, and public attention, by contributing to image-making, 

commercial success, and marketing strategy, in addition to the performance of 

ornament as a challenging designerly instrument. 

Keywords 

Ornament, Contemporary Architecture, Façade, Image, Representation.


For over a century, the controversial 

issue of ornament has oscillated between 

the two extreme conditions of 

being condemned and praised. Jacques 

Herzog, the partner of the Swiss archi- 

veals 

that they do not need to explain 

the necessity of ornament anymore, 

or apologize for a decorative detail in 

their works, since ornament becomes 

one with the form of their building 

ment 

elaborates the current conception 

of ornament, as architects enthusiastically 

appreciate its design potentials. 

However, ornament still remains as 

a problematic and critical topic, as it 

maintains its blurry, unclear, and slippery 

character. The aim of this study is 

to construct the theoretical framework 

of ornament in the twenty-first century 

architectural domain. It is intended to 

further investigate the re-emergence of 

this-yet-ambiguous issue to evaluate its 

new aspects, and redefine its limits in 

contemporary architectural theory and 

practice. In addition to deciphering 

ornament, through the examination 

of specific contemporary case studies, 

this study makes a layered reading of 

architectural ornament as an instrument 

of image-driven contemporary 

culture within spectacle-laden public 

sphere. 

As this study argues, ornament has 

not emerged in contemporary architectural 

theory and practice in the 

historical and traditional sense. The 

historical conception of ornament was 

interwoven with the history of style, 

each of which produced its own ornaments 

with a clear definition and 

set of rules for its design, production, 

and application. In contrast to traditional 

conceptions, ornament in contemporary 

architecture is laden with 

new aspects, as it expands through the 

immaterial realm of virtual reality by 

means of digital medium. Accordingly, 

the current conception of ornament 

in terms of scale can vary from an architectural 

detail to an urban fabric. 

 

architecture can be applied as extrinsically 

or intrinsically to the building, 

ranging from being a graphic composition 

to a flat image, from a relief to 

a three-dimensional sculptural construction. 

The contemporary age is deprived of 

a specific style, yet it is governed by the 

paradigm of digital technology, which 

enables the design and production of 

intrinsic surface effects and dynamic 

ornaments. The advanced technology 

becomes a distinctive feature of architectural 

surface, which supports the 

idea that the reemergence of ornament 

in the twenty-first century is grounded 

on the highly performative com- 

- 

 

 

ornament in contemporary architecture 

becomes a justification of experimenting 

with form, structure, and surface. 

2. Current interest in ornament 

In the last decade, the emergence of a 

vast array of exhibitions, journals, and 

books indicate the current interest in 

Figure 1.

Table 1. 

Date Name Curator Place City, Country 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

22.- 

 

 

 

 

 

- Centre For 

Contemporary Art 

 

 

Berk 

 

 

 

Jo-Anne Birnie 

 

 

- R & Company 

Gallery 

Londonderry, 

Ireland 

 

 

- Open Studio 

 

 

 

 

- Sydney Living 

 

Sydney, Australia 

Kunsthalle Basel Basel, Switzerland 

Irena Jurek 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and Christian Witt- 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- 

- 

Kingdom 

 

 

- Gallery Obrist 

Rachel Barron The Briggait Artists’ 

Studios 

Glasgow, Scotland 

- 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Ann Long Fine Art 

Gallery 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joanna Inglot 

Law Warschaw 

Gallery 

- 

of Applied Arts 

 

 

 

Brno, Czech 

Republic 

Ioana Gordon-Smith Objectspace Auckland, 

Australia 

Julia Wallner, 

 

 

Wolfsburg Art 

 

Wolfsburg, 

Germany 

- 

Green Art Gallery 

 

A critical review of ornament in contemporary architectural theory and practice

- Bar Lane Studios 

Kingdom 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RiAus Gallery Adelaide, 

Australia 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IFA Galleries Berlin and 

Stuttgart, 

Germany 

Sam Jacob 

Cindi Strauss 

Odile Werner & S. 

 

 

 

 

Sculpture Objects 

& Functional Art 

 

- Birmingham 

 

 

 

Richard Slee 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Philadelphia 

 

 

Belvedere Palace & 

 

 

of Contemporary 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Francesca Ferguson 

 

Swiss Architecture 

 

 

of Applied Arts 

 

 

Birmingham / 

 

Paris, France 

 

 

Pennsylvania, 

 

 

Ghent, Belgium 

Basel, Switzerland 

Brno, Czech 

Republic 

- Berlin, Germany 

Ben Pell 

 

Gallery 

 

 

 

Chicago and 

 

ornament. Globally, the reappearance 

of ornament became a theme for various 

architecture exhibitions; Nature 

in Sydney 

 

 

 

 

 

 

in Pennsyl- 

 

 

 

 

 

Journal issues analyze the return of 

ornament in contemporary architec-

ture, elaborating its historical overview, 

specifically in the “Ornament” 

issue of nament: 

Return of the Repressed” issue 

of 

of Architecture” issue of 

tern, 

Script, Algorithm, Ornament” 

issue of 

oration” 

issue of 306090 Books 

 

- 

chitecture” 

issue of 

Figure 2. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lieu, 

the journal 

 

ment 

in Contemporary Architecture]” 

 

Current literature on ornament, 

while investigating its sensual, symbolic, 

and material aspects, embraces 

its return in parallel to the digital age. 

Analyzing the ornamental façades of 

contemporary buildings, in his edited 

book 

 

 

there is an apparent split between architectural 

theory and practice, which, 

on one hand, relates to representation 

and symbolic expression, and, on the 

other hand, comprises technique, utility, 

material, and architectural detailing. 

 

which emerged due to the advancement 

of digital design and fabrication, 

points to the potential of binding theory 

and practice through the articulation 

of surface. Pell presents his argument 

by categorizing contemporary 

buildings in terms of applied, perforated/cut, 

layered, formed/cast, and 

stacked/tiled. Similarly, in 

 

nament 

has returned to architectural 

milieu due to the expansion of digital 

technology with a concern on structural 

and material aspects more than 

historical discussions of style and taste. 

 

abolition of ornament, six architectural 

theorists contributed to the book with 

texts that range from elaborations on 

architects, primarily Leon Battista Alberti, 

Owen Jones, Louis H. Sullivan, 

and Adolf Loos, to discussions on digital 

design and manufacturing technology. 

In the book 

 

 

history of ornament and elaborates its 

contemporary conception. Referring 

to the characteristics of ornament in 

architectural history, Picon explores 

the limits of ornament in contemporary 

architecture. He argues that ornament 

has returned in direct relation- 


ship with the advancement of digital 

technology and expanded its content 

to include texture, pattern, structure, 

façade plasticity, digital dynamic urban 

maps, and neuroscientific scans. 

On the other hand, Picon asserts that 

ornament has lost its political and 

subjective aspects, while symbolizing 

the social rank of the client or bearing 

the personal marks of the architect. In 

the supplementary catalogue to the 

exhibition in 

 

that the theories of Owen Jones, John 

Ruskin, Gottfried Semper, and William 

Hogarth should be reevaluated 

in contemporary architecture, since 

they serve as a basis for constructing 

the framework of the contemporary 

 

emphasizes the contemporary emergence 

of ornament in parallel with the 

new construction and manufacturing 

ing, 

laser-cutting, three-dimensional 

printing, and robotic layering. In this 

sense, as illustrated in the book, the 

contemporary reading of ornament 

covers a wide range of natural and organic 

forms, microscopic patterns and 

human bodies, corporate brand logos 

and iconography, textile and surface 

effects. Lastly, in the edited book Pat 

 

chliotis 

analyze pattern and ornament 

in the age of digital technology. Along 

with four other theorists, Gleiniger and 

 

ornament, which emerges by means of 

digital technology, derives from pat- 

 

on the topics of algorithm, behavioral 

pattern, neuroscientific pattern, and 

musical pattern, the authors investigate 

global expansions of ornament in the 

digital age. 

Contemporary literature explores 

ornament from a broad perspective 

of science, engineering, mathematics, 

music, and so on, rather than reducing 

it to architectural scale. The theorists 

argue that the reemergence of ornament 

in contemporary architectural 

theory and practice is grounded on 

the advanced technology of computer-based 

design and manufacturing 

programs. Consequently, they tend to 

expand the scope of ornament in relation 

to the new concepts of the digital 

realm. Furthermore, despite the global 

interest in ornament, contemporary 

 

no architecture exhibition at all. 

3. The expanded vocabulary of 

ornament in contemporary 

architecture 

The contemporary architectural theory 

and practice lacks a simple definition 

of ornament, which makes it 

justifiable on many grounds, such as 

experimenting with digital tools, novel 

materials and tectonics, investigating 

different surface effects and sustainable 

elements, producing affects and sensations, 

representing the building function, 

advertising a brand, and making 

contextual references. In this sense, 

rather than having a precise and clear 

definition like the ornamental styles 

in architectural history, ornament in 

contemporary architecture has an expanded 

vocabulary, through which architects 

are able to experiment, design, 

and produce from a broad perspective 

and with a different motive within architectural 

domain. 

Ornament in contemporary architecture 

emerges as an elaborate medium 

of consumption and production 

by means of new tools, methods, and 

techniques. The idea of seamlessness 

and fluency becomes the current par- 

Figure 3.

adigms of the exuberant use of ornament 

in the digital age. The integration 

cepts 

of scripture, algorithm, morphology, 

deformation, distortion, evolution, 

formation, mutation, generation, 

transformation, and variation. Consequently, 

new terms are added to the 

vocabulary of ornament, such as pixellization, 

porosity, fractal, digital, and 

virtual. Besides, pattern in its broadest 

sense has been included to the research 

area of ornament, as it consists of the 

concepts of sequential, dynamic, configurative, 

informative, performative, 

morphogenetic, and parametric (Lev- 

 

 

The expanded vocabulary of ornament 

allows contemporary architects to define 

ornament according to their own 

design approaches. As of now, ornament 

is elaborated through various attributions, 

such as “coded ornament”, 

“dynamic ornament”, “contemporary 

ornament”, “new ornament”, “ornamentalism”, 

“ornamatics”, and “digital 

 

Contemporary architects use advanced 

technology with an intention to 

demonstrate their virtuosity in designing 

and producing surface effects. In 

the case of the Ravensbourne College 

 

 

intention was to express the novelty of 

 

monolithic building is covered with 

es 

and colors, which produce unique 

combinations on the façades around 

doors and windows. Blurring the building 

scale, dazzling tessellations create 

a visual play, and produce affects and 

sensations, as also proposed by Farshid 

 

tention 

of representing the novelty of 

advanced technology resonates more 

to the argument of the architect Rob- 

nament 

in contemporary architecture 

associates more to the symbolic aspect 

than the sensual and the functional. 

nament 

is widely-used especially in 

terms of representing the function of 

the building as an adaptation of the 

postmodern approach. Charles Jencks 

 

has to carry plural meanings and mixed 

metaphors in order to continue its dis- 

ing 

a critique of the decorated shed in 

Figure 4. 

 

Figure 5. 

 


terms of signs attached to a flat surface, 

chitecture 

merges multiple meanings 

with functional and aesthetic dimensions, 

rather than dealing with signs. 

He coins the term “enigmatic signifier” 

as a representative of the multilayered 

meaning manifested through ornamental 

façades. With an intention to 

avoid rapid consumption and the territory 

of superficiality by reducing to an 

obvious denotation, the enigmatic signifier 

reveals connotations through an 

in-depth narrative, representation, and 

ics 

Center, widely known as the Water 

Cube, functions as a swimming sports 

building, and represents water bubbles 

 

 

Architects in collaboration with Arup 

 

example of the advanced construction 

technology with the integration of steel 

frame and pneumatic cladding. The 

enigmatic signifier reveals multiple 

meanings on the ornamental façades, 

as it expresses the novelty in construction 

technology, associates with the 

Chinese symbolism through the rectangular 

form, and represents the building 

function by imitating giant irregular 

bubbles. 

Ornament as the representation of 

culture has long been one of its prima- 

 

public buildings, especially in exposition 

constructions, ornament becomes 

a tool of public promotion and representation 

for commercial success. As 

 

architecture emerges first as a message, 

and then as a functional building, since 

the aim of expo buildings is to attract 

attention with their façades. As a case, 

 

 

Heatherwick Studio is worth mention- 

 

Seed Cathedral, the building was creat- 

 

rods, each of which displays a different 

seed at the tip. Inside the building, 

the assemblage of the displayed seeds 

forms curvilinear patterns all over, 

whereas on the outside, the tips of the 

seeds form a hairy texture. The pavilion 

oscillates between provoking tactility 

by the unique assembly of fiber 

optic rods and evoking visual surface 

effects by patterns that are perceived 

differently when seen from a distance 

and up close. 

The symbolic associations of ornament 

lead to representing prestige, 

social status, title, and affiliation of 

Figure 6. 

 

Figure 7.

specific figures on building façades. In 

this case, the ornamental façades of the 

 

holm, 

represent the symbolic narrative 

of power by depicting giant portraits 

of the royal figures of Sweden (Figure 

 

authority, the façades reveal the significant 

role of ornament as urban portraits, 

as well as the embodiment and 

 

 

One of the essential applications of 

ornament today relates to the aesthet- 

 

 

built by the Japanese architect Jun Aoki 

 

the contemporary conceptions of the 

 

building by Cross & Cross, in which 

the store is located, is clad with glasses 

that were ornamented with the famous 

checkered pattern of the brand. 

Figure 8. 

 

Figure 9. 

 

From outside, the façades perform as 

a veil by means of the overlapped patterned 

glasses. Creating a moiré effect, 

façades draw the attention of passersby, 

allowing them to have a glimpse of interior 

at some points. Playing with the 

opacity of vision, the façades represent 

the building function by imitating the 

 

as they turn the brand identity and the 

need for advertisement into ornament. 

In contrast to the representational 

use of ornament as in the examples of 

 

 

 

representation of the building function 

 

form 

to the building context, its environment 

or local culture. For example, 

 

 

 

surface in the ground floor level (Fig- 

 

was made of cast aluminium with a relief-like 

structure, functions as a kind 

of fence for private accesses to ground 

floor terraces, as much as it sends the 

curious looks of passersby away from 

the ground floor windows. Being an 

interpretation of the urban graffiti culture, 

the ornamental fence composes a 

graphic pattern that extends through 

the aluminium and wooden surfaces 

of the outer cladding and the interior 

decoration. In accordance with the me- 

 

critique of graffiti as the invader of 

the white city, the graffiti stylizations 

 

many architectural layers, as they use 

the surfaces as blank canvases without 

a beginning and an end. 

Contemporary architecture has long 

been an experimental ground for integrating 

ornamental elements as a 

part of load-bearing elements with an 

intention to construct structural orna- 

orates, 

ornament becomes necessary 

when it is integral to architecture as 

in the sense of structural ornament. 

 

Swiss architecture office Herzog & de 

 

sophisticated examples in this sense 


ives 

from the idea of creating a structure 

like a nest that unites space and 

surface, which are essentially two dif- 

 

 

 

the building as the culmination of new 

 

Jacques Herzog explains, if a contemporary 

building lacks the unity of space 

and surface, ornament becomes additional 

much like a wallpaper (Chevri- 

 

 

structural ornament to explore the 

potentials of materials, remarks that 

structural ornament frees ornament 

from being an applied decoration. In 

 

merge with non-load-bearing ones, 

and work seamlessly as a single and 

intrinsic element. Blurring the strict 

borders of structure and ornament, the 

contemporary application of structural 

ornament emerges as a hybrid element. 

Current applications of ornament 

extend to media façades, or digital 

ornaments, which are activated as 

screens, and attract viewers’ attention 

by rendering the buildings visible at 

night. Produced and presented in the 

digital medium, media façades merge 

electronics, different materials, and 

building façades. In this sense, technology 

helps the production of nonconventional 

ornamental elements, which 

cannot be produced by conventional 

forms 

as a mediated layer, and blurs 

the distinction between static façade 

and flowing lights. With an emphasis 

on temporality, it creates dichotomies 

of materiality and immateriality, permanence 

and temporality. Rather than 

presenting a constant and fixed surface, 

the digital façade develops into a medium 

of continuous interactivity (Lavin, 

 

 

façade spreads digital information over 

a physical surface, and thus expands 

 

two-dimensional electronic screen as 

a moving ornament. In the case of the 

House of Industry, neon lights turn the 

building into spectacle at the center of 

 

 

- 

 

they demolished the ceramic façades 

and replaced it with glass façades with 

steel structures. The neon lights planted 

on the glass façades wrap the whole 

construction, and continuously flow 

while changing colors. The digital ornament 

adds a layer of ever changing 

grid patterns to the static glass façade, 

but also repeats the patterns ad infinitum. 

Ornament usually associates with 

the façades or the plasticity of buildings; 

yet it also establishes relationships 

with the building and the urban 

fabric. In accordance with the increasing 

popularity of satellite imagery in 

the post-information age, satellite view 

as a new ornamental scale becomes 

ments, 

this issue is explored in recent 

 

points to the current global trend of 

artificial island designs that have or- 

 

notes that contemporary buildings of 

Figure 10.

starchitects resemble ornaments at the 

scale of the city. The architectural critic 

Jonathan Glancey elaborates the idea 

of viewing cities as “gigantic carpets 

or textiles rolled across vast tracks of 

 

 

different scales and distances, as well 

as from various points of view, which 

make them reveal different ornamental 

dimensions. 

The contemporary application of ornament 

proposes novel aspects, such 

as structural ornament and digital ornament, 

as much as it reinterprets the 

traditional applications of representing 

culture, function, brand, power, and 

context. In the light of the case studies, 

it can be argued one of the primary motives 

of applying ornament in contemporary 

architecture is to attract public 

attention and to present spectacle. In 

this sense, the advancement of digital 

technology becomes a tool, rather than 

a motive and a primary ground of justification. 

4. Ornaments of the spectacle 

nication, 

a flood of images dominates 

the realm of architecture. Beginning 

with the twentieth-century widespread 

use of photography, advertising, and 

publishing technology, mass media 

expanded worldwide by transforming 

objects into images. Contemporary 

culture is represented by the accumulation 

of spectacles, which mediates the 

social relation among people. In this 

sense, spectacle refers to consuming 

products for their sign values, such as 

appearance, fame, and public attention, 

rather than their use values. 

viously 

addressed by Charles Baudelaire 

in the nineteenth-century together 

with Walter Benjamin, and theorized 

by the twentieth-century theorists, 

 

cault, 

and Jean Baudrillard. Benjamin 

olis 

as an endless spectacle, a visual 

show of spectacular images, dioramas, 

tempting dreams, and a realm of 

 

 

 

dominates the everyday life through 

consumption and mass production in 

 

 

the spectacle and the authentic expe- 

 

Wrestling”, as he suggests the concept 

of the society of the spectacle a decade 

 

argues that the industry of semiotics 

goes further than the materialist rules 

of commodity, as it transforms everything 

into advertisement, media, or 

image. The dominating paradigm of 

visuality turns bodily presence into 

spectacle, media, and image, and links 

the spectacle to the social demand of 

astonishment and amazement. 

Following the twentieth-century 

views, the influence of visuality increases 

in contemporary age. The criticism 

of spectacle in current architectural 

domain consists of immaterial 

aspects of image, including flow, density, 

frequency, pixel, resolution, color, 

 

 

in the spectacle-laden public sphere, 

so that the people are subjected to absorb 

a profusion of images every day. 

Correspondingly, in an image-driven 

culture, much emphasis is given to 

visuality, surface, and surface effects 

without the intention of contemplation 

but only consumption. 

In parallel, ornament in contemporary 

architecture contributes to 

image-making, commercial success, 

and marketing strategy, as much as it 

becomes a designerly instrument of 

achieving astonishment. As seen from 

the case studies that sample ornament 

as the representation of function, culture, 

power, brand, urban context, and 

digital virtuosity, ornamental buildings 

become embodiments of consumption, 

exhibition, and public attention. 

5. Conclusion 

Literature of the last decade continuously 

highlights that ornament in 

contemporary architecture has a new 

definition and aspect. As this study 

demonstrates, ornament has a variety 

of layers. Being much more than an 

intricate architectural element, an indepth 

study of ornament overlaps its 

reemergence with social, cultural, and 


economical status quo. 

The need for commercial success 

and a profitable image of the building 

unfolds the connection of ornament 

and capitalism. Architecture relates to 

the power of the client; thus the ornamental 

façades emerge as a result of 

compromise and commercialization 

 

the budget of the client and mutual settlements 

with the architect determine 

the limits for creating spectacular and 

astonishing façades. The ornamental 

dimension is developed as an extension 

of constructing a brand image 

and sign exchange value. Accordingly, 

contemporary application of ornament 

does not discriminate between a public 

building and a housing complex. Ornament 

becomes a symbol of prestige 

and an instrument of power, in addition 

to being a representation of building 

function or program. 

In contemporary architecture, the 

digital, structural, sensual, representational, 

and symbolic facets stratify 

ornament metaphorically and literally. 

Ornament contributes to the contemporaneity 

of the city and the diversity 

of culture much like an advertisement 

board, a graffiti, or a tattoo, not primarily 

as an element of utility but as an 

intense medium of impression, expression, 

and representation. The profusion 

of ornamental buildings and architecture 

exhibitions that continue their 

worldwide expansion demonstrates 

that neither architects nor investors 

have done with revealing the potentials 

of ornament. In the future years, it is 

very possible that ornament will continue 

to be a critical discursive field for 

theorists, a playground of spectacle for 

public, and a challenging designerly instrument 

for architects more than ever. 

Acknowledgements 

This research has been supported by 

- 

- 

 

References 

 

 

tarihçe ve bibliyografya. 

, 241 

 

‘big’ yes to superficiality: Arlanda Hotel 

by Bjarke Ingels Group. , 

32 

 

wrestling. In 

 

 

 

simulacra. In 

death 

 

Sage Publications. 

thetics. 

In 

 

 

 

 

of the nineteenth century. 

, 

 

Ornament, structure, space: A conversation 

with Jacques Herzog. , 

 

 

- 

 

 

, exhibition 

catalogue, 1 June – 21 Septem- 

 

Basel. 

 

Re 

 

 

 

 

history, theory and future of patterns 

of architecture and spatial design. 

, 79 

 

vi, 

architecte affranchie. 

, 

 

 

 

Boston, Berlin: Birkhauser. 

- 

- 

 

 

 

 

West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. 

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nament: 

The return of the symbolic 

repressed. , 

 

- 

 

- 

 

Ltd. 

 

augmented space. 

, 5 

 

. Barcelona: Actar. 

 

 

. (A. Hild, 

 

 

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West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 

( 

 

architecture. lishers. 

 

patterns. , 79 

 

- 

chitecture 

between spectacle and use 

ling 

and Francine Clark Art Institute. 


Relationship between place 

attachment and user satisfaction at 

some national parks in Turkey 

Pınar SIVALIOĞLU 1 , Lale BERKÖZ 2 

1 

 

Faculty of Architecture, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey 

2 

 

Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, İstanbul, Turkey 

 

 

Abstract 

Environmental and natural preservation has become a common problem for all 

societies of this century. Much scientific research is being done and many methods 

are being devised to analyze the balance between the recreational use and 

preservation of natural spaces. It appears that the basic purpose of these methods 

is to achieve recreational satisfaction. User satisfaction is a concept that lies at the 

core of many sectors and work areas. Place attachment is another concept that has 

been covered in many research studies conducted until today. Place attachment is 

a concept that is closely related with satisfaction and includes symbolic and emotional 

expressions. To see which factors effect visitor satisfaction and attachment 

will benefit future studies in national parks. In this scope, 5 national parks in 

Marmara region with different characteristics and highest user density rates have 

been chosen. The questionnaire forms have been accordingly designed to identify 

tendencies and evaluate attachment and satisfaction degrees with suitable analysis 

techniques. The first objective was to identify overall satisfaction and attachment 

levels and ratings. It was found that the visitors were satisfied with their overall 

visiting experience and also found that the attachment of the visitors to national 

parks was high. We observed that as the overall satisfaction increases, the overall 

attachment increases, as well. Second objective was to determine place attachment 

and its sub-categories. As a result of the analyses, 4 sub-factors with high 

reliability values obtained. 

Keywords 

Factor analysis, National park, Place attachment, User satisfaction.


The use of resources in order to meet 

the needs without considering what 

will happen in the future has led to 

a number of problems about the relations 

between man and nature. Almost 

all the definitions related to sustainability 

and sustainable development 

require the inclusion of the next generation 

in the current decision making 

process. The main objective of the 

methods developed through studies 

on the protection of natural areas and 

balanced use for recreational purposes 

is to maintain recreational satisfaction. 

User satisfaction is a concept that lies 

at the core of many sectors and work 

areas these days. Place attachment is 

another concept that is handled in various 

studies. Place attachment refers to 

attachment to a special place and is defined 

as positive emotional bond to a 

specific place (Low and Altman,1992). 

Place attachment is closely related to 

the concept of satisfaction, which has 

also been tested with studies. Certain 

studies especially highlight a variety 

of reactions and behaviors that individuals 

and groups may demonstrate 

depending on emotions, meanings 

and values especially when a place is 

 

 

true especially when an individual or 

a group has a positive bond with that 

- 

 

expanded Altman and Low’s definition 

of place attachment by emphasizing 

the functional and psychological attachments. 

(Williams et al., 1992). 

This study has been prepared for 

the purpose of measuring place related 

satisfaction and attachment of the national 

park visitors. The first objective 

was to identify overall satisfaction and 

attachment levels and ratings. Second 

objective was to explain place attachment 

and its sub-categories and also to 

identify their relation with each other. 

The questions that were prepared for 

that purpose and intended to constitute 

the attachment scale. Place attachment 

is taken as the basic and integrating 

concept and the elements that make up 

place attachment are explained along 

with their sub categories. 

Through an analysis of the data obtained 

by questionnaires given in the 

national parks within the research area, 

we have put forward a perceptional 

evaluation gauging the site-specific 

satisfaction and attachment of national 

park visitors. 

2. The relationship between visitor 

satisfaction and place attachment 

The interest in the relation between 

people and place is growing day by 

day. Studies on people’s emotional relations 

with places are full of various 

key concepts that are similar to each 

other. This kind of terminological 

complexity sometimes makes it hard 

to understand whether we discuss the 

same concept or different concepts. 

 

term is related to the other: “There is 

considerable overlap between factors 

such as emotional bonds, affiliation, 

behavioural commitment, satisfaction 

and belonging, which are loosely associated 

with theoretical descriptions’’. 

The analysis of the attitude of the individual 

towards a specific place depends 

on measuring one’s emotional, cognitive 

and activity-based responses and 

evaluations of that place (Jorgensen 

 

In the course of time, the term satisfaction 

has become the primary concept 

to measure the quality of visitor 

experiences. Today, we use a number of 

methods for satisfaction measurement 

such as interviews, questionnaires, observations 

etc. Understanding the visitor 

satisfaction has enabled the managers 

to meet the visitor expectations and 

develop various services and facilities 

for their satisfaction during their visit. 

 

increase not only in regular visits but 

also in preservation of the loyalty and 

acquisition rates, which results in the 

realisation of the economic objectives 

with the rise in the number of visitors 

and income. There is usually a positive 

relation between satisfaction and longterm 

economic success of the target 

area. What is more, the relation between 

the visitors and the area they go 

gets stronger. Therefore, the quality of 

the services provided has a significant 

impact on visitor satisfaction (Akama 

 

defines place satisfaction as a multidi-

mensional and concise judgment about 

the perceived quality of a place (Sted- 

 

fines, 

when the different components 

of behaviour (cognitive, affective and 

behavioural) are taken into account, 

some researchers hold the the view that 

user satisfaction is composed of affective 

constituents, while some others 

claim that perception is a more influential 

factor. The definitions that rely 

on the affective constituents identify 

user satisfaction as satisfaction with 

the place one lives in and reflection of 

happy feelings on the place where one 

 

on the cognitive constituents define 

user satisfaction by comparing the existing 

situation with the standards, in 

terms of expectations and demands 

 

to participate in activities that one likes 

is a factor that increases the place satisfaction 

of those in recreation (Bricker 

 

Manning, 1999). Ecologic and environmental 

conditions, also, help the 

formation of satisfaction one feels for 

 

 

 

Studies on place attachment have 

also enabled us to understand the 

meanings that people attach to their 

physical environment. Any literature 

review on place attachment, place 

identification or related terms shows 

that these topics have been studied 

and measured with different scales for 

 

one of the essential concepts that this 

study deals with. The term attachment 

mostly refers to the sense of place that 

bolic 

and emotional manifestations. 

In a more general sense, the idea of 

place attachment has been used for 

thousands of years. In the ancient 

times, it was very common for people 

to introduce themselves with their 

names and the place they come from 

 

has been applied to the studies on natural 

resource management in the last 

 

 

 

 

 

 

place attachment refers to the emotional 

bond and its meaning which one 

establishes with a certain geographical 

place after a long-term experience. 

ries 

of childhood significantly affect 

 

might establish emotional/symbolic 

bonds without visiting a certain place. 

 

develop passion for a certain type of 

environment without holding the ad- 

 

Therefore, emotional/symbolic attachment 

may refer to identification with 

a symbolic meaning or thought. For a 

while, the main difficulty that researchers 

have to deal with has been the variety 

of current approaches at the the- 

 

 

Williams et al. (1992) show the relation 

between satisfaction due to place 

characteristics and place attachment 

in their study. Williams et al. (1992), 

while studying the effect of social and 

physical conditions on determining the 

quality of wild nature trips, ascertained 

that place attachment is identified with 

the sensitivity about ecological effects 

such as garbage or destruction of the 

flora of that place. 

This study handles place attachment 

as attitude and perception shown for 

a specific place. The feeling of attachment 

towards a place can affect place 

satisfaction. For instance, the strong 

love one feels for a place could overshadow 

his evaluation of the environ- 

ever, 

one’s comprehensive experience 

in a recreational place which contributes 

to a deep formation of attachment 

for that place provides profound information 

about the previous condition 

and predicted situation of that place. 

The predicted situation relates to one’s 

perception of right and wrong and 

 

critical evaluation of the environment 

of that place. Both responses are possi- 

 

3. Method 

As study area, 5 national parks in the 

Relationship between place attachment and user satisfaction at some national parks in Turkey

Table 1. 

acteristics 

and highest user density 

rates both local and foreign have been 

chosen. They are also important natural 

areas for tourism and ecotourism. 

These 5 national parks that are chosen 

as sample area can be divided into 

two groups: National parks with nat- 

 

 

Park, Kuş Cenneti National Park) and 

national parks with historical qualities 

- 

 

Park). Comon attributes of study area 

national parks are listed at Table 1. 

 

the borders of Bursa and it is one of the 

most important winter sports center in 

Turkey. National park has rich in species 

and vegetation that both Alpine 

and endemic plants specific to Turkey 

portance 

in the world forestry literature. 

Bird Paradise National Park located 

 

popular migrating spot for birds from 

Europe and Asia and its very famous 

bird-watching location in the world. 

 

birds are visiting Bird Paradise National 

Park. 

- 

 

between the Sea of Marmara and Gulf 

of Edremit. It has historical, geological, 

mythological values and recreation opportunities 

and it is an important place 

for ecotourism with streams, deep valleys 

and canyons. 

tional 

Park located inside borders of 

Çanakkale and it has a great historical 

value both for local and foreign people. 

Sea and land wars made in inside 

the borders of the park during the 

First World War. War sites, cemeteries, 

monuments and ruins are registered 

as “historical preservation areas” and 

“ cultural wealth”. National park also 

has geological and geomorphological 

formations with attractive sigths. 

cated 

inside the borders of Çanakkale 

and it has a historical and mythological 

value coming from ancient Troy and 

Aka settlements. National park is one 

of the important archaelogical site in 

 

We have distributed questionnaire 

forms to visitors in 5 National Parks 

within the study area in the summer 

tionnaire 

forms depending on the literature 

review and designed to provide 

relevant data to identify tendencies 

and evaluate attachment and satisfaction 

degrees with suitable analysis 

 

distributed among the national parks 

inside the area of research. The data is 

evaluated with a bidirectional analysis 

 

with the SPSS statistical software of 

95% confidence interval. With the survey 

question designed to measure the 

general satisfaction of national park, 

we have planned to measure the visitors’ 

satisfaction in terms of their vis-

Table 2. 

iting experience in general, the natural 

and social environment quality of the 

national park, the possibility of joining 

their favourite activities in the national 

ysis 

for the required comparisons. The 

applied factor analysis aims at grouping 

and reducing the question which 

 

to show the extent of attachment. We 

have used Likert scale ranging from 1 

to 5 for all these questions that are prepared 

for factor analysis. Factor analysis 

refers to the process of inventing 

new concepts such as factorisation or 

common factor or creating new functional 

definitions for concepts by using 

the factor load value of the items 

 

question was formed to measure general 

attachment level of park visitors 

and to be used for correlation analysis. 

The scale used to measure the place 

attachment in the measurement of attachment 

of National Park visitors to 

National Parks depends on the early 

 

 

This scale has been inspired by the 

 

 

 

 

4. Findings 

This section includes the factor analyses, 

the data regarding the measurements 

of satisfaction and attachment 

and the general findings obtained in 

the study. 

4.1. General findings 

 

national park visitors who participated 

 

 

 

visitors are from the middle income 

group. University and high school 

graduates constitute the majority of na- 

 

In order to measure the general attachment 

level of national park visitors, 

and later, to be used in correlation 

analyses they were asked to choose 

 

found that 11 of the national park visitors 

who participated in the study were 

 

 

attached. The average general attach- 

- 

 

ratios for the national parks covered in 

the study were analyzed by means of 

crosstab analysis, the highest attachment 

ratios were observed in Gallipoli 

 

is also possible to explain this situation 

as a manifestation of the attachment of 

individuals to their history and roots. 

We found the highest attachment degree 

in Gallipoli National Park where 

one of the most important wars for the 

history of modern Turkey took place. 

4.2. Satisfaction factor analysis 

The question that was designed 

to measure general satisfaction and 

which is composed of four postulates 

was first analyzed totally and then was 

applied factor analysis, which was, later, 

to be used in correlation analyses. It 

was found that, of all the national park 

 

were satisfied with their general visiting 

experiences. 

Four postulates of the question have 

been bundled under 1 factor, to be 

used in the correlation analysis and 

called overall satisfaction. As a result of 

the KMO analysis conducted to test the 

suitability of it for the factor analysis, 

ble 

2) and this shows that the data set is 

suitable for the factor analysis. 

The 1 factor that was obtained ex- 

- 

- 

 

it shows that the scale is reliable. The 

findings of the general factor analysis 

are presented in table 4 and we see that 

the loads of the first three factor items 

 

4.3. Place attachment factor analysis 

We applied factor analysis on the 

 


Table 3. 

Table 4. 

form the sub-dimensions of place attachment. 

We also designed scales and 

various reliability tests that show the 

suitability for the factor analysis. We 

measured the general reliability coefficient 

for place attachment dimensions 

tion 

has a high degree of reliability. As 

a result of the KMO analysis that was 

conducted to test the suitability of the 

question for the factor analysis, on the 

ble 

5) was found, which is a very high 

value and shows that the data set is perfect 

for the factor analysis. 

As a result of the analysis, we obtained 

4 factors and these 4 factors ex- 

- 

 

Place identity, place dependence, place 

familiarity, and place affect. We think 

that these four factors explain the con- 

ty 

coefficients measured for each factor 

are high. 

The first factor called place identi- 

plains, 

by itself, 44.544% of the total 

variance. The studies prior to this have 

also identified the place identity factor 

as the leading sub-dimension that 

best explains place attachment. This 

study, also, consolidates the validity of 

the similar findings in the literature. 

The factor loads of the first four vari- 

 

 

factor that has the highest alpha value 

 

The second factor is called place 

dependence. Although this sub-dimension 

is called place dependence 

in literature, it actually refers to the 

functional relation with a place. This 

factor is composed of 9 items and ex- 

though 

there is a significant decrease 

in the explained total variance, it has a 

greater explaining value than the other 

two factors. It must be considered as 

a secondary factor that explains place 

attachment. Similar results have been 

obtained by other previous researches. 

The third factor is called place familiarity. 

Place familiarity is a theme 

that we previously came across in the 

 

 

acquaintance. Place familiarity factor 

 

loads of the first three items are over 

 

total variance. 

The fourth and the last factor is called 

place affect. This has been a relatively 

less developed concept in the relevant 

literature and it has been analyzed by 

other studies under the name of sense 

 

 

ed 

as a result of the influence of places 

on people, the factor has been called 

place affect. This factor is composed 

 

the total variance. The factor loads of 

the three of the four variables are over 

Table 5.

Table 6. 

Table 7. 

 

explains the variance. This factor, also, 

has been identified as the least explaining 

factor in the other previous studies. 

Place attachment factors, variables, 

factor loads and the variances they ex- 

 

4.4. Correlation analysis 

In order to see whether there is a relation 

between the general attachment 

levels of the national park visitors who 

participated in the study and their general 

satisfaction levels, we conducted a 

correlation analysis. Before the correlation 

analysis, however, a factor analysis 

was applied to the question that constitutes 

general satisfaction and is composed 

of 4 items. As a result of the correlation 

analysis, we found a significant 

positive relation between them at a lev- 

 

As general attachment levels increase, 

general satisfaction levels increase too. 

The positive relationship between 

attachment and satisfaction that was 

postulated in the study has been validated 

by means of analyses too (Table 

 

In order to see whether the general 

satisfaction and general attachment are 

in any way related with data obtained 

about the demographic characteristics, 

the number of visits to the national 

parks and the time spent in the national 

parks, we carried out a correlation 

analysis with these variables (Table 9). 

The correlation analysis is significant at 

 

We found no relation between overall 

satisfaction and age, gender and the 

time spent in the national park. There 

was, however, a negative relation with 

 

Thus, it seems, the higher educational 

status is the lower overall satisfaction 


Table 8. 

Table 9. 

level becomes. As higher education 

means higher expectations, when a 

place fails to meet the expectations, 

a drop in the satisfaction level is fairly 

normal. A positive correlation was 

found between overall satisfaction and 

 

the income is the higher the satisfaction 

level gets. 

There is also a positive relation between 

number of visits to the national 

parks and overall satisfaction at the 

tion 

is the bigger the number of the visits 

reaches. 

We did not find any significant relation 

between general attachment and 

gender, income and the time spent in 

the national parks. There is a positive 

relation between general attachment 

and age at a level of 25,1%, which 

means, as age increases attachment 

level increases as well. We, on the other 

hand, found a negative correlation between 

attachment and education at a 

 

As educational level increases attachment 

level decreases. There is a 

positive relation between the number 

of visits to the national parks and gen- 

 

attachment becomes greater the number 

of visits becomes bigger too. 

We see that the average of the place 

affect points of the national park visitors 

who participated in the study is 

the highest, while the average of their 

place familiarity points is the lowest 

 

that have an impact on the sub-dimensions 

that were obtained as a result of 

the factor analyses, we carried out oneway 

variance and correlation analyses, 

independent T-tests, and descriptive 

analyses of demographic factors and 

other variables. 

The results of these analyses show 

that the place identity points of young 

people are lower than those of the visitors 

from the middle age group. 

Similarly, we found that the points 

of the young were lower than those of 

middle and upper-middle age groups 

in terms of place dependence. It may 

be due to the fact that there are not 

much activities addressing to the needs 

of young age group or it may be that 

the interests of young people tend 

to change quickly. Generally, all the 

sub-factors of attachment, excluding 

place familiarity, received low points 

from young people. This finding is in 

concordance with the findings of the 

relevant literature. Attachment is in 

direct proportion to age. We observed 

increase in attachment in proportion 

with the increase in age. Each attachment 

factor reflected significant differentiation 

statistically in relation with 

educational status and we saw that the 

points received by the primary school 

graduates for each factor were high. 

Thus, we may say that as educational 

status rises, the attachment ratios decrease. 

We, also, saw that almost all the 

sub-dimensions of place attachment 

displayed differentiation in relation 

with income variable. The highest ratios 

for the sub-dimensions of place 

Table 10.

attachment were observed in low and 

lower-middle income groups while the 

lowest ratios were observed in high income 

groups. There is negative relation 

between attachment and income level. 

5. Conclusion 

The research question for this study 

aims to explain the concept of place attachment 

with its sub-factors and identify 

their relation with satisfaction. To 

explain these relations, we used various 

questions. We, first, designed questions 

to measure the degrees of general satisfaction 

and general attachment, and 

then, as a result of the analyses, we 

identified a positive relationship between 

general attachment and general 

satisfaction, which was one of the hypotheses 

in this study. As general satisfaction 

levels increase, general attachment 

levels increase too. 

The positive relation between satisfaction 

and attachment is in parallel 

with the results of other researches 

done in this subject area (Bricker 

 

 

As previously pointed out, there is a 

semantic confusion about the sub-factors 

of place attachment and many 

researchers have identified different 

dimensions. Place identity and place 

dependence have been identified as 

dual dimensions by some researchers 

 

 

 

several studies sense of place, that is, 

place affect has been included in the 

sub-dimensions (Jorgensen and Sted- 

 

the concept of attachment has been 

analyzed multi-dimensionally (Bricker 

 

 

familiarity that is identified in this 

study as one of the sub-dimensions is 

based on the concept of place acquaintance 

that is proposed in the 5-dimen- 

 

To sum up, the findings obtained in 

this study can be enumerated as follows. 

We think that this study, along 

with the concept of place attachment, 

tity 

(individual’s emotional and symbolic 

identification with a place), Place 

 

a certain place based on participation), 

Place Familiarity (familiarity that originates 

in time and interaction based on 

experience) and Place Affect (emotions 

and feelings that a certain place arouses 

in individuals). 

As a result of the comparative analyses 

made between demographic characteristics 

and sub-factors of place 

attachment, we found that place dependence 

and place familiarity sub-dimensions 

differs with respect to gender 

and that the male visitors received 

higher points. The highest attachment 

values were observed in low income 

and low education groups. We, also, 

found that attachment values decrease 

in lower age groups. These findings are 

in concordance with the similar studies 

in literature. 

Although, we found out overall satisfaction 

level of park visitors was high 

 

improved by maintenance and provided 

service quality in the study area national 

parks. Feeling secure in the national 

park also has a positice effect on 

satisfaction. Satisfaction is a source of 

motivation for subsequent visits and is 

very effective in creating attachment to 

 

 

place identity level and as a result of the 

strong place identity, place atttachment 

will increase too. 

Many recent studies have strived to 

form an understanding as to which 

factors have an impact on individual 

decision making processes in relation 

with the preservation of natural areas 

and resources. It is also claimed that 

management plans that are realized 

with the participation of the community 

will be more successful. Measuring 

visitor satisfaction and attachment, 

therefore, is very important. 

To conclude, we examined the satisfaction 

of national park visitors, the 

concept of place attachment, and the 

relation between place attachment and 

satisfaction which is the first study 

on this subject in national parks, in 

Turkey. Identification of the relation 

between satisfaction and place attachment 

and the differentiations that these 

concepts display with respect to demographic 

and socio-cultural characteris- 


tics will contribute to future researches 

in national parks. 

And also we think that our findings 

will contribute to efforts of authorized 

national park administrators to find 

solutions for environmental satisfaction 

and place attachment of park 

visitors. The best way to measure the 

performance of a recreational area or 

service is to conduct visitor satisfaction 

surveys. With these surveys management 

and service performance can 

be identified and user involvement can 

be achieved. With this purpose, we 

recommend that every year in each national 

park, visitor satisfaction surveys 

should be conducted in order to improve 

the service quality. It is necessary 

to take the relation of man and environment 

and the factors that contribute 

to satisfaction into consideration 

in recreational planning. Thus, we may 

be able to meet the expectations and 

the needs of national park visitors as 

much as possible and consequently, the 

number of protective users who are attached 

to national parks will increase. 

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Urban regulations in 18 th century 

Istanbul: Natural disasters and 

public dispute 

Işıl ÇOKUĞRAŞ 1 , C. İrem GENÇER 2 

1 

 

 

2 

 

Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey 

 

 

Abstract 

As a part of the Ottoman modernization process, new regulations and institutions 

for urban management started to be established in Istanbul. This paper handles 

the 18th century as an initial period for these urban reforms and studies how 

the built environment was regulated at the time. The regulations of 18th century 

which were based on the occasion of natural disasters and public dispute will be 

evaluated via official archive documents and narratives. 

18th century Istanbul’s general urban fabric was formed with organic narrow 

streets and small timber houses. With the ethno-religious diversity embedded to 

this picture, the city had a complex and fragile character. Numerous fires causing 

massive destructions raised a need for precautions. Several orders related to 

construction systems, building height, size of building elements like eaves and 

projections were issued. On the other hand, the fact that urban constituents like 

ownership were not defined clearly in the modern sense made public dispute very 

common. Apart from the complexity of the built environment, most of the conflicts 

arose from the social structure of Istanbul which was comprised of various 

ethno-religious groups. There was a clear distinction of Muslims and non-Muslims 

in the urban realm as they had different building regulations, until the issuing 

of the Tanzimat Firman. 

The regulations of the 18th century was based on cases, rather than being comprehensive 

generalized rules for the urban fabric and thus had a more proscriptive 

nature rather than prescriptive. 

Keywords 

Construction systems, Istanbul history, Ottoman history, Urban history, Urban 

regulation.

184 


Even though there had been many 

researches on urban history of Ottoman 

Istanbul, 18 th century still seems 

to be an unexplored period. As contemporary 

urban historians started to 

pay attention to this era, it became clear 

that it was an important interval when 

the modernization process of the state 

was initiated. As a part of this process, 

new regulations and institutions for 

urban management started to be established 

in Istanbul. This paper handles 

the 18 th century as an initial period for 

these urban reforms and studies how 

the built environment was regulated at 

the time, on the occasion of natural disasters 

and public dispute. 

There are extensive studies on the 

 

Istanbul, which regard regulations of 

18 th century as the preparatory phase. 

The transition of Western urban elements 

into Ottoman urban realm by 

 

and roots of urban reforms in Tanzimat 

 

the transformation process of Istanbul 

 

 

 

 

th century urban reforms by Gül 

 

important clues to explore and assess 

18 th century urban regulations and administrative 

issues. 

18 th century Istanbul was a scene for 

urban and architectural change. New 

building forms and spaces started to 

emerge in this period. The cityscape 

began to change as the social fabric of 

veloped 

with new constructions as new 

ways of patronage, was introduced to 

 

public spaces arose and a need to establish 

a control over them surfaced. 

Embassies and prestigious buildings 

began to rise in Pera-Galata district as 

the city became a hub for commerce 

with Europe. Istanbul was heading forward 

to being the famous cosmopolite 

metropolis with great amount of diversity 

in the urban elements. 

The era was multi-layered and complex 

as traditional values and novelties 

introduced by approaching modernism 

coincided and contradicted. This 

was a period when the authorities’ 

first effort to define some urban regulations 

was visible, as well as their effort 

to preserve traditional regulations. 

The continuous struggle between these 

two entities could be seen in every field 

of life, thus nearly in every document 

produced at the period. 

th century, pre-modern 

mechanisms were more prevalent 

in urban management of 18 th century 

Istanbul which resulted in undefined 

boundaries. According to official archives, 

the morphological structure of 

buildings and ownership issues were 

too intricate to be described. Natural 

disasters and public dispute became 

potential grounds to formulate certain 

urban rules. It is even possible to say 

that the building regulations of the 18 th 

century Istanbul were based on daily 

events. 

Unfortunately this complex period 

has limited resources. Most of the 

narratives of the period ignored the 

daily experiences of the public as well 

as a detailed description of the built 

environment. The only resources to 

be found are official correspondence 

between the central government and 

local authorities, judgment records 

- 

uments 

and a few narratives (Ahmet 

 

communities’ reactions to the built environment 

and existing traditional regulations, 

as well as authorities’ effort to 

establish regulations. 

Figure 1.

2. Regulations 

Even though there is a tendency to 

view the engravings of the period with 

great envy of the traditional timber 

buildings, this construction system 

seems to be the main problem of the 

city. According to the official records 

and chronicles of this period, most of 

the houses (with exception of those 

belonging to the imperial family mem- 

 

 

fast reconstructions and was preferred 

by the public because of its affordabil- 

had 

visited Istanbul in the late 18 th century, 

the houses were either one or two storeys 

high, and were rarely three storeys. 

He also stated that there was a striking 

simplicity in the construction of these 

houses: the interior spaces might be 

decorated; however outer façades were 

 

 

Although the urban fabric of 18 th 

century Istanbul seems to be self-developed, 

there were some authorities 

in charge for buildings. All construction 

and public works was regulated by 

 

 

, the person responsible for 

finance, purchasing and administrative 

issues regarding constructions. 

There were some general rules, such 

as it was not possible to construct on 

every empty land within intramural Istanbul, 

since there were specific areas 

allocated by the central government for 

 

 

Figure 2 

 

permit from the chief architect had 

to be obtained for new constructions 

 

chief architect also specified the building 

height, the street line on which the 

house would be positioned, as well as 

the distance of projection for the eaves 

 

on the façades, according to the regulations 

defined by the central authorities. 

Another main rule was that it was 

not possible to make any perforations 

on the façades that faced a neighbor’s 

 

 

Orders were issued at different times 

by the central government regarding 

the height, colors, construction types 

of buildings, as well as building elements 

like projections, roofs and eaves. 

These orders contained specific dimensions 

or general codes, which aimed to 

define, limit and standardize building 

regulations. From these orders, it 

is possible to derive that 18 th century 

building regulations resulted from two 

 

and social values. The timber structures, 

being the prevalent construction 

type, were frequently destroyed 

by fires. As for social values, Muslims 

were the predominant group in the social 

fabric; therefore regulations were 

adjusted according to them. The regulations 

aimed to maintain public order, 

especially to prevent disputes between 

neighbors. 

The religious court registries also allow 

us to derive information about the 

urban structure of Istanbul. Although 

they do not always point to a specific 

regulation, these records enlighten 

measures taken against violation of 

ownership/property rights related to 

constructions. Property inheritance 

was also another important issue that 

can often be seen as related to building 

measures and construction types. 

Upon public petitions, authorities were 

appointed to make quantity surveys of 

the properties involved. 

2.1. Regulations related to disasters 

Fires were the most devastating incidents 

both for the citizens and the 

managers of Istanbul. The city was the 

scene for frequent fires that dispersed 

into vast areas in a short period of time. 

Urban regulations in 18 th century Istanbul: Natural disasters and public dispute

Therefore it is not surprising to see that 

most of the imperial orders, archive 

records and religious court registries 

were concerned with regulating the urban 

space for fire mitigation. First part 

of this section will focus on these regulations 

which provide an insight on the 

perspective of the central authorities 

and the physical impact of these measures. 

The natural disasters Istanbul had 

faced were not only fires of course, the 

city also suffered from earthquakes. 

The timber-framed construction that 

was vulnerable for fire had actually outlived 

such shocks. However the one in 

 

After this disaster, it is known that public 

buildings were restored and many 

decrees were issued on these buildings. 

 

scarce information about the condition 

of civil buildings and their reconstruction 

process. 

Timber construction was preferred 

by the public for its low cost compared 

to stone masonry buildings, and the 

timber was seen as the main reason 

 

 

authorities complained about this situation 

and tried to take precautions on 

the subject. An early order dating to 

- 

 

must be made of stone, lime and mud, 

according to the owner’s wealth and 

the eaves would be made of dogtooth 

tooth 

eaves continuously come up in 

further documents. The reason for 

this persistency is because these eaves 

would not extend as wide as timber 

eaves. Considering the narrowness of 

the streets, this precaution aimed to 

prevent the spreading of fire. In order 

to provide materials for masonry construction, 

a new order was issued in 

 

 

 

similar recommendations to that of 

ings 

caught fire and needed a thorough 

repair or reconstruction, they should 

be constructed from stone masonry 

with dogtooth eaves that did not project 

forward. Also, in areas close to city 

walls, no timber constructions should 

 

general concerns were repeated in an 

order regarding the architectural and 

construction style of Istanbul houses 

 

some regulations on projections on 

 

should not exceed 18 

and should not face each other; they 

should be constructed on alternating 

levels (one on top, one on bottom lev- 

 

 

Another important issue was the 

wooden terraces. A firman issued in 

 

terraces on roofs, since these allowed 

fire to jump from one house to the other 

easily, especially on narrow streets 

Figure 3.

Table 1. 

Date 

issued 

Type Summary Content 

 

 

 

Imperial 

order 

Imperial 

order 

Imperial 

order 

All new constructions -including houses and shopsmust 

be made of stone, lime and mud, according 

to the owner’s wealth. Eaves should be made of 

dogtooth courses. 

 

with stone masonry and dogtooth eaves. 

Construction of timber buildings close to city walls 

was banned. 

 

fingers in İstanbul and should not face each other; 

instead they should be constructed on alternating 

levels for corresponding houses. 

Firman Construction of wooden terraces was banned. 

 

 

 

Order 

of chief 

architect 

Construction of wooden terraces was banned. 

No buildings should be allowed to be constructed 

 

side of the walls should be allocated for the road 

No buildings should be allowed to be constructed 

next to the city walls 

Mandatory masonry 

construction 


construction 

Prohibition of timber 

structures close to city walls 

Limitation of façade 

projections 

Prohibition of wooden 

terraces 

Prohibition of wooden 

terraces 

Prohibition of any structure 

next to city walls 

Prohibition of any structure 

next to city walls 

 

 

prohibition of wooden terraces came 

 

owners wanted to construct such terraces 

when renewing their homes after 

- 

 

orders suggest that it was not possible 

to implement these suggestions. The 

rules had to be repeated after every 

devastating case. 

City walls were an urban concern for 

the managers of Istanbul since people 

were building on these structures even 

though it was not allowed. In addition, 

making extensions from the houses 

close to the walls was also prohibited. 

In several orders, this rule was reminded. 

Although it may seem to be a modern 

historic preservation approach, 

the real reason for this was again fire 

prevention, since fires outside the city 

walls could easily spread to the inner 

parts due to the attached or extended 

 

example an imperial order stated that 

 

spread out and caused damage in the 

intramural region in Zindankapı due 

to the timber buildings higher than 

the city walls. The order emphasized 

that no buildings should be allowed to 

be constructed next to the city walls. 

 

summary of fire prevention measures 

 

Commercial buildings, like khans 

and shops that were covering nearly 

the half of the built environment of 

Istanbul, were a major concern for the 

government. According to an order, 

 

construction and “filled” walls easily 

caught fire. (In filled construction, 

the wall is constructed with vertical, 

horizontal and diagonal timber posts 

and the space in between them is filled 

with materials like mud brick or rub- 

 

and shops were not allowed to be built 

from timber and all such buildings 

should be constructed of stone. One 

year later, a new order was issued repeating 

the prohibition on construction 

of timber shops, unless the own- 


188 

Table 2. 

Date 

issued 

Type Content Content 

 

Imperial 

order 

The khans and shops were not allowed to be built 

from timber and all such buildings should be 

constructed of stone. 


construction 

 

Imperial 

order 

The khans and shops were not allowed to be built 

from timber, unless the owners were not wealthy 

enough to build a stone masonry building. 


construction for wealthy 

shop owners 

 

Imperial 

order 

The construction of masonry khans was banned. 

Prohibition of masonry 

construction 

 

Imperial 

order 

With the condition that only the shopkeepers 

 

stranger was allowed to enter, masonry rooms 

were allowed to be built above the bakeries and 

some shops. 

Allowance for masonry 

construction 

 

Imperial 

order 

The construction of timber khans was banned. If 

the owner was not wealthy, at least he was obliged 

to construct the outer walls in masonry and the 

rest of the structure could be built from timber. 


construction for all shop 

owners 

ers were not wealthy enough to cover 

the costs of a stone masonry building 

 

There was a major contradiction 

on the subject of khans as well. Even 

though the fire precautions demanded 

masonry construction, the government 

 

the construction of masonry khans. 

This was due to the fact that the shopkeepers 

sometimes joined Janissaries 

at public revolts, gathering in masonry 

khans in large groups and defend- 

 

The fear for masses coming together 

at these commercial buildings came 

 

stated that under the condition that 

no other person other than the owner 

was allowed to enter, masonry rooms 

were permitted to be built above the 

 

 

timber khans was banned this time and 

according to the order if the owner was 

able to cover the costs, he was obliged 

to build a masonry khan, if not, he 

would at least construct the outer walls 

in masonry and the rest of the structure 

could be built from timber (Ergin, 

 

brief summary, the inconsistency on 

constructional system of commercial 

buildings reflected the government’s 

mentality to establish rules on daily 

basis. Even though the government’s 

reaction to public discontent and fire 

contradicted, they still issued these 

orders that out rule the previous one, 

inhibiting to establish a general rule. 

(For summary of building regulations 

 

Regularizing building heights were 

a part of the fire prevention. The residential 

quarters of the 18 th century 

Istanbul were covered with buildings 

with various heights, but not too high 

in general. For shops, the standard 

height was 4 s (1 = approx. 

cording 

to the type of craft being prac- 

 

also some orders which specified the 

heights of buildings according to their 

function. For example, after the fire in 

the Hippodrome, it was decided that 

horse stables and other commercial 

buildings in the zone should be reconstructed. 

According to the order on the 

 

s (1 = 

 

s; bakeries 8 s; bakeries 

s; groceries, vegetable 

s; greengroceries 

and attars 4

Table 3. 

Date 

issued 

 

 

Content 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction of timber terraces or roofs was prohibited for shops; all shops 

must be masonry. 

Height of shops close to the city walls, 

 

 

ironsmiths, boilersmiths, producers of arsenal equipments, groceries: 4,1 m 

clothsellers, fruitsellers, fish sellers, stone masons, attars, barbers, coffee 

 

the rule that it was forbidden to build 

on and next to the city walls, while a 

distance of 4 s from one side of the 

wall should be allocated for the road 

and the shops should not exceed the 

height of 4 s if they were attached to 

the city wall. The order also reminded 

that no timber terraces or roofs could 

be constructed and all shops, whether 

on/in/out of city walls, should be 

constructed of stone masonry (Ergin, 

- 

 

2.2. Regulations based on public 

dispute 

Generally, Istanbul’s neighborhoods’ 

residential patterns were determined 

by ethnicity and religion, however 

there were also mixed neighborhoods. 

We might say that these patterns defined 

the borders of neighborhoods 

rather than urban elements like streets. 

Main roads would define some borders, 

but otherwise organically formed 

streets and narrow alleys would run in 

the neighborhoods. Within this context, 

keeping in mind that Ottoman 

State was an Islamic state and nearly 

half of the population of Istanbul was 

non-Muslims, neighborhood conflicts 

especially caused by religion was inevitable. 

uents 

like ownership were not defined 

clearly in the modern sense in this period 

made public dispute very common. 

Most of the public petitions on neighborhood 

conflicts referred to land or 

property conflicts. There are numerous 

cases where the conflicts were caused 

by ethno-religious diversity and Muslims’ 

power over the non-Muslims. 

Solutions offered to the petitions give 

us hints about the built environment 

and regulations of the period. 

The fires did not only cause problems 

about constructions, but they 

were a major security issue for the city 

due to the uncontrolled burnt areas. 

According to a religious court regis- 

 

Mustafa Paşa district complained that 

vagabonds were using the places that 

were burnt during the fire. They demanded 

a permission to build gates 

(trict. 

These would be closed at nights 

and keep strangers outside the neigh- 

 

 

know that were one of 

the most common safety precautions 

for neighborhoods. The significance of 

this document is that, it points out to 

the active role of the residents in urban 

interventions to their neighborhoods. 

Complexity of the civil architecture 

is another issue that appears behind 

the documents. The houses did not 

have integrity, one room would be over 

another house and since there were no 


egulations to control this, there would 

be a lot of conflicts on the subject. For 

th century religious court 

registry handled a case where İbrahim 

Çelebi built a room on top of Hasan 

Çelebi’s house. An architect sent by the 

authorities inspected the houses and 

observed that İbrahim Çelebi’s room 

s on Hasan Çelebi’s 

property. Hasan Çelebi declared that 

it had been constructed by his permis- 

 

 

that although none of the companies 

denunciated each other, the authorities 

had issued an inspection hints that 

there was a concern to establish an urban 

order. It seems that these sorts of 

constructions were regarded as problematic 

even though they were very 

common. These unclear boundaries 

of the properties not only caused a lot 

of problems in the aftermaths of fires, 

but also they challenge the traditional 

Turkish house historiography. 

Apart from the complexity of the 

built environment, most of the conflicts 

arose from the social structure of 

Istanbul which was comprised of various 

ethno-religious groups. Although 

the number of petitions informs us 

that these regulations were broken 

frequently, there was a clear distinction 

of Muslims and non-Muslims in 

the urban context. It was forbidden 

for non-Muslims to settle in Islamic 

sacred regions, like Eyüp Sultan Mau- 

 

would usually live in groups in certain 

- 

 

not forbidden for non-Muslims to live 

in Muslim neighborhoods, through 

complaints we are aware that it was not 

welcomed. In various documents the 

non-Muslims settled in Muslim neighborhoods 

were asked to sell their properties 

to Muslims. 

According to the Islamic Law, the 

house of a non-Muslim should differ 

from the Muslims’ both in height and 

color. However, the number of imperial 

orders reminding the citizens of this 

regulation implies that this regulation 

was often disobeyed. At certain periods 

when the authorities were concerned 

with establishing the public order, 

number of imperial orders about this 

regulation had increased. For example 

during his reign, Selim III ordered 

non-Muslims to paint their houses to 

black and Muslims not to paint their 

houses to black so that the non-Muslim 

houses could be spotted immediately. 

The order also stated that the 

non-Muslims’ houses should not have 

windows facing the houses of Muslims. 

 

had visited Istanbul in late 18th century, 

mentioned these rules in his depic- 

 

 

The height of the buildings was another 

distinctive pattern for religious 

distinction. A stated that if a 

non-Muslim constructed a building 

higher than the Muslims’, it would be 

demolished to the level of the Muslims’ 

- 

 

in intramural and extramural İstanbul, 

the Jews and Christians should not 

build their building higher than two 

floors and they would not be allowed to 

 

 

 

while Muslims were allowed to build 

12 s high buildings; non-Muslims 

were not allowed to build higher than 

 

limits were increased a century later 

to 14 s for Muslims and 12 s 

for non-Muslims, as stated in a firman 

 

This practice was abandoned after the 

issuing of the Tanzimat Firman, which 

is one of the reasons why the high 

non-Muslim buildings we see today 

th th century. 

In the urban context, religious identity 

also caused conflicts on ownership 

since it was a problem for a non-Muslim 

to buy a property in a Muslim 

neighborhood. In an imperial order 

 

of the houses in the Muslim neighborhood 

in Langa were bought by 

non-Muslims, thus the mescid and the 

school was surrounded with them. It 

was also noted that the non-Muslims’ 

ceremonies were disturbing the Muslims. 

The citizens of the neighborhood 

had written a complaint to Shaykh 

al-Islam about this, who replied to

them with a fetwa. The fetwa suggested 

that these non-Muslims should convert 

into Islam or they should sell their 

properties to Muslims. The imperial 

order demanded this fetwa to be ap- 

 

In many documents on Muslim-non-Muslim 

conflicts, the Muslims 

complain about being disturbed 

 

in mind that non-Muslims were not 

allowed to perform their ceremonies 

outside determined locations, it seems 

that this was used as an excuse to move 

out non-Muslims from the neighbourhood. 

Once a Muslim complained 

about being disturbed by non-Muslims 

ceremonies, he would immediately get 

attention of Shaykh al-Islam. 

 

stated that some buildings and rooms 

located near a mosque, were rented 

to some non-Muslims. According to 

the Muslim tradition, if a non-Muslim 

settled in a Muslim neighborhood or 

rented rooms near a mosque, the owner 

of the room was asked to rent it to 

- 

 

a Jew bought a land that belonged to 

a Muslim. However, because it was 

against the regulation, he was asked to 

sell the land to a Muslim and his right 

to ownership was transferred to a Jew- 

 

Examples of such cases can be multiplied 

and reveal that in pre-Tanzimat 

Istanbul, the non-Muslims had quite 

a lot of difficulties in settling wherever 

they want and keeping their properties. 

Although single cases were mentioned 

here, we know that Istanbul’s 

th century ethno-religious distribution 

was shaped before Tanzimat 

through massive movements. The 

 

Eminönü is the most significant case. 

th century, the 

area that was a predominantly Jewish 

neighborhood was given to Muslims. 

 

order sent to İstanbul Qadi, Janissary 

 

 

Jewish houses that were located near 

 

that those houses should be occupied 

by Muslims instead; therefore the Jews 

should be moved to some Jewish dis- 

 

th century archival documents state 

that some Armenians were moved to 

intramural Istanbul and Üsküdar, and 

they were asked to sell their properties 

 

 

 

 

 

the time the construction of an Islamic 

religious building resulted in transfer 

of non-Muslims to another district. We 

might definitely say that the urban regulations 

favored the Muslims and supported 

Islamization of certain areas. 

gious 

buildings was not easy for the 

non-Muslims. There are a few cases 

before Tanzimat allowing such repair 

 

some permission to repair churches 

and synagogues. Jews were allowed 

to repair their synagogues and Armenians 

were allowed to repair their Aya 

Sırati Church burnt in fire (Altınay, 

 

these renovation works were not permitted. 

For instance, in an imperial order 

sent to Istanbul Qadi and the chief 

 

Greek Patriarchate in Fener was damaged 

in a fire and the demand to repair 

the building was met with opposition. 

In the order, it was pointed out clearly 

that the repair works would not be 

 

Only after the Tanzimat we start seeing 

permissions for repairing churches 

and synagogues. The earliest order we 

came across dated to 1842 and it stated 

that religious buildings and schools 

belonging to Greeks, Armenians and 

Jews in Istanbul and other villages were 

 

 

documents related to repair works of 

churches in Istanbul followed this order. 

3. Discussion 

18 th century Istanbul’s general urban 

fabric was formed with organic narrow 

streets and small timber houses. With 

the ethno-religious diversity embedded 

to this picture, the city had a complex 

and fragile character. Numerous fires 


causing massive destructions raised a 

need for precautions. Several orders 

related to construction systems, building 

height, size of building elements 

like eaves and projections were issued. 

Those precautions aiming to mitigate 

the spreading of fire in a neighborhood 

and mainly demanding masonry construction 

did not turn out as a building 

code. Rather, they were spontaneous 

reactions to current events, generally 

to great fires and most of the times 

were issued according to social conditions. 

For example, strict prohibition of 

timber structures was followed by an 

order that allowed people with low income 

to build timber houses or shops 

because of social order issues especially 

regarding the shop owners. The role 

of commercial buildings in public revolts 

resulted in an indecision on their 

construction type. The attitude of the 

government towards the built environment 

was ambiguous at certain times. 

Apart from the fact that the government 

out ruled its own decisions on 

urban order sometimes, there was a 

lack of an authority to implement these 

regulations. For example, in his study, 

though 

the Imperial Architects’ Guild 

had a great authority on the urban 

context, it was not possible to establish 

an institutionalized urban order. Until 

Tanzimat, all the regulations related 

to the city were organized according 

to the Islamic Law and Qadis were in 

charge of the establishing the urban 

order. Although certain orders for urban 

regulations had been issued by the 

th century 

mentation 

and monitoring of the urban 

regulations became possible only 

after the issuing of Tanzimant Firman 

 

transformed into more specific urban 

codes, the administrative bodies were 

established to govern and control these 

codes. 

The ambiguity was not only in government’s 

decisions and administration, 

it was also a part of the built environment 

as issues of ownership and 

borders of buildings were not clear. 

These indeterminacies and contradictions 

caused by them were actually 

the main character of the 18 th century. 

However in the urban context, the issues 

had to be solved and social order 

had to be maintained. Public disputes 

related to the buildings were resolved 

by instant interventions, yet there were 

general rules about the distinction of 

non-Muslims’ urban elements from 

garding 

the properties of buildings of 

 

the government aimed to prevent the 

conflicts within different social groups 

and re-affirm Muslims’ power over the 

non-Muslims. Even though the number 

of petitions on this subject informs 

us that these regulations were broken 

frequently, there was a clear distinction 

of Muslims and non-Muslims in the 

urban realm. Only after the issuing of 

the Tanzimat Firman, the situation had 

started to change and non-Muslims began 

to own and repair their properties 

more freely. Until then, regulation of 

urban form was an important factor in 

maintaining social order. 

We can conclude that before the 

Tanzimat Period, the building codes 

and regulations of the Ottoman State 

relied on two main themes: natural 

disasters and social values. The regulations 

of the 18 th century was based on 

cases, rather than being comprehensive 

generalized rules for the urban fabric 

and thus had a more proscriptive nature 

rather than prescriptive. 

References 

- 

, Istanbul: 

 

- 

, 

 

 

- 

 

Istanbul: Sabancı Üniversitesi 

Yayınları. 

 

tian 

and Jewish Space in Istanbul”, - 

- 

, 

 

 

-

- 

, 

Paris: Imprimerie de Monsieur. 

 

atlar 

Akademisi Yüksek Mimarlık 

 

 

 

 

 

- 

 

 

 

- 

 

- 

, Istanbul: The Economic 

and Social History Foundation of Turkey. 

 

Istanbul: Istanbul Araştırma 

 

 

- 

- 

 

 

- 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

- 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

- 

- 

- 

 

Ottoman Archival Documents 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Assessing the role of users in 

sustainable revitalization of 

historic urban quarters: The case 

of Bursa-Khans District 

Gül Sibel GEDİK 1 , Dilek YILDIZ 2 

1 

 

Science, Engineering and Technology, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, 

Turkey 

2 

 

Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey 

 

 

Abstract 

Historic urban quarters which are vital for the physical, economic and socio-cultural 

sustainable development of cities, are subject to fast paced changes 

due to the effects of globalization and rapid urbanization. Preventing the negative 

effects of urbanization and globalization and maintaining the unique identity 

of historic urban quarters for the future can only be possible by means of 

sustainable revitalization strategies which involve all relevant stakeholders in a 

holistic approach. Even though there is extensive research that focuses on the environmental, 

socio-cultural and economic dimensions of sustainable revitalization 

strategies, relatively fewer studies specifically deal with the user perceptions, 

images and opinions. By considering local people as a valuable resource, the aim 

of this paper is to assess users’ role in sustainable revitalization. Khans District 

which is not only a historic but also a commercial and cultural center of the city 

of Bursa has been chosen as a case due to the ongoing transformation of this district. 

Methodologically, cognitive mapping and survey questionnaires have been 

used to obtain data. The findings showed that user sourced data can contribute 

to the physical, social, economic and governance dimensions of sustainable revitalization 

strategies. This data can also influence (1) the determination of aims 

and targets, (2) planning and design and (3) the management stage of sustainable 

revitalization process. Consequently, as a valuable resource, it has been found out 

that users’ perceptions, images and opinions can provide important data for sustainable 

revitalization. 

Keywords 

Sustainability, Revitalization, Historic urban quarters, User perception and 

opinion, Bursa Khans District.


Inherited from past generations and 

shaped by overlapping layers, historic 

urban quarters are both socio-cultural 

ifestation 

of cultural heritage, these areas 

not only reflect a unique sense of 

place and the identity of cities, but also 

trigger the economic dynamics of cities 

as an important source for city market- 

- 

 

this sense, historic urban quarters are 

vital for the physical, economic and socio-cultural 

sustainable development 

 

Today, due to the pressures caused 

mainly by globalisation and urbanization 

such as rapid population growth, 

mobility, increased density, the rise of 

new attraction centers, changing consumption 

habits, uncontrolled urban 

growth and economic and technological 

improvements, historic urban 

quarters can barely respond to the requirements 

of a community’s changing 

 

pressures, historic urban quarters face 

a series of economic, social and physical 

changes. These mutual interactions 

can be categorized by two major 

 

the place which transform population 

movements and real estate markets 

and the second is both perceptual and 

practical links between people and 

their physical environment (Seragel- 

 

start to threaten the unique identity of 

these areas and cause a process of decay 

and deterioration. 

Preventing the many negative effects 

of urbanization and globalization, 

maintaining the unique identity 

of historic urban quarters for the future 

and revitalizing them by making 

adaptations to cope with the changing 

conditions of cities can only become 

possible by means of sustainable revitalization 

strategies which involve all 

relevant stakeholders in a holistic approach. 

Even though there is extensive 

research that focuses on the enviromental, 

socio-cultural and economic 

components of sustainable revitalization 

strategies, relatively fewer studies 

deal specifically with the user perceptions, 

attitudes and opinions. Throughout 

the history of sustainable revitalization, 

the role of local users in the 

area has been considered either a part 

of social sustainability or a stakeholder 

of governance process. In current literature, 

users have been handled at minor 

levels, sometimes their role defined 

in an ambiguous way or even ignored. 

 

of the subject and separated them from 

the other dimensions of sustainability 

where users could be conceptualized 

under the topic of human sustainabil- 

 

It is widely known that sustainable 

revitalization strategies become succesful 

only in the case where users are 

involved in the process. When the user 

group becomes a participatory actor in 

these strategies, their awareness about 

the value of the environment increases 

and consequently they possess and 

protect it. In order to carry out planning 

processes of revitalization projects 

in a democratic way, user group as 

one of the important bottom-up actors 

and the real owners of historic urban 

quarters are supposed to have power in 

 

reason, differentiated from the former 

studies, by considering local people as 

a valuable resource for sustainable revitalization, 

this study focuses on the 

role of users, and investigates how their 

perceptions, images, and opinions can 

be articulated in sustainable revitalization 

strategies and processes. 

With this aim in mind, this study 

 

concept of 

for the aim of defining how users perceive 

and construct the image of a 

 

subsequently employs a survey questionnaire 

in order to learn about user 

opinions on the problems and suggested 

solutions along with the future 

 

point of view, this study aims to assess 

user perceptions and opinions to obtain 

data for sustainable revitalization 

strategies of historic urban quarters. 

The main research questions which are 

posed as follows: 

What kind of data can be obtained 

by the participation of users for sustainable 

revitalization strategies of 

historic urban quarters?

How and at what stages do user perceptions 

and opinions contribute to 

sustainable revitalization strategies 

of historic urban quarters? 

Chosen as a case to investigate these 

research questions, Bursa Khans District 

which is not only a historic but 

also a commercial and cultural center 

of the city of Bursa, is now experiencing 

an ongoing transformation process 

due to both rapid population and urban 

growth and also the lack of a holistic 

approach taken by local governance. 

trict 

within city life with sustainable 

revitalization strategies will bring both 

economic and social benefits to the entire 

city of Bursa. In the next section, 

main concepts, models and theoretical 

approaches in sustainable revitalization 

of historic urban quarters and 

their related existing research results 

will be reviewed followed by an interpretation 

of the role of the user groups 

in these approaches. 

2. Literature review 

Extensively researched in current 

literature is the notion that sustainability 

has ecological/environmental, socio-cultural 

and economic dimensions, 

which should be considered in a com- 

 

 

When the notion of sustainability first 

came to the fore in academic circles, 

its physical or ecological dimensions 

initially drew the most discussion, but 

in time it was understood that human 

and societal dimensions in particular 

could not be excluded from sustainability 

processes (Bramley and Power, 

ability 

comes to take precedence which 

includes a sense of place, identity, lo- 

 

mension 

plays a catalyzing role within 

the inter-relationship of physical and 

socio-cultural sustainability. In this 

context, sustainable development has 

been described as a multidimensional 

and harmonious association between 

environmental, economic, social and 

 

 

The strong relationship between 

urban revitalization and sustainabili- 

 

that sustainable revitalization should 

involve not only physical, but also social 

and economic dimensions. Even 

though sustainable revitalization in 

historic urban quarters has been approached 

from many different perspectives 

in current literature, these 

three major dimensions are commonly 

accepted by many researchers. Since 

physical revitalization provides a short 

term strategy, a long term strategy can 

only be achieved by including social 

and economic dimensions when deal- 

 

 

 

the relationship between the concepts 

of obsolescence and the level of sustainability 

and they suggest a model 

for measuring the sustainability level 

in historic urban cores. Based on physical, 

economic and social dimensions, 

this model also includes various indicators 

for revitalization. Since these 

indicators will change from place to 

place, this selection should be done by 

extensive public participation. Similar- 

 

theoretical foundation of revitalization 

strategies based on two mutually interactive 

concepts, which are the level of 

obsolescence and the dynamics of the 

place. Whereas the level of obsolescence 

can exist in physical, functional, 

locational and image categories, the 

development dynamics of the place 

can be described as high, static or declining. 

vitalization 

strategy for historic urban 

lyzing 

the natural, built and socio-economic 

environment through various 

research techniques with regard to 

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities 

and threats provides input for sus- 

 

the demographic characteristics of the 

user group as a sub-component of the 

socio-economic environment are con- 

 

swot based model, there are other approaches 

that put special emphasis on 

 

emphasize that among social, cultural, 

ecological, economic and political dimensions, 

a participatory governance 

Assessing the role of users in sustainable revitalization of historic urban quarters: The case of Bursa- 

Khans District

is inevitable for the success of sus- 

 

system which brings the appreciation 

of the role of individuals, households, 

community and voluntary organizations 

directs an effective decision-mak- 

 

involvement should be aimed in order 

to be able to organize the best and most 

suitable sustainability strategy. Likewise, 

(a guild system) as a civil 

organisation might be a good example 

of a participatory governance model 

for providing sustainable future sce- 

 

 

 

any sustainable revitalization strategy 

must be based on active and effective 

citizen participation. Beginning in the 

early stages, public involvement makes 

a significant contribution to the success 

of the entire sustainable revitalization 

process. While a lack of participation 

and information may result in a passive 

disinterest of citizens, effective participation 

of the local community ensures 

that inhabitants accept and support the 

defined strategy. 

Based on an integrated approach 

which includes the revitalization of the 

economic social and physical compo- 

 

opment 

project for sustainable revitalization. 

Starting with a natural, physical, 

social and economic analysis of 

the current situation, the development 

project next included a swot analysis. 

Derived from these comprehensive 

analyses, the design team followed 

some significant revitalizing principles. 

These principles include renewal of 

the district’s current uses, adaptive reuse 

of abandoned buildings, encouraging 

mixed land uses, visual and physical 

integration of the district with the 

surrounding urban fabric, functional 

diversification for attracting different 

age groups, proposing new public open 

spaces including cafes and restaurants, 

making accessibility easier and making 

users feel secure. 

3. Methodology 

The methodology which was employed 

in the case study is comprised 

of two research techniques, which are 

cognitive mapping and a survey ques- 

 

participated in the study, volunteer 

participants were chosen from a random 

sample, who are the users of the 

Bursa Khans District. Based on Lynch’s 

 

are landmarks, nodes, paths, districts 

 

to draw Khans District on a blank 

paper as if they are explaining it to a 

stranger. The aim of cognitive mapping 

is to reveal how users perceive the 

district and what image elements they 

hold in order to form the image of the 

district in their minds. 

The survey questionnaries is comprised 

of four sections. The first section 

includes questions which can be answered 

by drawing and putting sticker 

icons on the map. The questions were 

designed in order to obtain data about 

borders, the most used routes, sub-districts, 

nodes, the symbols of the district, 

the most liked and disliked buildings 

and open spaces of the district. 

These questions, which are cognitive 

image elements asked in another way, 

aim to cross-check data gathered in the 

first stage. The second section of the 

questionnaire focused on usage density 

of the district and questions were designed 

to learn why respondents come 

to the district and where the most 

commonly used places of the district 

are. The third section covers open-ended 

questions to learn user opinions and 

attitudes about the district. The survey 

concludes by gathering the demographic 

characteristics of users such as 

age, gender and education. 

In the following case study section, 

firstly Bursa Khans District will be 

introduced with its location and importance, 

afterwards the city’s brief 

history and the urban development 

processes it has gone through will be 

 

congitive mapping and survey will be 

presented. 

4. Case study: Khans District of Bursa 

4.1. Historic background of Bursa 

and Khans District 

toman 

Empire, was always a city with a 

unique character. Located in the north-

of its oldest settlements with a set of 

very rich historic, cultural, geographic 

and natural values. Having hosted 

many civilizations, Bursa was established 

with the name Prusa during the 

reign of the Bithynian King Prusias in 

tinued 

with the Roman, the Byzantian, 

- 

 

 

 

one of the most important production 

and commercial centers in the world 

due to its location on the silk and spice 

 

- 

 

many immigrants from the Balkans 

and Bulgaria. The establishment of the 

 

 

city to become an attraction point both 

for inner and outer migrations. Begin- 

th century, these 

developments and changes caused the 

city to be subjected to significant transformations 

not only at the periphery 

but also at the historic center of the 

 

commercial city center began to lose its 

 

Throughout the history of Bursa, 

many urban planning processes have 

been carried out such as the plans of 

 

ropolitan 

Municipality of Bursa. However, 

there was no continuity in these 

 

ed 

or not considered as a holistic approach, 

these plans could not respond 

to the physical, social and economic 

 

still undergoing a rapid industrialization 

and urbanization process, which 

has resulted in the area having one of 

the highest population increase rates 

in Turkey. Thus, as an important commercial 

center, the city has become the 

fourth largest city in Turkey. With the 

efforts of the Metropolitan Municipality 

of Bursa, Khans District which con- 

 

built in the early foundation period of 

 

 

(Bursa and Cumalıkızık: The Birth of 

 

and 2). 

cess, 

it was seen that the problems of 

Khans District still continue at present, 

thereby needing further attention and 

would benefit from holistic sustainable 

strategies actively involving users. 

4.2. Evaluation of cognitive mapping 

Most of the users drew their cogni- 

levard. 

Beginning to draw cognitive 

maps with a main street supports the 

idea that users perceive and learn urban 

spaces from the transportation 

 

the users started their cognitive maps 

 

which tells us that it is a highly perceivable 

and important landmark for the 

 

 

the most important cognitive elements 

which construct the image of the district 

in the users’ minds. 

When we analyzed the direction of 

 

the users in a northern direction and 

tion. 

The users who drew their maps in 

a northern direction perceived the dis- 

 

directed themselves to Uludağ. It has 

been thought that the reason for this 

difference might be the location of the 

users’ dwellings, but after the analysis 

of all the maps, this assumption could 

cluded 

some important monumental 

- 

 

Sultan Mosque, Yıldırım Kulliye and 

Muradiye Kulliye in their maps even 

though their location is out of the case 

study district. These users perceived 

the city center larger than Khans District.The 

cognitive maps did not reveal 

any important differences in terms of 

users’ duration of residing in the city. 

Even though they were born in Bur- 

 

could not provide much data related to 

the inner part of the district. 

The cognitive maps of users have 

 

- 


Khans District

Figure 1. 

 

 

- 

ure 

3 shows the overlapping data which 

has been indicated in a rate of more 

 

 

were obtained from the cognitive maps, 

the most frequently indicated ones are 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The analysis of 21 paths which were 

obtained from the cognitive maps 

showed the most frequently indicat- 

 

Figure 2.

- 

- 

 

Long Bazaar, the Covered Bazaar and 

Coppersmiths’ Bazaar are the most important 

historic commercial routes of 

the district which are pedestrianized 

and covered by a roof. 

Three major nodes which were 

highlighted in the cognitive maps are 

 

 

hangazi 

Square functions like an entry 

point to the district and includes the 

only greenery existing around the district. 

Thus, being perceived easily, it is 

the most important landscaped public 

square in the district. The other two 

nodes are located at the intersection 

points of the main roads which make 

borders to the district. 

The users defined two major dis- 

 

 

indicated Salt Bazaar. Stated by a rate of 

 

are the only edge elements which were 

 

the results which were obtained from 

the cognitive maps can be summarized 

as follows: 

The cognitive image of Khans District 

is predominantly comprised of 

landmarks. The other cognitive image 

elements in order of importance are 

 

and Koza (Cocoon) Khan are the most 

important landmarks in the district. 

Figure 3. 

 

Bazaar came into prominence regard- 

 

Heykel are of great importance when 

it comes to the nodes in the district. 

gether, 

it has been seen that the most 

southern area of Khans District is perceived 

better by the users. 

 

element of the district, many of the 

landmarks are significant historic 

monuments. Thus, it is clear that these 

historic buildings are of great importance 

in terms of perceiving and constructing 

the image of the area. 

 

 

image elements about the inner part 

of the district. Based on this data we 

can infer that these user groups who 

are mostly young people perceive the 

district with its borders. Thus, it can be 

stated that there are not adequate activities 

in the inner part of the district 

which attract these young users. 

Even though there are many historic 

buildings which are located in 

the inner part of the district, very little 

data referring to these buildings 

was obtained from the cognitive maps. 

This is because of the many disordered 

and unplanned buildings surrounding 

them, thus forming a dense urban 

fabric which causes these buildings to 

be hidden and consequently they are 

barely perceived. 

During the cognitive mapping, it has 

 

know the exact names of the important 

historic buildings. Instead of stating 

their exact names, they addressed 

them by indicating a path, a khan, etc. 

The way these places are mentioned by 

the users demonstrate that there is not 

 

the historic buildings in the district. 

 

awareness and interest in the district’s 

history on the part of the users. 

4.3. Evaluation of the questionnaire 

survey 

tionnaire 

survey was also conducted 

with the users. The first section of the 

survey started with the question about 

what comes first to the respondents’ 


Khans District

minds when someone mentions the 

historic city center of Bursa. They stat- 

 

 

 

 

ered 

Bazaar, Heykel and Koza Khan as 

their first image element. It was seen 

that the majority of the users gave 

answers either related to the historic 

buildings or to the history of the district. 

Based on these answers, it is clear 

that the historic identity is important 

in forming the image of the district. 

The users were also asked to draw 

the borders of the district on the map. 

 

borders of the district with the streets 

 

 

important borders defined by the users 

 

 

Street which is a smaller area than the 

first one. However, it is noteworthy that 

ered 

the district much larger than the 

map which was given to them showing 

the core of the Khans District. 

 

most used route of the Khans District 

zaar 

axis, the second most used ones 

 

 

 

the district is the historic commercial 

route which is pedestrianized and covered 

by a roof. 

The respondents were asked to indicate 

commercial buildings in the dis- 

 

 

highlighted by many of the users in 

comparison to the mostly used historic 

commercial route. 

When asked about the most dense 

ity 

of the answers were the nodes of 

 

The users stated that there is very dense 

- 

comfortable 

due to the noise and visual 

and environmental pollution. 

When respondents were asked 

the symbol of the district, more than 

 

Mosque, the rest of the respondents 

reported Heykel, Koza Khan and Tophane. 

These answers highlighted just 

 

a landmark for the district. 

The respondents were asked the 

most liked building in the district. The 

- 

 

 

Khan. Likewise, the most liked open 

 

order of importance, the answers were 

 

 

 

The respondents were asked to mark 

the most disliked buildings in the district. 

Even though they are located out 

of the map which was given, the ma- 

 

 

disliked buildings in the district was 

 

 

seen from these findings, the users feel 

very dissatisfied with the Doğanbey 

 

large and high-rise masses which overwhelm 

the historic district. These houses 

also form an aesthetically displeasing 

background for the historic district 

and destroy the silhouette. Moreover, 

they have increased the already dense 

 

Seen from many perspectives while ap- 

 

 

with the nearby city fabric. 

When the respondents were asked 

the most disliked open public space 

in the district, many users stated their 

dissatisfaction due to the lack of open 

public spaces, as is seen from the an- 

Figure 4.

swer of one of the users who says 

 

 

.” Since there are very 

few open public spaces in the district, 

this question was answered by a low- 

 

the courtyard of Rice Khan as the most 

disliked open public space. 

In the second section of the survey, 

questions related to the usage quality 

and density of the district were directed 

to the respondents. In this context, 

the first question was about the major 

reasons for the users to come to the 

district. These reasons can be listed, 

in order of importance, as shopping 

- 

 

 

that commercial and religious uses 

of the district are the most important 

functions that attract people. 

The respondents were also asked 

how they access the district. The ma- 

 

they come on foot to the district, the 

rest of the users expressed, by private 

- 

 

The last question of the third section 

was about the most densely used spaces 

of the Khans District. The respondents 

 

 

 

 

users evaluated the most important 

commercial spaces of the district as the 

most densely used spaces. 

In the third section of the survey, 

the user opinions on the district have 

 

Figure 5. 

 

asked the qualities that make Khans 

District unique and different from the 

 

- 

 

 

The respondents were asked whether 

they have a special feeling related to 

the various parts of the district or not, 

 

stated religious reasons with an attach- 

 

users indicated that they like sitting 

 

the users said that they are fond of the 

peace and tranquility that is created by 

the historic and spiritual atmosphere 

of the district. 

The respondents stated the most 

important problems of the district as 

ordered 

and unplanned structure of 

- 

 

and the rest of the answers which have 

rioration 

of the historic fabric, the 

 

of tourist guides and historical awareness 

of people. The respondents were 

also asked about the opportunities 

which they feel will provide further 

development of the district. They stated 

that the district could be developed 

 

 

 

The respondents stated the weaknesses 

of the district as follows: the 

complex and disordered structure of 

 

 

 

answers include the lack of promotion 

of the district and tourist guides, barely 

perceivable historic buildings, the lack 

of open public spaces, cleanliness, seat- 

 

Houses and the poor coordination of 

 

the respondents described the two major 

strengths of the district as its his- 

 

 

included its central location in the city, 

being the center of tourism, having 

mixed-uses, being an alive and vibrant 

area and the spiritual atmosphere of 


Khans District

the district. 

The user opinions were asked about 

what should be done in order to make 

Khans District more vivid, alive and 

user friendly. The majority of the respondents 

stated that greater promo- 

 

and that also some planning and de- 

 

other answers highlighted these issues: 

Car parking space and tourist guides 

 

are not in harmony with the historic 

fabric of the district should be demol- 

 

solved and there should be meetings or 

planned organizations which are open 

to the public. 

The respondents were asked how 

aware they are of the urban development 

of Khans District being carried 

 

the users said that they are informed, 

ly 

know about the current efforts for 

the development of the district and 

 

know anything about the work which 

has been carried out around the Khans 

District recently. Even though it is a 

significant effort, fewer respondents 

have been informed about the inscrip- 

 

World Heritage List. When respondents 

were asked their opinions about 

the current efforts for the development 

of the district, while the majority of the 

 

- 

 

users said partly enough. 

In the last section of the survey, the 

demographic characteristics of the re- 

 

 

 

are male. The distribution of the respondents 

according to age groups is 

 

- 

 

age. This data reveals that the sample 

group is comprised of mostly young 

and middle aged people. The majority 

 

Bursa and have lived in the city for a 

long time. The educational pattern of 

the respondents shows that the sample 

 

 

of them are high school graduates. 

naires 

can be summarized as follows: 

The image of the district which was 

perceived by the users is mainly 

comprised of historic, commercial, 

touristic and religious aspects. In 

this context, these aspects should 

be preserved and maintained for 

the future in different ways. 

 

represent the most liked buildings. 

The Covered Bazaar, the Long Ba- 

 

are the most densely used spaces, 

have special significance for achieving 

the sustainability of the district. 

The most important problems of 

ordered 

and unplanned urban development, 

the lack of car parking 

space, promotion of the area and 

tourist guides, poor maintenance 

of the district, overcrowdedness, 

deterioration of the historic fabric, 

 

buildings and a lack of awareness 

towards the value of the district’s 

historic assets. 

4.4. Results 

When we compared the data from 

cognitive mapping and the survey 

questionnaire, it has been found out 

that the results are mostly coherent. 

The district has been perceived with its 

boundaries and the boundaries of the 

district have been defined by the surrounding 

roads based on the findings 

gathered from both the cognitive mappings 

and the survey. Similarly, when 

comparing the findings of the cognitive 

mapping with the survey, even though 

their rank order changed, similar image 

elements regarding landmarks, 

paths and nodes have been obtained 

with slight differences. 

The respondents emphasized historic, 

commercial, touristic and religious 

aspects of the district in their 

responses to various questions. These 

three major attributes of the district 

are the ones that need to be preserved 

 

problems of the district which have 

been indicated by the users is that the

historic buildings are hidden by the 

unplanned, disordered and aesthetically 

displeasing buildings. This causes 

them to be barely perceived, which also 

 

 

both cognitive mapping and questionnaires, 

this result requires the removal 

of these unplanned developments. In 

addition, creating an informative and 

directing tourist trail would encourage 

the touristic development of the dis- 

 

The findings of cognitive mappings 

showed that especially young people 

could not state any image elements located 

in the inner part of the district. 

This finding implied that promoting 

 

diverse activities such as hotels, cafes, 

restaurants, leisure and entertainment 

is necessary in order to attract every 

age group of citizens and especially 

younger people. During the survey, 

when some of the respondents saw the 

map of the district, they mentioned 

that there are buildings in the district 

that they do not know at all. Many of 

the respondents said that they feel uncomfortable 

because of their lack of 

knowledge and unawareness about the 

history of the district. The users stated 

that they want presentations, seminars 

or public meetings in order to be informed 

about the value of the district. 

Informing the local community is significant 

since it will establish a strong 

Table 1. 

 

1. Aims and targets 

Preserving and restoring the significant landmarks 

Maintaining the historic identity 

Maintaining the commercial landuse 

Promoting tourism in terms of both design and management 

Preserving and enriching existing historic commercial route 

Raising the awareness of the community about the historic value of the area and ongoing 

revitalizing works via seminars, public meetings, etc. 

Removing the complex and unordered buildings of the district and bringing an order 

Providing connection with the surrounding urban fabric visually and physically 

2. Planning and design 

Raising the perceptibility of important landmarks 

Enriching the quality of existing public spaces 

Proposing new public spaces 

Landscaping of public spaces 

 

Proposing adaptive reuse for abondened buildings 

Making courtyards of khan buildings more livable by landscaping and adding new functions 

 

entertainment or leisure facilities, etc. 

Promoting different types of activities for people from diverse age groups, such as hotels, 

restaurants, cafes, etc. 

Creating of a tourist trail in order to encourage people to explore the district 

 

More seating in public spaces 

3. Management 

Increasing the number of qualified tourist guides which will make easier for tourists to 

experince the area 

Carrying out maintenance, providing order and general upkeep of the district and 

monitoring these works by the local government 

Providing coordination of all the administrative units in the city 

Physical 


Economic 

 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 

√ 


Khans District

public consciousness about the value of 

the district. We know that Bursa Metropolitan 

Municipality is organizing 

 

data shows that these efforts must keep 

continuing. 

The evaluation of the entire data 

collected from cognitive mappings 

and questionnaires has shown that the 

input not only can be categorized according 

to the four major dimensions 

of sustainable revitalization, which are 

physical, socio-cultural, economic and 

 

different stages of sustainable revitalization 

of the Khans District, which are 

(1) the determination of aims and targets, 

(2) planning and design and (3) 

management (Table 1). 

5. Conclusion 

Making connections between past, 

present and future, sustainability in 

historic quarters should be handled 

in such a way that combine physical, 

social, economic and governance dimensions 

in an interactive, holistic 

and complimentary process. Moreover, 

sustainable revitalization needs a special 

attention in terms of users. Unless 

local community’s perceptions, current 

needs, requirements and opinions as 

well as their expectations towards the 

future are defined well, sustainable revitalization 

can not be successfully realized. 

Thus, taking Khans District of 

Bursa as a case, this paper focuses on 

the users and by assessing their perceptions, 

images and opinions, aims to 

present how data which can obtained 

from the users can then be articulated 

in sustainable revitalization strategies 

and processes. 

User oriented data which are collected 

by participatory processes can 

contribute to sustainable revitalization 

 

the awareness of community. The user 

group will be aware of the value of the 

historic environment and want to protect 

and possess it and take an active 

role in maintaning its unique identity. 

Moreover, being a reliable source, user 

groups can be beneficial for defining 

the problems of an area and a specific 

management model which is unique 

 

 

in the sustainable revitalization processes 

since it will directly influence 

their lives. 

 

summarized as follows: 

It has been seen that the data which 

were obtained from the assesment 

of user perceptions, images and 

opinions can contribute to the 

physical, social, economic and governance 

dimensions of sustainable 

revitalization strategies. 

These data can influence (1) the determination 

of aims and targets, (2) 

planning and design and (3) management 

stages of sustainable revitalization 

strategies. 

Consequently, as a valuable resource, 

user perceptions, images 

and opinions can provide important 

data for sustainable revitalization. 

The implications of this study will be 

beneficial for the future development 

of sustainable revitalization strategies 

in historic urban quarters in terms of 

involving users’ perceptions and opin- 

 

taking users as a participatory agent 

in sustainable revitalization by using 

various research techniques such as 

participatory observations, in-depth 

interviews etc. should be carried out 

for different cases. 

References 

 

urban development in historical areas 

 

study of the cultural heritage and urban 

development (CHUD) project in 

Saida, Lebanon, 

- 

 

K., Elbakidze, M. and Drotz, M. K. 

ity: 

Criteria, indicators, verifier variables 

for measurement and maps for 

visualization to support planning, - 

 

 

 

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, Paper presented at 

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Urban form and social sustainability: 

The role of density and housing type, 

 

 

Bursa and Cumalıkızık: the Birth 

trieved 

from http://whc.unesco.org/ 

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Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, 

tim 

Planı, Retrieved from http:// 

alanbaskanligi.bursa.bel.tr/wp-content/uploads/unesco-adaylik-dosyasi-ve-ekleri-ingilizce-icin-tiklayiniz. 

pdf 

 

tual 

exploration, 

 

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termining 

the most relevant strategic 

approach, , 

 

 

M. 

for revitalization strategies ın histor- 

 

 

 

 

 

declining historic urban quarters - The 

prus, 

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, in: Turgut, 

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Istanbul: Second International Sym- 

 

 

 

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mission, 

Luxembourg. 

 

Dimensions of housing and urban sustainability, 

 

 

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lished 

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Science, Enginering and Technology, 

Istanbul. 

 

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tions 

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Kaplanoğlu, R. and Cengiz, I. (Eds.) 

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, Paper pre- 

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, Cambridge: M.I.T. Press. 

 

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tive 

study of two architectural heritage 

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model for the sustainable development 

of Cumalıkızık, a heritage site in Turkey, 

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, 21(1), 

 

 

 


Khans District

Culture-space and time: The city of 

Bursa, Turkey, - 

 

Tweed, C. and Sutherland, M. 

tainable 

urban development, Land- 

 

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for assessing sustainability in housing 

environments, - 

 

 

Model for measuring the sustainability 

level of historic urban quarters, Euro- 

 

 

munity 

engagement model for the sustainable 

future of a historical commercial 

district: Bursa/Turkey as a case 

 

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a strategic approach for managing 

sustainable revitalization in world heritage 

sites: Historical Bazaar and Khans 

District, Bursa -Turkey, 

- 

 

- 

 

Sustainable revitalization as a tool for 

regenerating the attractiveness of an 

inner-city historic commercial district: 

‘Han District’ as a case

Energy efficient lighting system 

retrofit for retail environments 

Feride ŞENER YILMAZ 

 

 

 

Abstract 

Lighting retrofit in retail environments is essential and is often necessitated in 

order to improve the retail atmosphere, increase energy efficiency and provide 

visual comfort conditions. This study introduces the lighting design criteria for 

retail environments in terms of visual comfort conditions and lighting energy efficiency 

and investigates a retail lighting retrofit application on the example of a 

department store. Several lighting system design alternatives including diverse 

lighting technologies are assessed in terms of visual comfort conditions and lighting 

energy efficiency. Obtained results emphasize that without compromising visual 

comfort conditions in retail environments, it is possible to obtain significant 

lighting energy consumption on an annual basis. This study clearly underlines the 

importance of a proper lighting retrofit project in terms of providing visual comfort 

conditions and lighting energy efficiency. 

 

Keywords 

Retail lighting, Lighting system retrofit, Retail environments, Visual comfort, 

Energy efficient lighting.


Retail environments are of the 

building typologies where the relationship 

between human factors and light- 

 

role of lighting in retail environments 

is to attract the eye, to illuminate the 

merchandise, to excite the shopper 

and to reinforce the shopper’s sense of 

value and price point (Karlen & Ben- 

 

perspectives in retail lighting design 

help to attract the customers and their 

 

the literature there are many interdisciplinary 

studies investigating the effect 

of lighting on visual comfort conditions, 

space perception, visual stimulus, 

spatial cognition, user behaviour 

for the retail environments as well as 

energy efficiency. 

- 

 

to perceived atmosphere and lighting is 

found to play a significant role in creating 

an ambiance in retail environments 

 

 

concepts can also help to shape different 

image in terms of corporate identity 

for retail environments and lighting 

can also be used for brand communication 

in order to define the image of a 

 

Lighting design and color scheme are 

other contributing factors to the brand 

 

teristics 

can be obtained by the help of 

diverse lighting strategies and lighting 

has a direct influence on the perception 

- 

 

 

essential since retail environments are 

open to changes concerning the rapid 

improvement of lighting technology 

and variations in brand communication. 

 

retail buildings should provide visual 

comfort conditions and reduce light- 

- 

 

proper retail lighting design concept 

also helps to create a suitable corporate 

identity and communication. The 

 

- 

 

 

followed in order to obtain proper 

lighting solutions and gives guidance 

on visual comfort conditions for different 

space types. This standard specifies 

 

retail spaces and their associated areas 

mination 

as well as giving recommen- 

 

- 

 

lighting has four major roles in retail 

premises that are to attract attention, to 

send a message to shoppers about the 

atmosphere of the shop, to guide shoppers 

around the shop and to display 

the merchandise to advantage (Soci- 

 

 

lighting for retail spaces should help 

to create an atmosphere emphasizing 

 

place in which to shop, permit accurate 

ties 

of the merchandise and minimize 

glare and harsh brightness differences 

 

Sustainability is increasingly important 

in retail lighting design due to 

the dwindling energy resources, rising 

energy costs and the negative impact 

 

 

 

hance 

their building regulations in order 

to monitor and reduce energy con- 

 

 

at building professionals to design or 

renovate buildings to a nearly zero en- 

 

 

performance assessment of buildings 

in Europe is performed using several 

methodologies in the frame of the developed 

standards. Retail sector consumes 

a significant amount of lighting 

energy due to long opening hours and 

reducing lighting energy consumption 

 

is essential. Energy is often wasted due 

egies 

and improper choice of lamps 

and luminaires (Ticleanu, Littlefair

Table 1. 

EN 12464 Standard 

Sales area 

Till area 

Wrapper table 

SLL Lighting Handbook 

budget shops (without accent or 

 

shop with an exclusive profile 

(widespread use of accent and 

 

shops with value for money and 

 

 

E m 

(lx) 

 

 

 

E m 

range (lx) 

 

 

 

IESNA Lighting Handbook Horizontal Illuminance E h 

Vertical Illuminance 

Retail by Classification: 

Visual age of observers 

E v 

Visual age of observers 

 

75 

 

 

of daylight and artificial light sources 

during the building design process. 

The role of daylighting is crucial when 

ments 

in retail buildings therefore the 

choice of proper daylight strategies becomes 

necessary in the design phase 

of retail buildings. There is also evidence 

that daylight has the potential 

to increase sales when used in retail 

 

 

 

effective in decreasing lighting energy 

 

energy, lighting control is important in 

retail lighting because it provides flexi- 

 

patterns of lighting, and can give dynamic 

or special lighting effects (Little- 

 

Lighting retrofit in retail environments 

is often performed in order to 

improve the ambiance and corporate 

 

retrofit can help to improve the visual 

comfort conditions as well as providing 

significant energy savings, controlling 

the cooling and lighting loads (EERE, 

 

are performed by either protecting 

current lighting system’s main features 

such as the placement and number of 

the lamps and luminaires or lighting 

 

efficient technology. Lighting system’s 

re-design can also be applied as a lighting 

retrofit. 

The aim of this study is to provide 

energy efficient lighting retrofit solutions 

and to explore the lighting energy 

saving potential in retail environments 

while providing visual comfort conditions 

on the example of a selected de- 

 

analysis of a department store lighting 

retrofit application, different lighting 

retrofit scenarios are evaluated and obtained 

results are compared in terms of 

visual comfort conditions and lighting 

energy efficiency. 

2. Retail lighting design criteria in 

terms of visual comfort and energy 

efficiency 

 

principles affecting the lighting system 

design in retail environments is introduced 

in terms of visual comfort conditions 

and lighting energy efficiency. 

 

retail lighting principles and recommendations 

addressed in international 

standards are presented in this chapter. 

2.1. Visual comfort criteria in 

retail lighting design 

tions 

can be investigated in the aspects 

of illuminance levels, uniformity, lu- 

Energy efficient lighting system retrofit for retail environments

minance distribution and glare caused 

by light sources, colour property of the 

space and light sources. 

minance 

level for retail environments 

differ according to the type of the retail 

environment. Therefore, lighting design 

of each retail environment should 

be performed considering the specific 

 

 

luminance 

for sales areas, till areas and 

- 

 

for retail environments are given depending 

on the shop profile and in ‘The 

 

- 

ria 

for department store sale areas given 

in these publications are presented 

 

 

 

Uniformity is defined as 

the ratio of the minimum to average 

 

in order to supply the visual comfort 

conditions in spaces and control the 

occurrence of high contrasts on the interior 

surfaces. The uniformity criteria 

 

the retail environments in order to obtain 

visually pleasing environments. 

 

The luminance 

distribution in the visual field controls 

the adaptation level of the eyes, 

 

a well-balanced adaptation luminance 

 

acuity, contrast sensitivity and efficien- 

 

nance 

distribution is very effective on 

the strength of accent lighting where 

different sorts of luminance ratios can 

result in diverse strength of accenting. 

 

the strength of accent lighting for retail 

environments (Society of Light and 

 

The luminance distribution in the 

visual field affects visual comfort con- 

 

environments, control of glare is a ne- 

 

Table 2. 

 

Sales area 

Till area 

Wrapper table 

 

General recommendation (Regardless of the 

 

 

 

 

visual comfort conditions. Glare is the 

sensation produced by a sufficiently 

greater luminance within the visual 

field causing annoyance, discomfort or 

loss in visual performance and visibil- 

 

discomfort glare caused directly from 

the artificial lighting system can be 

 

 

field of view directions in the retail 

 

 

 

 

 

 

for retail environments, the following 

aspects should be considered in terms 

 

Surface material’s colour specifications 

in retail environments, 

- 

 

 

mined 

by the special properties of 

the displayed merchandise as well as 

branding characteristics in retail en- 

 

factor that affects the lighting performance 

especially in the finishing material 

selection phase. Light reflectance 

Table 3. 

 

U O 

 

 

 

U O 

 

U O 

 

Luminance ratio (accent/ Strength of accenting 

background) 

 

 

 

 

5 Low theatrical 

 

Theatrical 

 

 

 

Very dramatic

value of the surface materials should 

be selected studiously depending on 

the displayed merchandise, branding 

characteristics. The ranges of useful 

reflectances for the major interior sur- 

 

 

 

 

lamp sources depend on classification 

ent 

preference and designer preference 

 

colour appearance of the light sources 

used in retail environments change 

from cool to warm as the shop profile 

moves from low budget to exclusive 

(Ticleanu, Littlefair & Howlett G., 

- 

 

 

colour appearance, a light source with 

 

 

 

 

it is considered ‘intermediate’ (Society 

 

cation 

of the colour rendering properties 

of a light source the general colour 

rendering index Ra is used, having a 

 

value of colour rendering index given 

in lighting standards and international 

lighting recommendations for re- 

 

can be higher when colour judgment 

 

 

 

2.2. Energy efficiency criteria in 

retail lighting 

Lighting design phase should represent 

a major route to reducing lighting 

- 

 

retail sector consumes significant portion 

of the energy used in the buildings 

so it is important to minimise the light- 

ronments. 

Lighting retrofits in retail 

buildings often concentrate on minimisation 

of lighting energy consump- 

 

applications for retail environments, 

selection of appropriate lamps, luminaires 

and lighting control strategies is 

essential. 

ments 

of buildings are performed with 

 

- 

- 

 

the detailed artificial lighting system 

specifications are not present, the recommendations 

given for lighting pow- 

 

 

the lighting designer to propose energy 

 

 

 

- 

Lighting 

- 

 

 

retail environments in terms of lighting 

 

- 

for retail environ- 

 

 

for installed power per area depend 

 

ing 

to this standard, basic fulfillment 

tions 

where maintained illuminance 

 

 

 

 

 

 

for retail 

 

 

- 

 

 

 

specifies a calculation methodology 

for evaluation of the amount of energy 

used for indoor lighting inside 

the building and provides a Lighting 

 

 

 

- 

 

 

 


mination 

(WL,t ing 

on the methodology specified in 

n-total 

c- 

 

 

o -Occupancy dependency 

 

 

parasitic energy consumption (W 

- 

 

 

 

systems. 

 

culation 

methodology for the Lighting 

 

buildings, which can be used for existing 

buildings and for the lighting 

 

be calculated by total annual lighting 

t 

(m 

 

 

illuminance lighting control system 

 

of constant illuminance lighting con- 

 

3. Retail lighting retrofit application 

for a department store case study 

This section focuses on development 

of different lighting retrofit applications 

for a department store example 

and assessment of obtained 

visual comfort conditions and lighting 

energy performance for each evaluated 

- 

 

baseline artificial lighting system alternatives 

are introduced and proposed 

lighting retrofit schemes are evaluated 


and lighting energy efficiency. 

3.1. Description of the investigated 

department store, lighting patterns 

and evaluated lighting system 

alternatives 

 

investigated department store is performed 

and baseline artificial lighting 

system alternatives are presented. 

Figure 1. 

 

3.1.1 Description of the 

investigated department store 

Selected space type is a hypothetical 

department store clothes shop having 

a shop type of ‘shops with value for 

 

 

 

reflectance of the selected space are 

 

- for floor. The space has a total area of 

containing sales area, till area, 

four fitting rooms and a storage room. 

This space is assumed to be situated 

- 

 

 

 

 

space. 

3.1.2. Description of lighting system 

patterns 

 

patterns are considered in this study 

depending on the use of “general lighting”, 

“general and accent lighting” and 

 

different layouts are generated depend- 

served 

lighting system installations in 

clothes shop retail environments with 

 

 

 

only, 

use of circular recessed downlight 

luminaires only, 

 

and spotlights, 

use of recessed downlight luminaires 

and spotlights,

Table 4. 

use of spotlights only. 

 

evaluated artificial lighting systems 

patterns, their representative images 

and lighting plans. While generating 

the artificial lighting system patterns, 

changes for the sales area only is considered 

and the lighting system of the 

fitting rooms, storage and till area 

- 

- 

 

constant. 

3.1.3. Description of the evaluated 

lighting system alternatives 

 

lighting retrofit scenarios for the evaluated 

baseline artificial lighting system 

tificial 

lighting system retrofit applications 

are proposed for baseline scenar- 

 

are upgraded with a more energy efficient 

artificial lighting system having 

lower installed power compared to the 

baseline scenarios. Table 5 represents 

the information for baseline artificial 

lighting system designs and artificial 

 

naires 

used in baseline lighting designs 

and proposed artificial lighting retrofit 

alternatives are given where each lumi- 

 

 

- 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- 

 

(use of circular re- 

 

- 

 

- 

 

scenario is performed by replacing the 

circular recessed downlight luminaires 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

- 

- 

 

- 

 

Three different lighting retrofits are pro- 

 


Table 5. 

Scenario 

codes 

Scenario names 

 

 

 

 

 

posed 

 

 

 

 

spotlights (having a luminaire pow- 

 

 

the downlights and spotlights in the 

sales area is replaced with an ener- 

 

 

 

- 

 

(use of recessed 

 

 

pact 

fluorescent lamps are used togeth- 

 

 

Type and number of 

luminaires 

 

 

flurescent lamps 

 

B 

 

 

E 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

with compact flurescent lamps 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

retrofits are proposed as alternatives to 

 

- 

- 

 

 

gen 

spotlights (having a luminaire 

 

 

 

 

 

lights 

(having a luminaire power of 

 

siders 

the replacement of all luminaires 

with a more energy efficient 

artificial lighting system and in this 

-

Table 6. 

 

represents the conditions 

where the department store sales 

 

 

number of selected luminaires for each 

scenario are determined depending on 

fulfilling the visual comfort conditions 

for the selected retail environment. 

 

- 

 

 

number of luminaires are reduced to 

- 

 

3.2. Visual comfort performance 

determination of lighting design 

walternatives 

Visual comfort performance determination 

of the investigated department 

store is performed considering 

 

- 

sual 

comfort conditions, the baseline 

scenarios and lighting retrofit alternatives 

are modelled on a computational 

basis and necessary calculation of each 

lighting design alternative is obtained 

in an accredited lighting simulation 

 

 

of visual comfort conditions are per- 

 

 

ering 

the placement of the exhibited 

merchandise. The width of the vertical 

 

 

- 

 

 

department store in each lighting design 

scheme. 

3.2.1. Assesment of illuminance 

- 

 

 

the investigated department store. 

calculations 

 

each scenario and obtained illumi- 

 


Figure 2. Illustration of calculation 

workplanes for the investigated space. 

ed 

Em - 

 

 

baseline lighting system scenarios and 

lighting retrofit applications fulfil the 

 

- 

 

Standard. 

calculations 

luminance 

results are obtained as given 

in Table 7. Results indicate that a min- 

 

 

are provided for each baseline scenario 

and lighting retrofit. 

nance 

is essential in order to evaluate 

the distribution of illuminance within 

 

of uniformity levels. Therefore, minimum 

illuminance values are calculated 

 

 

5, calculated minimum illuminance 

 

Table 8 gives the results of obtained 

minimum vertical illuminance calcula- 

 

 

 

clearly underline that horizontal and 

vertical illuminance obtained in the 

Figure 3. Illuminance maps for evaluated 

baseline and lighting retrofit scenarios. 

 

 

summarises the evaluated scenarios illuminance 

calculation results in terms 

of horizontal and vertical illuminance 

criteria. 

3.2.2. Assesment of uniformity- Uo 

Uniformity calculations are per- 

 

 

Figure 4. Results of calculated Em values on the horizontal 

workplane (h1). 

Figure 5. Results of calculated minimum illuminance values on 

the horizontal workplane (h1).

Table 7. 

A B C D E 

A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2 C3 C4 D1 D2 D3 D4 E1 E2 

 

 

 

 

v5 

 

v7 

v8 

 

86 86 97 98 

 

 

 

 

75 75 84 84 75 75 

Table 8. 

A B C D E 


 

 

85 

 

v5 

 

v7 

v8 

 

78 

88 

75 

 

 

77 77 

the distribution of illuminance with- 

 

 

 

o 

 

is found that recommended Uo results 

 

 

 

 

3.2.3. Assesment of glare caused 

by light sources- Unified Glare 

Rating (UGR) 

 

sources is performed depending on 

the UGR values of the luminaires giv- 

 

 

supplied for each baseline scenario and 

lighting retrofit proposals. 


Table 9. Evaluated scenarios illuminance calculation results in terms of horizontal and vertical illuminance 

criteria workplanes (v1-v15). 

Scenario 

names 

 

B 

 

 

E 

Total light 

output for lamps 

(lm) 

Total light output 

for luminaires (lm) 

3.2.4. Assesment of colour property 

of the space and light sources 

 

the space is performed depending on 

the colour specifications of the surface 

materials and their light reflectance 

values. Light reflectance of the select- 

E m 

-horizontal 

workplane 

(lx) 

Horizontal 

illuminance 

criteria 

E m 

-15 vertical 

workplanes 

(lx) 

 

 

the recommended ranges according to 

 

index-Ra of selected light sources are 

 

- 

 

Vertical 

illuminance 

criteria 

✓ ✓ 

✓ ✓ 

✓ ✓ 

✓ ✓ 

✓ ✓ 

✓ ✓ 

✓ ✓ 

✓ ✓ 

✓ ✓ 

✓ ✓ 

✓ ✓ 

✓ ✓ 

✓ ✓ 

✓ ✓ 

Table 10. Uo calculation results obtained for task areas and total Uo percentage results for each scenario. 

A B C D E 


 

 

 

 

v5 0,36 

 

v7 

v8 

 

 

0,37 0,28 

 

 

 

 

total

Table 11. Lighting system’s total power-Pn (W), provided LPD value (W/m2) for lighting 

design alternatives and comparison of results in terms of EN 15193 and ANSI/ASHRAE/ 

IESNA Standard LPD criteria. 

 

B 

C 

D 

E 

Scenario 

names 

Lighting system's 

total power-P n 

(W) 

narios and lighting retrofits fulfill the 

necessary criteria in terms of colour 

rendering property of lamps. 

3.3. Lighting energy performance 

determination of lighting design 

alternatives 

 

retail environments depend on characteristics 

and number of lamps and 

luminaires, space dimensions and its 

uated 

lighting retrofit scenarios are 

assessed in terms of their annual light- 

 

 

consumption for lighting per unit area 

 

the lighting power density expressed 

. Obtained results are 

used to produce estimates of lighting 

energy efficiency potential in the retail 

environment. 

3.3.1. LPD Assessment in terms of 

EN 15193 and ANSI/ASHRAE/ 

IESNA Standards 

narios 

and lighting retrofit alternatives 

are performed and obtained results 

 

 

Provided 

LPD value ( 

W/m 2 ) 

Energy efficient lighting system retrofit for retail environments 


LPD Criteria (15 

W/m 2 ) 

 

ANSI/ASHRAE/ 

IESNA Standard 

LPD Criteria 

(13,56 W/m 2 ) 

✓ ✓ 

5,8 ✓ ✓ 

B1 2151 14,3 ✓ ✓ 

B2 1430 9,5 ✓ ✓ 

C1 2093 14,0 ✓ ✗ 

C2 1740,2 11,6 ✓ ✓ 

C3 1318 8,8 ✓ ✓ 

C4 965,2 6,4 ✓ ✓ 

D1 2455 16,4 ✗ ✗ 

D2 1940 12,9 ✓ ✓ 

D3 1897 12,6 ✓ ✓ 

D4 1382 9,2 ✓ ✓ 

E1 3125 20,8 ✗ ✗ 

E2 1080 7,2 ✓ ✓ 

- 

n - 

 

design alternatives as well as the com- 

 

 

 

- 

 

 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

 

- 

 

 

 

results that all of the lighting retrofit 

 

dards. 

3.3.2. Assessment of annual lighting 

energy performance according to 


 

of annual lighting energy performance

Table 12. WL,t- energy requirement used for illumination, WP,t- Luminaire parasitic energy 

requirement, Wt- total annual lighting energy requirement and LENI values for evaluated 

scenarios. 

evaluated baseline cases and proposed 

 

- 

 

tained 

findings are compared with the 

- 

 

 

lowed 

to obtain WL,t - 

 

 

 

 

n 

 

consideration in the lighting energy 

c -constant illuminance 

 

 

t 

- 

- 

- 

o 

 

as the space is fully occupied through 

the occupancy hours. Since the evaluated 

space has no access to daylighting, 

 

and daylight penetration is “none”. 

gency 

lighting system therefore lu- 

 

pt x year consti- 

 

annually. Total annual lighting energy 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

of the evaluated baseline alternatives 

and lighting retrofit proposals fulfil 

 

 

values for evaluated cases in a graphical 

expression. 

Figure 6. Results of Lighting Energy Numeric Indicator (LENI).

3.4. Discussion of results 

 

 

natives 

are considered depending on 

the use of diverse lighting technologies. 

This application example clearly shows 

that it is possible to apply lighting retrofit 

proposals that are fully providing 

 

and lighting energy performance criteria 

given the standards. Thus, this study 

shows the importance of an integrated 

lighting retrofit design process. 

When the lighting energy saving 

possibilities are investigated, it is found 

ergy 

consumption is obtained by the 

help of lighting retrofit where for cat- 

 

 

 

 

energy consumption reduction up to 

 

 

energy consumption is obtained for 

gen 

spotlights are replaced with a more 

 

lighting retrofit, a high lighting energy 

 

Obtained results show the significant 

possibility of lighting energy savings by 

the help of lighting retrofit proposals. 

4. Conclusion 

This study aims to emphasize the 

importance of an integrated lighting 

retrofit project for retail environments 


ducing 

the visual comfort criteria for 

 

gives necessary recommendations related 

with illuminance, luminance distribution, 

unified glare rating, uniformity, 

colour aspects of the space and 

light sources on the scope of current 

building standards and regulations. 

 

of different lighting retrofit applica- 

 

this study on the example of a department 

store, demonstrating the most 

 

layouts in retail environments. Visual 

comfort assessment is performed on 

 

lighting simulation program, which 

 

performance assessment is performed 

based on an up-to-date lighting energy 

calculation methodology described 

 

on the impact of lamp and luminaire 

selection on lighting energy efficiency, 

this study shows that it is possible to 

have energy-efficient lighting solutions 

enhancing the retail environments. 

 

energy-efficient upgrade of lighting 

systems can also reduce lighting energy 

costs as well as overheating and 

cooling costs, which can be investigated 

as a future study. 

Results of this research provides a 

practical retail lighting design retrofit 

guidance to retailers, architects and 

lighting designers in order to refurbish 

existing lighting schemes and develop 

new lighting design solutions considering 

the use of different lighting technologies 

in retail spaces. 

The possibility to evaluate visual 

comfort conditions and lighting energy 

efficiency in retail spaces during 

the lighting retrofit phase is necessary 

in order to obtain an optimal lighting 

design variant. Therefore, this study 

shows the importance of using computational 

simulations in lighting retrofit 

projects so that diverse lighting retrofit 

proposals are evaluated practically and 

effectively. 

This study is limited to the retail 

environments without access to day- 

 

can be expanded to evaluate the impact 

of daylighting on visual comfort conditions 

and lighting energy efficiency 

 

of lighting control strategies in retail 

lighting retrofits also have direct effects 

on lighting energy savings therefore 

the lighting retrofit schemes can also 

be generated by depending on the in- 

 

control strategies as a future study. 

 

to show the potential for energy savings 

in retail environments on the example 

of a department store lighting 

retrofit. With the correct implementation 

of diverse lighting schemes during 

the lighting retrofit phase, lighting de- 


signer can help to design a sustainable 

and energy efficient retail building ful- 

fort 

conditions. 

References 

 

 

 

 

 

- 

, 

Vienna. 

- 

 

perception in the real world. 

 

 

 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

- 

- 

 

 

- 

- 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 

 

- 

 

 

 

- 

ception, 

 

 

- 

- 

 

- 

 

role does lighting have on consumer’s 

perception of atmosphere, emotions 

and behaviour?, - 

 

 

 

- 

 

- 

rate 

communication. 

 

 

munication, 

 

 

 

 

 

 

vices 

Engineers.

Contributors 

Ebunoluwa Y. AKINGBASO 

Ebunoluwa Y. Akingbaso obtained her 

Masters in Architecture from Eastern 

Mediterranean University in the area 

of Urban Design in 2014. Her current 

contributions to the field of research 

includes Agricultural land use and 

land cover changes, Migration and 

land use changes, and Socio-economic 

drivers of land use/cover changes in 

Famagusta. 

Halil Z. ALİBABA 

Dr. Halil Z. Alibaba obtained his Masters 

and Ph.D. in Architecture from 

Eastern Mediterranean University in 

1998 and 2003 respectively. He is currently 

an Assistant Professor at Eastern 

Mediterranean University. His current 

research areas include Sustainable 

Construction, Energy issues in Architecture, 

Solar Architecture, Room 

Acoustics and Expert systems in Architecture. 

Açalya ALLMER 

Açalya Allmer is an Associate Professor 

of Architecture and the Head of 

the Building Design Section at Dokuz 

Eylül University, Izmir, where she has 

been teaching since 2005. Having received 

a national scholarship, Allmer 

completed her Masters and PhD degree 

in architecture at the University 

of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. She received 

her Bachelor’s degree in architecture 

from the Middle East Technical 

University. She published a number of 

essays in edited volumes and in leading 

journals including Architectural 

Theory Review, Architectural Research 

Quarterly, METU Journal of Architecture, 

Textile: The Journal of Cloth and 

Culture. She also acted as the editor of 

Cine-space: Architecture in Cinema 

(2010). Allmer’s research focuses on 

the history and theory of architectural 

representation, architecture in cinema 

and literature, contemporary architecture 

and its criticism. 

Deniz BALIK 

Deniz Balık works as a Research Assistant 

in the Department of Architecture 

at Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir. She 

holds a Ph.D. degree in Architectural 

Design from Dokuz Eylül University, 

a M.Sc. degree in Architectural Design 

from Istanbul Technical University, 

and a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture 

from Dokuz Eylül University. 

Lale BERKÖZ 

Lale Berköz is a full professor in the 

Department of Urban and Regional 

Planning, Architectural Faculty of Istanbul 

Technical University. She has 

a diploma in architecture from I.T.U., 

Faculty of Architecture in 1982. She 

has a master degree in urban planning 

program from I.T.U. in 1984. She received 

her Ph.D. in urban planning 

program from I.T.U. in 1991She is interested 

in metropolitan development 

dynamics, locational behaviors of service 

sector activities and foreign direct 

investments, user satisfaction in residential 

areas. 

Fulin BÖLEN 

Fulin Bölen is a professor emeritus in 

the Department of Urban and Regional 

Planning at the Istanbul Technical University. 

Her principal research topics 

include residential densities, land use 

and urban form, land use intensity and 

urban quality of life, physical quality of 

residential environment and land values. 

Warebi Gabriel BRISIBE 

I hold BSc and MSc degrees in Architecture 

from the University of Jos, Nigeria 

and a PhD in Architecture from 

Newcastle University, UK. My research 

interests are in vernacular architecture 

and architectural education. I am a 

registered architect and lecturer in the 

Department of Architecture, RSUST, 

Port-Harcourt and also a consultant 

on using local materials in educational 

buildings in Tanzania. 

Gizem CANER 

Gizem Caner has a Ph.D. in Urban 

and Regional Planning from Istanbul 

Technical University. She has five years 

of professional experience in urban regeneration, 

risk analysis and management, 

and master planning. Her main 

research interests include divided/ 

multicultural societies and planning,

comparative urbanism, socio-spatial 

analysis, urban politics, post-conflict 

planning, and resilience. 

Işıl ÇOKUĞRAŞ 

Architect Işıl Çokuğraş is an Assistant 

Professor at Bilgi University, Department 

of Interior Design. She hold 

a MSc Degree in Architectural Design 

from Istanbul Technical University 

and PhD degree in History and Theory 

of Architecture from Yıldız Technical 

University. Her field of research 

includes urban history and modernization 

period of Ottoman State and 

Turkey. 

Marwa DABAIEH 

Marwa Dabaieh is architect and Bio- 

Geometry® practitioner. She is a postdoc 

researcher at Lund University 

in Sweden. Her current research focus 

is vernacular architecture passive 

low-tech methods and their 

adaptation for contemporary zero energy 

and zero carbon building practice. 

Rully DAMAYANTI 

Finished bachelor in architecture in 

1996 at Gadjah Mada University- Yogyakarta, 

and received M.Art from Curtin 

University- Perth. In 2015, received 

Ph.D from the University of Shefffield- 

UK. Has been teaching architecture in 

theory and design studio since 1998 at 

Petra Christian University- Surabaya 

until today. Has done several research 

in Indonesia and India regarding making/creating 

places in urban areas. 

Ranjith DAYARATNE 

Dr. Ranjith Dayaratne teaches Theory 

of Architecture at the Department of 

Architecture and Interior Design at the 

University of Bahrain. He is the editor 

of the ISVS e journal dedicated to Vernacular 

Architecture and coordinates 

the activities of the International Society 

for the Study of Vernacular Settlements 

(ISVS). 

Yüksel DEMİR 

Studied Architecture in Istanbul Technical 

University, Faculty of Architecture 

(1983-1987). Currently works as 

an Associate Professor in ITU Department 

of Architecture and is the 

head of the department of Fine Arts in 

ITU (2007-Present). He founded ITU 

Mardint Interdisciplinary Research 

and Development Center (2005). Assigned 

as advisor to the rector(2014-). 

He continues to work in the fields of 

Architectural Design, Urban Design, 

Interior Design, Product Design, ICT 

in Design, and Art. 

Birgitte Tanderup EYBYE 

Birgitte Tanderup Eybye has a master’s 

degree in architectural heritage. 

At present she is writing her PhD thesis 

on sustainable building methods in 

Danish vernacular architecture at the 

Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark. 

Gül Sibel GEDİK 

Gül Sibel Gedik was born in Bursa in 

1989. She graduated from the Faculty 

of Architecture of Bursa Uludağ University 

in 2010. She received her M.Sc. 

degree in Architectural Design Program 

in 2015 from ITU. Her thesis is 

on the subject of sustainable revitalization 

in historic urban quarters. 

C. İrem GENÇER 

Architect İrem Gençer is an Assistant 

Professor at Yildiz Technical University, 

Department of Architecture. 

She holds a PhD and MSc degree in 

Architecture from Istanbul Technical 

University Restoration Program. Her 

field of research includes urban preservation, 

vernacular architecture and 

planning history in Mediterranean 

towns. 

Esin HASGÜL 

Esin Hasgül was born in Istanbul. She 

graduated from ITU Faculty of Architecture 

in 2009. She completed her 

master in ITU, IMIAD (International 

Master of Interior Architecture Design) 

in 2011. After working in design 

offices; she is now doing doctorate in 

ITU and working as a research assistant 

in IKU. 

Maria I HIDAYATUN 

Finished undergraduate in architecture 

in 1983 at Gadjah Mada University-Yogyakarta, 

and received Magister Antropology 

from Indonesia University, 

Jakarta in 1994, received Dr. from the 

Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember

Surabaya in 2015. Has been teaching 

architecture in theory, history and design 

studio since 1985 at Petra Christian 

University-Surabaya until today. 

Has done several research in Indonesia 

related to the architecture of the Archipelago, 

vernacular and regionalism. 

Timothy O. IYENDO 

Timothy O. Iyendo obtained his Masters 

in the field of Architectural Acoustic 

from Eastern Mediterranean University 

in August 2011. He is presently 

pursuing a Ph.D. in Architecture at the 

aforementioned University. His research 

interests include Architectural 

Acoustics, Design education, Climate 

responsive building, Sound perception 

and visual articulation of architectural 

space. 

Florian KOSSAK 

Studied architecture at the Technical 

University Berlin and received M.Arch 

from the University of Strathclyde 

(1997). After a collaboration with the 

Munich-based architect Otto Steidle, 

co-founded of the workers co-operative 

GLAS – Glasgow Letters on Architecture 

and Space (2001). Teaching 

architecture and urbanism in the 

design studio since 1997, first at the 

Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, then 

Strathclyde University and, since 2006, 

at the University of Sheffield. In 2008 

he received PhD from the Edinburgh 

College of Art. 

Selin KÜÇÜK 

She has a bachelor’s degree from ITU 

Department of Architecture and studies 

in ‘Environmental Control and 

Construction Technology’ Master Program 

in ITU. On Hattusha and Kültepe 

Archaeological Excavation Projects 

she had labored as excavation architect, 

managed an architectural office in 

İstanbul. She has academic studies on 

archaeoacoustics, architectural documentation 

on archaeological sites and 

traditional architecture subjects. 

Mesut B. ÖZDENİZ 

Professor Mesut B. Özdeniz obtained 

his Ph.D. in Architecture from Istanbul 

Technical University in 1979. After 

many years of teaching/research experience, 

he joined Eastern Mediterranean 

University in 1988. He is presently 

the dean, Faculty of Architecture, 

European University of Lefke. His research 

area includes Climatic Design, 

Architectural Acoustics and Lighting. 

Shikha PATIDAR 

Practicing Architect and visiting faculty 

in School of Planning and Architecture, 

Bhopal. Associate member of 

Indian Institute of Architects. Occasionally 

writes in newspapers and journals. 

Participated and presented papers 

in International conferences. She has 

deep concern for low cost building 

techniques, vernacular practices and 

traditional knowledge systems. 

Attilio PETRUCCIOLI 

Attilio Petruccioli is Professor of Landscape 

Architecture and Dean of the 

School of Architecture at the Polytechnic 

University of Bari, Italy. From 1994 

to 1998 he was the Aga Khan Professor 

of Design for Islamic Societies at the 

Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture 

at the Massachusetts Institute 

of Technology. His research interests 

are the methodology of design (landscape 

and contextual design, typological 

research and the work of modern 

architects), traditional settlements and 

housing, Islamic architecture, town 

and territory and Mediterranean landscape 

architecture. 

Josef PRIJOTOMO 

Studied architecture at the Institut Teknologi 

Sepuluh Nopember and fineshed 

at 1976 and received M.Arch 

from the Iowa State University (1982). 

In 2006 he received Dr. from the Institut 

Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember. 

He had also teaching architecture in 

theory, History and Critics since 1977 

at Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember 

until today. In 2008 he received 

to get the title of Professor from the 

Government by giving a speech about 

the Archipelago/Nusantara Architecture 

and in 2015 he was awarded the 

culture as a pioneering architecture of 

the Archipelago/Nusantara. Has several 

research in Indonesia related to the 

History of Architecture, Theory about 

Architecture and Culture to do with 

Architecture.

Brishbhanlali RAGHUWANSHI 

She is an Asst. Professor in School of 

Planning and Architecture Bhopal, India. 

Her career objective is to work for 

sustainable development through vernacular 

architecture principles and to 

evolve an innovative and creative approach 

integrating traditional knowledge 

and modern technology. She has 

publications in journal and presented 

papers in conferences. 

Murni RACHMAWATI 

Studied architecture and fineshed in 

1985, received Magister Teknik in 1999, 

and in 2009 she received Dr. from the 

Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember. 

She had also teaching architecture in 

theory, History and Critics since 1986 

at Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember 

until today. Has several research 

in Indonesia related to the History of 

Architecture, Theory about Architecture 

with several cases architecture in 

Indonesia. 

Pınar SIVALIOĞLU 

Pınar Sıvalıoğlu, has a diploma in 

Landscape Architecture from I.U., Faculty 

of Forestry in 1992. She has a master 

degree in Landscape Architecture, 

from I.T.U in 1997. She received her 

Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning 

from I.T.U. in 2012. She is interested 

in environmental psychology, environmental 

behavior, perception, satisfaction 

and place attachment. 

Feride ŞENER YILMAZ 

Feride Şener Yılmaz (PhD) is a research 

assistant at Istanbul Technical 

University Faculty of Architecture. She 

is graduated from Gazi University Department 

of Architecture in 2006 and 

in 2009 she completed her Masters education 

at Istanbul Technical University. 

She received her PhD degree from ITU 

Building Science Doctorate Program. 

She participated in Stuttgart University 

of Applied Science, Department 

of Building Physics as a researcher in 

2008 and she was a visiting researcher 

at Building Research Establishment- 

BRE in England between 2012-2013. 

Her primary areas of expertise are sustainable 

lighting design in architecture, 

daylighting and artificial lighting, visual 

comfort, lighting simulation and 

energy efficiency in buildings. 

Emre TORBAOĞLU 

Graduate of MSGSU Department of 

Architecture (2004). Earned master’s 

degree from ITU Department of Architecture 

(2010). After winning “Bolu 

Chamber of Commerce Building Architectural 

Project Competition” he 

established Atölye Kolektif (2007). He 

contributes to the educational processes 

either as a lecturer, tutor or as a jury 

member. He is a board member of 44th 

term of Chamber of Architects Istanbul 

Metropolitan Branch. Continuing 

his professional work as a partner of 

Atölye Kolektif. 

Dilek YILDIZ 

Dilek Yıldız is an architect, researcher 

and lecturer in the Department of Architecture 

at Istanbul Technical University 

(ITU) since 1995. She received 

her Ph.D. degree in Architectural Design 

Program in 2005 from ITU. Her 

research is focused on design theory, 

research methods, housing design, gated 

communities, sustainability, urban 

design, urban architecture and environment-behavior 

studies.

Guide for authors 

Authors must follow these instructions carefully to avoid delays in submission, 

peer-review and publication processes. 

1. Submission of manuscripts 

The language of the journal is English. The digital copy of the manuscript, prepared 

by Microsoft Word, together with original figures and tables must be submitted to 

the journal only via e-mail (az@itu.edu.tr). After the submission, the manuscripts 

will be edited according to the journal submission format and authors may be 

requested for some corrections or for addition of any missing information. All 

papers will be blind reviewed and assessed by two referees. During the publication 

process, camera-ready manuscripts will be sent to the authors for approval. 

2. Preparation of manuscripts 

The manuscript must be prepared by following the order of cover letter, title page, 

abstract(s), keywords, article, acknowledgement (if any), references, tables and a 

list of figure captions in one single Word document. The manuscript must be typed 

in double spacing by using Arial font with 12 points. All pages must be numbered 

consecutively. 

2.1. Cover Letter 

The cover letter must state that the manuscript has been written and approved by all 

authors, that it presents an original and unpublished work; and it has not been 

submitted to, or is not under review process in another journal. It must contain the 

names and signatures of all authors. The scan of the cover letter is acceptable. 

2.2. Title Page 

The cover page must contain a concise and informative title; names, affiliations 

(department, faculty, university, city and country) and e-mail addresses of all 

authors, and identify the corresponding author. 

2.3. Abstract(s) 

A concise and informative abstract in English must not exceed 250 words in length, 

must summarize the purpose, methods and major findings of the paper. National 

contributors have to submit an additional abstract in Turkish, which must not 

exceed 1000 words in length and include the title of the article in Turkish. 

2.4. Keywords 

The article must have maximum 5 keywords which must be sorted in alphabetical 

order and separated by comma. Keywords must be carefully selected to facilitate 

the readers’ search. 

2.5. Article 

Articles must not exceed 7000 words. All headings must be numbered consecutively 

and hierarchically. Authors, for whose English is not the native language, are 

strongly encouraged to have their manuscript carefully edited prior to submission. 

Also, authors are recommended to perform spell checking of the article. Within the 

article, avoid the use of footnotes and endnotes, if unavoidable, label as (1), (2) and 

list all together at the end of the page where they occur. 

2.6. Acknowledgement 

If necessary, acknowledgements can be provided. 

2.7. References 

The style and punctuation of the references must follow the APA referencing style. 

References in the manuscript must give the surname of the author and the year of 

publication in brackets. The references must be listed in alphabetical order of 

authors’ names and in chronological order for each author. The upper and lower 

case rules and punctuation types of APA style must be carefully followed. Further 

details about APA referencing style can be seen from http://www.apastyle.org/. 

Some examples of reference citation are given below. 

Books 

Author, A. (2014). Title of the book. London: Mitchell. 

Journals 

Author, A. A., Author, B. (2012). Title of the article. Title of Journal, 12(4), 187–195. 

Conference Proceedings 

Author, A. A., Author, B. (2014). Title of paper. Paper presented at the meeting of 

Organization Name, Location. 

Thesis 

Author, A. A. (2008). Title of thesis (Unpublished doctoral dissertation or master's 

thesis). Name of Institution, Location. 

Websites 

The BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk). 

Author, A. (2011). Title of document [Format description]. Retrieved from 

http://URL 

Report 

Author, A. A. (2012). Title of work (Report No. 123). Location: Publisher. 

Author, A. A. (2012). Title of work (Report No. 123). Retrieved from Name website: 

http://www.xxxxxxxx.pdf 

3. Preparation of tables and figures 

Tables and figures must not be embedded in the article. The proposed location of 

figures and tables must be indicated in the article by using format. 

Tables must be provided after the references. They must be double spaced, 

consecutively numbered and must have a brief informative caption. The caption 

must be provided before the table and written in “Table 1. Name of the table” 

format. If necessary, explanatory footnotes must be brief, placed beneath the table 

and indicated by (*). 

Figures must be numbered consecutively throughout the paper and provided in a 

separate file. Figures must be in grayscale or in black-and-white with minimum 300 

dpi resolution as jpeg format. Figures must be named as they named in the article 

in “Figure 1. Name of the figure” format. Figure captions must also be listed at the 

end of the article, after the tables. 

4. Symbols, abbreviations and conventions 

Symbols, abbreviations and conventions in papers must follow the recommended 

SI Units. Abbreviations must be defined in brackets after their first mention in the 

text in accordance with internationally agreed rules. 

5. Mathematical expressions 

Mathematical symbols and formulae must be typed and any other application or 

program must not be used. Particular care must be exercised in identifying all 

symbols and avoiding ambiguities. Distinction must be made between the number 

one (1) and letter (I) and between the number (0) and the letter (O). Equation 

numbers must appear in parentheses and numbered consecutively. All equation 

numbers must appear on the right hand side of the equation and must be referred 

to within the text. 

6. Final submission 

After the acceptance of the manuscripts for publication, authors must send the final 

version of their manuscript and figures to the journal e-mail 

7. Copyright and originality 

It is the author’s responsibility to obtain written permission from authors and 

publishers of any previously published material; text, tables, figures, etc. 

8. Book reviews and notes 

A book review must run between 500-1000 words, which give scope for an 

assessment of the book and its contribution to knowledge and discussion within 

the broad field of architecture, planning and design. Reviews must be typed in 

double spacing by using Arial font with 12 points. Name, affiliation and e-mail 

address of the reviewer must be given. A photograph of book cover must be 

provided in jpeg format. The title, author, origin, publisher, date, number of pages, 

price and ISBN number must be provided as in the following example. 

The Search for Form in Art and Architecture 

Eliel Saarinen, 1985 

Dover Publications Inc.: New York 

354 pp 8.95 US $ Paperback 

ISBN 0-486-24907-7 

9. Publication charges 

There is no submission and page fee for A|Z ITU Journal of the Faculty of 

Architecture.

Y. Çağatay Seçkin ∞ Editor 

Editorial 

Dossier: Vernacular architecture 

Yurdanur Dülgeroğlu Yüksel 

Dossier Editorial 

Attilio Petruccioli 

Keynote: Vernacular architecture and typology 

Esin Hasgül 

Incremental housing: A participation process solution for informal housing 

Marwa Dabaieh, Birgitte Tanderup Eybye 

A comparative study of human aspects in acclimatization of adobe vernacular architecture: A case from Denmark and Egypt 

Emre Torbaoğlu, Yüksel Demir 

A research on the continuity of the original settlements: A case study on Kemaliye/Erzincan 

Rully Damayanti, Florian Kossak 

Extending Kevin Lynch’s concept of imageability in third space reading; case study of Kampungs, Surabaya–Indonesia 

Timothy O. Iyendo, Ebunoluwa Y. Akingbaso, Halil Z. Alibaba, Mesut B. Özdeniz 

A relative study of microclimate responsive design approaches to buildings in Cypriot settlements 

Warebi Gabriel Brisibe 

Lessons from ‘archaeotecture’: Analysing variations in vernacular architecture using methods from archaeology 

Selin Küçük 

Structural transformations of traditional architecture from Hittites to Ottomans in Bogazkoy 

Maria I Hidayatun, Josef Prijotomo, Murni Rachmawati 

Vernacular architecture as an alternative design approach with interpretation of Paul Ricoeur’s critical theory 

Shikha Patidar, Brishbhanlali Raghuwanshi 

Vernacular to modern in the search of sustainable development 

Ranjith Dayaratne 

Re-dignifying vernacular for constructing national identity: Elitism, grand traditions and cultural revival in Bahrain 

Theory 

Gizem Caner, Fulin Bölen 

Urban planning approaches in divided cities 

Deniz Balık, Açalya Allmer 

A critical review of ornament in contemporary architectural theory and practice 

Pınar Sıvalıoğlu, Lale Berköz 

Relationship between place attachment and user satisfaction at some national parks in Turkey 

Işıl Çokuğraş, C. İrem Gençer 

Urban regulations in 18 th century Istanbul: Natural disasters and public dispute 

Gül Sibel Gedik, Dilek Yıldız 

Assessing the role of users in sustainable revitalization of historic urban quarters: The case of Bursa-Khans District 


Energy efficient lighting system retrofit for retail environments 

Vol 13 No 1 ∞ March 2016 

az.itu.edu.tr 

ISSN 1302-8324

A | Z Cilt: 13 - Sayı: 1 Yıl: 2016

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