A Research on Early Republican Turkish Architecture:3 Architects-3 Buildings

In the 19th century the strengthened nationalist movements in Europe brought Ottoman Empire to its unavoidable end. The trend towards nationalism that followed the proclamation in 1908 of the 2nd Constitution brought about new search in architecture. In Turkish architecture, the period known as Neoclassic Turkish Style or a National Renaissance in Architecture, which began at this time, was headed by the architects Kemalettin Bey and Vedat Bey. Later, during the Seventies, this style became known as the First National Architecture Movement. This new form of architecture tended to use a great number of the decorative features found in classic Ottoman architecture.

Efforts were made through a revival of classic Turkish architecture in the buildings of this period to create an architectural Renaissance or Turkish national architecture. During this revival, Islamic nations began to secede one by one from Ottoman rule and as a result, in stead of Pan- Islamism the movement towards Pan-Turkism became popular , that is, the creation of the concept of nationhood began. In architecture, this trend towards so-called nationalist style was more an attempt to implement the use of the wide eaves, domes, pointed arches, pillars, overhangs, triangular stalactite-like capitals (mukarnas) and tiled facing found in the old religious buildings. This style was predominately used in public works and did not really affect residential-building.

Although this period is named national architecture, the ornamental and exaggareted facades gives the sense of the authority of empire. This feature of the period conflicts with the fundamental norm of the republic regime, which does not feel the sovereignity of the public.That is because public were familiar with exaggrated ornament façades from monarch’s palaces. Eventhough the founders were totally against all norms of monarch’s regime, they did not stop building new Ankara in that fashion.

Avant-garde movements in architecture on the first half of the 20th century such as Bauhaus,Russian Constructivism or De Stijl created new technologies and a purist,non-ornamented aesthetics.These new trends affected recently created new environment in Turkey as well as they did all around the world.Especially in 1930s public buildings designed by German and Austrian architects such as Clemens Holzmeister,Ernst Egli,Hermann Jansen and Bruno Taut were contemporary according to their internal construction and technical qualities;however, visual expression of their façades were traditional.This contradiction created an anachronist expression on the urban fabric of Ankara,young capital of Turkey.

Followıng a period of approxımately ten years (1930-1940) during which attempts were made to keep pace with positive trends in world architecture, an reaction against the hegemony of foreign architects.This return to tradition was influenced by the Fascist movement in Italy and the rise of National Socialism in Germany with their totalitarian ideas.The new trend, which tended towards romanticism and aimed to create a new national architecture, influenced architecture in Turkey between 1935 and 1950. The movement, first under the name of the National Architecture, and later called the Second National Architecture. The preference was for the use of simple features from the domestic architecture of the past rather than the religious type of detail which had been used by the First National Architecture. Relying on producing the essence of these, importance was giving to hsymmetry, stone faced facades, and a monumental effect.This movement lasted until 1950.

Our interest in this research is introducing the Early Republican Turkish Architecture on three important names of this era, Mimar Kemalettin,Sedad Hakkı Eldem and Seyfi Arkan by giving a brief information about their lives and projects and one example of their works in Ankara for each architect.

References:

www.mimarlikmuzesi.org

Baskan, Seyfi. "Çağdaş türk mimarlığında ulusçuluk ve tarih duyarlılığı." Yapı dergisi 03, 1999: 58-65. Print.

Mimar Kemalettin

Information About the Architect:

Mimar Kemaleddin was the only child of a family from mid-class. He had his education in Istanbul Technical University. He had interested in engineering. After he finished school he had his own Office and he started to design his first pieces. In 1895, he was sent to Berlin ( Charlottenburg Technical University) to get the education on architecture. He studied two years there and after that he worked nearly three years with some architects. After he came back to Turkey he started to teach at ITU. He showed his first ideas and thoughts about national architecture in those years. In this period he was impressed by the Art Nouveau which can be seen in his works. During the ten yaers between 1909-1919 he managed the restoration and reconstruction of important and historical buildings such as Sultan Ahmet and Aya Soyfa Mosques. He designed his own works too, such as Bebek and Bakırköy Kartaltepe Mosques. He stayed in Jerusalem for a while fort he restoration of Aksa-Mosque. After he returned back, he joined some of his collegues to improve and develop the capital city, Ankara. He worked there until his death in 1927. Some of his works in Ankara are Ankara Palace (1924-1927) and Ikinci Vakıf Evi (1928-1930).

Second Foundation Apartment:

Construction Date:1928-1930

The seven-storey building was constructed by using the reinforced carcass system. All surfaces were rendered to give the appearance of cut stone, and there was very little decoration on the building.

Even though designed as a multi storey rental residental building and functioned for a while as so; 2nd Foundation Apartment lost its residential qualities after being renovated in order to be used for governmental services.Ground floor of the building was left for shopping areas,the residental areas were on the upper floors.

A longitudional axis divides the building into two nearly symmetrical parts and there is a large open-air hall in the middle section of the building which was later designed as a theater center by State Theaters.This part of the building rises to the level of the second floor.

In the process of renovations, the separating walls on the corridors of the residential units were removed and a continuation of circulation along the building was achieved.

The staircases of the building are placed along the mid-axis of each façade; by this feature, entrances from all surrounding streets are provided.

The openings of the shopping units which are on the ground floor are in the shape of three centered arches and the remaining windows are left as square or rectangular openings.

Photographs,Plans and Sections of the Building:

Location of the Building:

Comments:

2nd Foundation Apartment was the first modern living environment and one of the first reinforced concrete building in Ankara.Thought as a solution for lack of housing in Ankara,its multi-stylistic design distinguishes it from other buildings designed by Kemalettin in Ankara.Despite having some traditional and oriental motifs ; for example, wide eaves and arches of the openings on the ground floor, sharp cornered openings and circular balconies on the edges of the building have rationalist-modernist trails of the era.Because of these important features, the building is an essential example of the Republican Architecture.Kemalettin who is known as a pioneer of the 1st National Architecture Movement combined his traditional style with modern elements and created a unique building.Ankara is lucky for having such a building.

References:

www.mimarlikmuzesi.org

http://arkiv.arkitera.com

Yavuz,Y. 1981. Mimar Kemalettin ve birinci ulusal mimarlık dönemi. Ankara: ODTU Mimarlik Fakultesi Basim Isligi.

Sedad Hakkı Eldem

Information About the Architect:

Born in Turkey in 1908, Sedat Hakki Eldem studied in the West before he returned to Istanbul to study at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1932 he became an assistant professor at the Academy. In this capacity he acted as a major catalyst in the development of Turkish architecture.

In the early 1930s, Eldem rejected the Beaux-Arts tradition and gave his support to early functionalism. He developed a style partially based on the nationalistic atmosphere of the new post-war Turkish Republic. During the 1940s, Eldem shifted his focus to the vernacular architecture of the late Ottoman period in both his teaching and professional life.

Borrowing from the plans of old Turkish houses, Eldem designed a series of houses in Istanbul using modern materials and a functionalist geometry. After 1950 Eldem integrated a functionalist vocabulary with elements of a traditional Turkish vernacular, but structural expression remained a priority.

For Eldem, creation of a modern national style remained a supreme goal which led him to emphasize form rather than function in his design. He has always remained a sensitive designer of facades and details.

Since his retirement in 1978, Eldem has published materials on traditional Turkish domestic architecture.

Turkish Monoply General Directorate and Turkish Prime Ministry Building:

Eldem's modernist design, which gracefully combined cubic blocks of varying height, won the international competition held for this purpose. The Holzmeisterian tendencies seen in the design of public buildings of the period were not observed in this case. Details such as the flat roofs, the frontal mass raised on pilotis and its horizontal side projections, the rectangular window openings varying in size and proportion and the simple artificial stone cladding on the façades define a rationalist-modernist architectural vocabulary contemporary to the date of design and construction. The building, still in use with the same function, has been extensively renovated and altered in time.

Photographs,Plans and Sections of the Building:

Ground Floor Plan

First Floor Plan

Sections

Location of the Building:

Comments:

The building is one of the examples of the early works of Sedad Hakkı Eldem.The building is located on the sector of the city in which all the ministry buildings are placed despite it was built for Turkish Monopoly Genearal Directorate.Being an example of 2nd National Architecture Movement, the building has Modernist qualities by having rational rectangular planning.It is obvious that Sedat Hakkı Eldem was influenced by Modernist Architecture during his student years in Europe and the European architects he attended their lessons and the ones he met esp. Le Corbusier.Despite the curtain walls that had traditional qualities which were applied by German and Austrian architects before 2nd National Architecture Movement, he designed the façade of the building with simple rectangular openings with unique windows designed by Ginter and used no ornaments.

References:

www.mimarlikmuzesi.org

http://arkiv.arkitera.com

Seyfi Arkan

Information About the Architect:

Seyfi Arkan did his training to become an architect in the Architectural Department of the Academy of Fine Arts (today MSU) and graduated from the studio of Vedat Tek 1927 at the head of his class. He won a State scholarship to study at the Berlin Technical College in Germany where he attended workshops and seminars at the studio of Hans Poelzig. When he returned to Turkey in 1933, he was appointed in the same year to lecture at the GSA Studio of City-Planning . In 1933, Seyfi Arkan began his career as an architect, by winning first prize in a closed competition for a design for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Cankaya, Ankara; one year later he won the competition to design the Presidential Sea Pavilion at Florya, Istanbul. Later, in response to Ataturk's wishes, he carried out the design and construction of other presidential buildings such as the Secretary-General's Pavilion at Florya, the Pavilions for Aide-de-Camps and the Interior Ministry respectively (1935-36) as well as the Foreign Affairs Office in Cankaya (1934-36). He became known as "Ataturk's architect" due to these buildings; the best-known of his many other works and projects are the Ankara Headquarters of the Municipal Bank (today the Iller Bank) (1935-37), the Ucler or İ. Galip Fesci Apartment (1934-35) in Ayaspasa, Istanbul, the Turkish Embassy in Tehran (1937) and Cemberlitas Palas (1938) in Istanbul . As well as the many branch-offices he designed for the Turkish Trade and Ottoman banks between 1949 and 1955, he was also responsible for the Sumerbank Pavilions at the Izmir International Fair in 1937 and 1944 respectively; the workers' lodgings and social complexes at Kozlu ve Uzulmez in Zonguldak (1934-36); the power plant and transformer buildings in Istanbul (1943-47); and a considerable number of apartments and, in particular, detached houses, sport and recreation complexes. The houses for workers and the social complexes he built following studies he had made on such designs are among the first in Turkey to have a covered terrace and make use of less open space in a functionalist , inexpensive and minimalist manner. Arkan was also involved in zoning and urban planning.

Arkan , with his own personal style and sustained proficiency in his profession, may be considered an excellent choice as an example of one of the first generation of architects in the Republic of Turkey .

Atadan House (a.k.a Camlı Köşk):

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk got this building done for his sister Makbule Atadan. So this building gets its other name from Makbule Atadan. This structure was first used as guest and president between 1951 and 1954. Then it was used for prime minister’s and senate minister’s residance between 1954 and 1970.

Various living spaces which are thought to be first function of structure are specified by level differences in the building. Guest rooms, sitting rooms for women, cigarette rooms, winter garden and servant rooms are designed perfectly. This structure is not a closed box. It expands towards nature with its covered and semi covered terraces. These terraces create common spaces which belong tı both iner and outer spaces. These spaces were covered and designed to be available for their later function by restoring and differentiating in various periods.

Camli Köşk was restored lastly in 1994 and 300 meter-square bed capacity was added to the building. Since 1996 it has been used for hosting of foreign government ministers and prime ministers.

Photographs,Plans and Sections of the Building:

Plan

Sections

Location of the Building:

Comments:

In Arkan’s Project, it is impossible not to see the influnce of german ecole and influence of Poelzig. Atadan House (Camlı Köşk) and Foreign Minister House are the most prominent examples of his project.There is a perfect balance of tranparency and privacy in both his projects.The colonade form of atadan house creates a monumental expression and arkan provide spaces for social and bureaucratic elite. But we think the main purpose is to display the living environment of the new civilized turkish woman on atatürk’s sister makbule atadan’s life.The house is the first example of the ‘exhibiting’ the new turkish woman to the rest of the world to show how turkey is trying to change take off their oriental and islamic ‘clothes’. Turkish woman is not enclosed in 4 walls and inside of the house ,unlike in Ottoman example so glazed facades(tranprancy) which is an important component of the modern architecture is selected intentionally.Thus, Atadan house is the most important example of turkish architecture in terms of its fuction and its new modernist approach.

References:

www.mimarlikmuzesi.org

www.arkiv.arkitera.com

http://jfa.arch.metu.edu.tr/archive/0258-5316/2005/cilt22/sayi_2/25-49.pdf