The Turkish House: From Eldem’s tradition conscious ideal to Mass Production by Gulce Onganer

The Turkish House: From Eldemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tradition conscious ideal to Mass Production To what extent has Eldemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ideals of the Turkish house been preserved in postmodern Istanbul?

Table of Contents

Sedad Hakki Eldem: Modernist architect of the new Turkish Republic and his architectural encounters during European travels-------------------------------4-6

Turkish Architectural scene in the Early Republic: Cubic influence of the European architects-------------------------------------------------------------------------------6-8

Picturesque Istanbul and the Turkish House in the Eyes of A.I Melling, Thomas Allom and Le Corbusier---------------------------------------------------------------9-11

Eldem at the Academy of Fine Arts: Researching, Teaching and Writing about the traditional Turkish house---------------------------------------------------------11-12

Eldemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Early Examples of Turkish Houses: Agaoglu and Tahsin Gunel Houses-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------12-14

Taslik Coffe House: The Epitome of the Turkish House------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14-18

Eldemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Encounter with the Post-War Modernist Discourse-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18-21

Illegal City and the New Residential Segregation----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------22-23

The New Luxury: Turkish Style Villas in Gated Communities----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------24-25

10. The Urban 11.

Renewal of Big Cities---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------26-27

Conclusion--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------28

12. Bibliography--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------29-30 13. Image References-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------31-32

Abstract This dissertation aims to investigate the factors that lead to the development of the Turkish House/ Turkish manner of dwelling. It looks at the journey of the aesthetic associated with the Turkish manner of dwelling from the early Cubic housing by the European architects such as Ernst Egli and Clemens Holzmeister, the reintroduction of the traditional wooden house with Sedad Hakki Eldemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s designs to the 21st century housing trends such as gated communities which encompass free standing housing and vertical high-rise buildings that are being marketed using the concepts driven from the traditional Turkish house. The investigation shows that validating a Turkish manner of dwelling for all people have been a challenging one. The ideals set out both by foreign and Turkish architects, such as Eldem himself, have been carried out to benefit the higher classes in Turkey such as members of the parliament or the industrialist elite. Implementing â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Turkish Houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for all Turkish people has only remained as an ideal yet to be achieved. In the 21st century, housing continues to be a main problem in major cities such as Istanbul where there is a vast disparity between dwelling types ranging from various gated communities, mass housing and high-rise prestige buildings.

Sedad the

Hakki new

architectural

Eldem: Turkish

Modernist

architect

Republic

encounters

during

and

the finished classical compositions; it was rather the overall effect and harmony of certain rhythms and motifs, certain smaller elements’. 3

his

European

travels Sedad Hakki Eldem is a Turkish modernist architect known for his efforts to document, categorise and modernize the old wooden Turkish House. He tries to build on the already existing roots of traditional patterns, which would otherwise be extinct. Due to his father’s diplomatic duties, Eldem had the opportunity live and travel in influential European cities such as Geneva, Zurich and Munich. 1This gave him a unique international perspective at such a young age, which many architects of the early republican period lacked. He returned back to Istanbul, soon after the declaration of the Turkish Republic, in order to study architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts. As a student enrolled in the studio of Giulio Mongeri, he was often encouraged to study and sketch the Classical Orders of architecture. In his Toward a Local Idiom: A Summary of History of Contemporary Architecture in Turkey, Eldem recalls ‘I was a student under Mongeri at the Academy of the Fine Arts when Le Corbusier’s Vers Une Nouvelle Architecture was published. Our textbook was Vitruvius.’ 2 He carries on to describe despite his tutor’s insistence of sketching classical columns ranging from Greco-Roman to Ottoman style, he would explore the old urban fabric of Istanbul paying particular attention to the wooden Turkish House. In a later interview from 1986, it is evident that he took a special interest in the old city of Istanbul, ‘I was spending all my Sundays and most of the weekdays wandering in the streets of Istanbul… I was in love with the beauty I was gradually discovering. It was not the beauty of

Fig. 1: Survey sketches of the Yenicami (mosque) façade and imperial pavilion, Istanbul, 1927

For the culturally in-between Eldem, the Turkish House became the means through which he established his identity as an architect. His passion for traditional Turkish domestic architecture triggered a period of crosscultural exploration aimed at a conceptual reconstruction of the Turkish House using the terms of a modernist discourse. 4 After his graduation from the Academy in 1928, a two-year travel grant from the Turkish government enabled him to have post-grad traveling

Akcan, E., Çeviride Modern Olan: Şehir ve Konutta Türk-Alman Ilişkileri. (Istanbul: YKY, 2009), 188. Eldem, Sedad Hakki. Toward a Local Idiom: A Summary History of Contemporary Architecture in Turkey. In Conservation as Cultural Survival. Renata Holod (ed). (Philadelphia: The Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 1980), 90.

1 2

3 4

Bozdoğan, S. Sedad Eldem: Architect in Turkey. (Istanbul: Literatür, 2005), 26. Bozdoğan, S. Ibid, 26.

and training in the order of Greece, England, France and Germany. 5 During his time in Paris, he exhibited a collection of work entitled ‘Countryside Houses for Anatolia.’ These pencil and watercolour rendered drawings displayed the diversity of the Turkish House regionalism ranging from the West Anatolian with white-washed facades and flat roofs to the Central Anatolian house constructed out of mud brick as the primary material of the region. 6

quality that must have caught Le Corbusier’s attention whilst in Paris. While Eldem as in Paris, Le Corbusier’s iconic Villa Savoie had not yet been built and Villa Stein was only recently completed, thus majority of Eldem’s studies of Le Corbusier was through reading books and site visits. In Eldem’s words, ‘Le Corbusier was working in his studio in the Rue de Sevres. I visited him often and showed him my drawings. He took an interest in me, and his influence over me was profound.’ 9 Eldem, during this contact developed a critical attitude to some of Le Corbusier’s designs. For Eldem, Le Corbusier did not ‘pay sufficient attention to the reinforced concrete skeleton, and his roofs leaked.’ 10 When Eldem finally moved in Auguste Perret’s studio, he hoped to learn how to master the exposed skeleton of structures because for him ‘a beautiful skeleton should be left to speak for itself.’ 11 He vividly imagined how the Turkish infill walls and proportions would be able to fit in the skeleton. He frequently thought about the use of colour as opposed to the white renders that did not distinguish between structure and wall. He started to believe that Turkish House was already modern and could easily adopt the reinforced concrete frame.

Fig. 2: Sample watercolours from Countryside Houses for Anatolia, Paris, 1928-29

The last encounter that had a profound impact on Eldem’s later career as an architect was the discovery of Frank Lloyd Wright through an album published by Wasmuth in Berlin. Although Eldem never came in direct contact with the influential architect of the Prairie School, the parallels he established between the Turkish House and the Prairie House helped Eldem with his future designs. Eldem speaks of the ‘long, low lines, the rows of windows, the wide eaves and the shape of the roofs’ 12 as the ultimate romantic expression of the Turkish House he had envisioned in his mind. Thus, the series of drawings in Berlin depicting Turkish Houses on grid-iron subdivision of suburban lots, are said to be inspired by Wright’s

Eldem during the exhibition often doubted his own aesthetic, as it was completely antithetical to the modernist movement that was evident in Europe at the time. He went through a phase of self-questioning and interrogation. Was his watercolour representation of the Turkish House beautiful? Or was beauty defined by the reinforced concrete framed, white rendered buildings that seemed to lack spirit? 7 In his later sketches from Paris, one can see experimental drawings of the Turkish House that resemble the aesthetics of Le Corbusier and Auguste Perret. 8 Eldem was discovering himself while traveling in Europe, so it is only natural that he doubted himself but his open-mindedness allowed him to merge what is European with the Turkish House he was so innately familiar with. It is this

9 Eldem, Sedad Hakki. Toward a Local Idiom: A Summary History of Contemporary Architecture in Turkey. In Conservation as Cultural Survival. Renata Holod (ed).( Philadelphia: The Aga Khan Award for Architecture,1980), 90. 10 Eldem, Sedad Hakki. Ibid, 90. 11 Eldem, Sedad Hakki. Ibid, 91. 12 Eldem, Sedad Hakki. Ibid, 91.

Akcan, E., Çeviride Modern Olan: Şehir ve Konutta Türk-Alman Ilişkileri. (Istanbul: YKY, 2009), 185. 6 Bozdoğan, S. Sedad Eldem: Architect in Turkey. (Istanbul: Literatür, 2005), 33. 7 Akcan, E. Ibid, 195. 8 Akcan, E. Ibid, 197.

prairie aesthetic. 13 Eldem concluded that the natural disposition of Wright’s designs with the use of rough-hewn stone and natural wood gave them some character unlike the white blank canvas of Le Corbusier.

Turkish

Architectural

Republic:

Cubic

scene

influence

in the

the

Early

European

architects While Eldem was exploring Europe and developing his own aesthetic, the architectural scene in Turkey was dominated by the European architects, namely Ernst Egli, Bruno Taut, followed by Herman Jansen, Paul Bonatz and Clemens Holzmeister. In many realms, including architecture, any associations pertaining to the Ottoman times had to be disposed giving way to the Western ways. Foreign architects were seen as being ‘instrumental in the formation of Turkey’s modern institutions and architecture’ 14 They were invited by the Kemalist regime solely for the purpose of designing the new capital of Ankara as the ultimate symbol of the new Turkish Republic. Although, ‘westernization’ was the buzz word at the time, Egli advocated ‘the Anatolian house could guide a new movement of modern architecture in Turkey’, 15 openly showing his appreciation of the Turkish tradition. However as the main aspiration was reaching a European standard, the architects built in a cubic style that is also known as Ankara or Vienese Cubic. 16 Cubic houses became the new vision for modern living and were being heavily publicized by magazines such as Yedigun from mid-1930s into the 40s as the epitome of a modern house. Holzmeister who was in charge of designing the entire Government Quarter of Ankara also designed Ataturk’s Presidential Residence, also known as the Pink Villa in Cankaya, Ankara. Holzmeister implemented the same vertical window proportions, accentuated the lintels around the windows and played with building masses of the institutional buildings and the presidential palace; creating a strong visual connection between the two entities. 17 It was imperative to portray Ataturk’s residence in a certain image as he was praised as the founder of

Fig. 3: Eldem’s Turkish House studies inspired by the Prairie aesthetic of Frank Lloyd Wright, Berlin, 1929

Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Turkey (London: Reaktion Books, 2012), 51. Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 63. Bozdoğan, S. Modernism and Nation Building. (Seattle, Wash. [u.a.]: Univ. of Washington Press, 2001), 256. 17 Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 84. 14

Fig. 4: Eldem’s sketches of the Turkish House, Germany, August 1929-1930, sketchbook #10.

15 16

. Bozdoğan, S., Özkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, Sedad Eldem: Architect in Turkey ( İstanbul: Literatür, 2005), 33.

assemble this building. 19 Ataturk’s presidential palace creates a different language of modern as opposed to the wooden Turkish House that was traditional of the Ottoman times where there were distinct rooms that were based on the gender division, the facades and interiors were decorated to show an arabesque sense of fashion. The cubic villas create a clean line that strips the building of any distinctive character on the outside – creating a sense of simplicity that depicts the new housing in western Turkey.

the new nation and he was to encourage certain trends after which his nation inspires to follow.

As with the example of the Pink Villa, commissions were usually given to foreign architects, trusting their knowledge in design and construction. The turning point came with the Ankara Exhibition Hall of 1933-34, which was the first major international competition in which a Turkish architect won with his design. Sevki Balmumcu’s design soon became the pride of Turkish architecture and proved that Turkish architects were capable of design ‘Western in technique, national in spirit’. 20 However, although the building became a stage for important state exhibitions to spread the spirit of the Kemalist state through art, photography and later industrial exhibitions, many judged the style of architecture as ‘forgetting one’s horse and going into the race with someone else’s donkey.’ 21

Fig. 5: Perspective views of the Pink Villa (1930-32)

The Pink Villa (1930-32) is appreciated due to its modest design and unadorned simplicity. The plan is symmetrically arranged in a U-shape encircling a courtyard. The house has two floors above a basement where the entry floor has a study and a large reception area. The second floor of the house is mainly for bedrooms. 18 The monumental quality of the architecture carries with this housing building which is raised upon a podium out of rustic stone. The heavy volume of the composition is broken down with the open terrace where below sits a swimming pool under the colonnade. It is important to note that all the construction materials were imported from Austria and during the construction period itself the contractors themselves were from Austria as well, showing how this early in nation building Turkish architects and builders were not familiar with the reinforced concrete technology to

Fig. 6: Ground and first floor plans of the Pink Villa 19

V2.arkiv.com.tr. 2014. TC Cumhurbaşkanlığı Köşkü (Pembe Köşk). [online] Available at: http://v2.arkiv.com.tr/p7459-tccumhurbaskanligi-kosku-pembe-kosk.html [Accessed: 20 Feb 2014].

20 21

Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Turkey (London: Reaktion Books, 2012), 51. Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 66. Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 70.

‘Since the modern idiom established itself in contradiction to the traditional one, the question of a relationship between good modern and the traditional left no agenda for architectural discussion.’ 22 The past, or the Ottoman times were associated with backwardness and the spirit of Le Corbusier and the German Bauhaus were the only ways forward. However it was soon evident that the application of modernism without understanding the Turkish context created aesthetic problems. ‘In a letter to Walter Gropius, Martin Wagner undermined Seyfi Arkan’s Florya Residence of 1935 for Ataturk as a ‘mishmash of Le Corbusier and Mies… that copies functional houses’ from Europe while failing to understand the functional logic behind their construction’. 23 Cubic architecture thus came to be associated with a decadent Western culture that is imposing an ill-fitting architectural expression which hinders the development of a harmonious Turkish and modern aesthetic. Architectural critics at the time, such as the co-editor of Arkitekt Abidin Mortas, also scrutinized the construction technique of cubic buildings. The construction technique of the cubic house was also inappropriate for Turkey’s conditions, and consequently the buildings in this style were poorly executed ones ‘which ended up creating distasteful replicas of Western master’s buildings’. 24

Fig. 7: Ataturk’s summer residence in Florya, designed by Seyfi Arkan, 1935

The meaningless copying of Western concepts without understanding the meaning behind the designs was something Sedad Hakki Eldem was also against. Eldem, along with other intellectuals and architects grieved over Istanbul’s deteriorating urban fabric – old waterfront houses along the Bosphorus which have been burnt down or left to decay because of the newly adopted western values. 25 This nostalgia of the wooden Turkish House was what encouraged Eldem to search for a culturally specific modernism. Upon his return back to Turkey in 1933, he became an assistant professor in the Academy and from then on acted as a major catalyst in the development of Turkish architecture. The year of his employment saw the start of the seminar on national architectural styles with the prime goal of promoting traditional Turkish vernacular. 26 But what was this traditional Turkish House? How scholars, painters and architects of earlier periods portrayed the picturesque Istanbul and its built environment?

Kuban, Dogan. A Survey of Modern Turkish Architecture. In Architecture in Continuity. Sherban Cantacuzino, ed. (New York: Aperture, 1985), 68 Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Turkey (London: Reaktion Books, 2012), 96. 24 Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 97. 23

25 26

Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 97. Bozdoğan, S. Modernism and Nation Building. (Seattle, Wash. [u.a.]: Univ. of Washington Press, 2001), 263.

Picturesque Istanbul and the Turkish House in the Eyes of A.I Melling, Thomas Allom and Le Corbusier

Fig. 9: An impression of the Bosphorus from A.I Melling’s Voyage Pittoresque de Constantinople et des Rives du Bosphore, Paris, 1819.

Fig. 8: The view of the Golden Horn taken from Karyağdı Bayırı and the mansion of a Greek pastor in Yenikoy, Istanbul, both by Thomas Allom, London, 1839.

Le Corbusier, at the turn of the century observed similar characteristics of Istanbul’s urban fabric as Melling and Allom during his Voyage d’Orient in the year 1911. In his sketchbook Le Corbusier often quotes the famous Turkish proverb ‘where one buildings, one plants trees.’ 28 According to Le Corbusier Istanbul is a unique city that possesses a good balance of natural richness brought by the plants, the luxurious greenery and architecture.

In order to understand the concept of the Turkish House with a long history dating to the start of the Ottoman rule we can take a look at works of painters, scholars and architects who have documented the picturesque Istanbul and her urban fabric such as A.I Melling, Thomas Allom and lastly Le Corbusier. In his Voyage Picturesque de Constantinople et des Rives du Bosphore dating back to 1819, the French artist Melling displays the nostalgic Istanbul 27. Immediately evident from this painting is the harmonious relationship between topography, landscape and the wooden traditional houses. There is a sense of a picturesque whole where the built environment is complementary to the natural greenery. A similar contextfriendly mood is portrayed in the engravings of Thomas Allom depicting scenes from the old city.

Although later in his architectural career, he becomes the epitome of machine for living in, in a letter to Ataturk, Le Corbusier encouraged ‘to leave Istanbul as it is, in its present state even with the dust of centuries on her buildings’. 29 There is an irony that while the Kemalist regime was looking up to the west, Le Corbusier was adamant in voicing his strong opinions about Istanbul’s cultural layers that need preserving.

Kortan, E. and Le Corbusier. Turkish Architecture and Urbanism Through the Eyes of L.C. (Istanbul: Boyut Kitapları, 2005), 76.

28 27

Bozdoğan, S., Özkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, Sedad Eldem: Architect in Turkey ( İstanbul: Literatür, 2005), 97.

Kortan, E. and Le Corbusier. Ibid, 85.

In these sketches the elements later elaborated on by Eldem are seen such as the low roofline, the projections on the façade known as ‘kosk’ and an understanding of the Turkish House proportions. 31 Eldem more formally defined the Turkish House based on these historical references but also from his personal involvement and research.

Fig. 10: The Bosphorus in the late 19th century as photographed by B. Kargopoulos.

Fig. 12: ‘Pera: The serrated city outline of the city of merchants, pirates and gold seekers’, Le Corbusier

In his writing and his sketches, Le Corbusier was aware of some of the key characteristics of the Turkish House before Eldem formally documented them. As observed by Le Corbusier ‘in Stamboul every dwelling is of wood, every roof is of the same pitch, covered with the same kind of tile’. 30 The houses create a uniform canvas for the foreground buildings, those out of stone, prominently the mosques.

Fig. 13: The tower of Pera, Voyage d’Orient, Le Corbusier Fig. 11: Sketch of a Bosphorus villa, Voyage d’Orient, Le Corbusier 30

Kortan, E. and Le Corbusier. Ibid, 101.

Traganou, J. and Mitrašinović, M. Travel, space, architecture. (Farnham, England: Ashgate, 2009), 89.

Eldem

Researching,

the

Academy

Teaching

and

of Writing

Fine about

Arts: the

traditional Turkish House Eldem was an explicit critique of both Neo-Ottoman styles and the cubic international style. Upon his return back to Turkey in 1933, he started a seminar at the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts in order to combat the ‘Ankara Cubic’ with the help of Ernst Egli 32 Marking the start of a new era in the teaching of architecture at the Academy, Eldem did not only encourage the study of the Turkish house to his students, but carried out extensive surveys and produced a three volume entitled ‘Turk Evi’ or Turkish House that categorised all old wooden houses in various Turkish cities. 33 Despite having various types spread across the seven geographical regions in Turkey and the Ottoman dominated areas in the Balkans, all Turkish houses shared the ‘same conception in plan’. 34

Fig. 14: A house near on sea coast, L.C.

Eldem often alluded to the three functional divisions of the Turkish house; the series of multifunctional rooms (oda) are like vessels that reach the common room known as the sofa and the transition areas such as corridors and stairs providing movement throughout the house. Based on the common room, or the central living space, Eldem created a collection of forms that can be used almost as a book of recipes that create a Turkish house of a certain type. In the matrix of Turkish house plans there are 4 main types, namely plans without a sofa, inner sofa, middle sofa and an outer sofa plan type which has three sub-types which are side sofa plan, L-shape sofa plan and U-shape sofa plan (Fig. 17). 35 Turkish House is designed such that it is essentially one room that can be multiplied and arranged in various formats. For example, rooms can be connected to create a side sofa plan, or grow even further to achieve a U-sofa plan. If it is necessary to divide the house

Fig. 15: Theopile Gautier’s ‘Bird cages’: ‘The wood Turkish houses at Bosphorus. Beautiful and imposing L.C.

Bozdoğan, S. Modernism and Nation Building. (Seattle, Wash. [u.a.]: Univ. of Washington Press, 2001), 263. Bozdoğan, S. Ibid, 266. Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Turkey (London: Reaktion Books, 2012), 99. 35 Bektaş, C. Türk evi. ( İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2013), 127-131. 32

Fig. 16: A wooden house, L.C

33 34

Eldem’s

(for example between two siblings), this can be easily done symmetrically through the sofa. In summary, Turkish homes have the ability to extend or be divided depending on the size and the need of the family. 36 The central sofa type is the most advanced of all plan types and influences Eldem the most in his own private housing designs.

Early

Examples

Turkish

Houses:

Agaoglu and Tahsin Gunel Houses Agaoglu House in Nisantasi, Istanbul (1936, now demolished) is an example of Eldem’s earliest interaction with the traditional oval central sofa. The house is erected on existing foundation walls as a two-storey composition. The accommodation of two adjacent apartments is signified with the symmetrical arrangement with a circular stairway at the entrance hall. The upper floor mainly houses bedrooms and the oval projection of the sofa that can be read in the building elevations. The sofa connects to the adjacent rooms by the means of sliding doors. Often one of these rooms is for the purpose of dining and the other used as a study area; both with ample views to the outside. One can argue that the oval sofa is not innately Turkish but is born out of an amalgamation of Baroque influences into Ottoman architecture around the 18th century. 37 It is also important to note that the typical use of the sofa as a ‘hall’ is transcended to create a formal living room. The latter design adaptation from the traditional Turkish house has prompted architecture critics to designate the building as a ‘compromise between tradition and modernity.’ 38

Fig. 17: Sedad Eldem, Typical plans for ‘Turkish houses’ without a sofa (top left), with outer sofa (top right), inner sofa (bottom left), and central sofa (bottom right)

The type Eldem chooses to explore is the most advanced central sofa type. He devotes his architectural career to finding a contemporary manner of approaching the tradition, which he does by experimenting with lightness and openness of the structure as enabled by the epoch-making material reinforced concrete whereby the frame and the façade can be separated into two entities. Furthermore his style revolves around the articulation of the elevation; the repetition of windows in a pre-determined pattern. These stylistics qualities are best represented in his two early commissions, the Agaoglu House and the Tahsin Gunel House respectively. Fig. 18: Floor plans of the Agaoglu House, showing the oval sofa 36

Bektaş, C. Ibid, 135.

37 38

Bozdoğan, S., Özkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, Sedad Eldem: Architect in Turkey ( İstanbul: Literatür, 2005), 46. Bozdoğan, S., Özkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, Ibid, 46.

One can interpret that as an overall composition Agaoglu House has a modernist language; almost like any other modernist house of the period it can be located anywhere in Europe. Two years later the Ayasli House, the study of the sofa type presents itself once again but in a more traditionconscious manner. The traditional Yali type is preserved in this design, which sits by the Bosphorus in the Beylerbeyi region in Istanbul. 39 In terms of type, the sofa is falls under the classification of inner sofa where the transverse hall is cutting the house in order to provide access to other rooms. 40 On the upper floor there is another projection like the Agaoglu House but this time it is a rectangular ‘kosk’ type projection that is raised on four columns. The kosk is further emphasized with the vertically arranged modular windows creating a feeling of light and openness on the interior.41 The low roof with projecting eaves and the use of wooden shutters create a building that genuinely fits in with the Ottoman yali types. The Arkitekt magazine acclaimed that buildings as such ‘capture the architectural character of our old houses, fill us with hope’ 42

Figure 21: The plans of the Ayasli House and the Bosphorus View, Istanbul, 1938

Born out of his involvement in the Turkish aesthetic, in his earlier housing designs Eldem used the plan types he determined through his research. The Tahsin Gunel House (or Yali as known in Turkish), located in Yenikoy was a private commission by the Gunel family located on the shore of the Bosphorus. The house follows the ‘karniyarik’ plan type where there is a central rectangular sofa, previously mentioned in the discussion of the various plan types. On the front and back façade the convex bits that protrude outwards are inspired by the housing in the Bosphorus of the 18th century. Behind this are living and dining rooms. The repetitive vertical windows allow for views throughout the house. The house was taken over by the Ilicak family in the year 1978 and is also known as the Ilicak House. 43 During the conversion, Eldem added a bridge that connects the main mass to a smaller mass where children’s rooms are located. 44

Fig.19/20 : The front elevation of the Agaoglu House with the protruding oval sofa and more preliminary sketches by Eldem

Akcan, E. Çeviride Modern Olan: Şehir ve Konutta Türk-Alman Ilişkileri. (İstanbul: YKY, 2009), 186. Bozdoğan, S., Özkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, Ibid, 49. V2.arkiv.com.tr. 2014. Ayaşlı Yalısı. [online] Available at: http://v2.arkiv.com.tr/p2759-ayasli-yalisi.html [Accessed: 18 Feb 2014]. 42 Bozdoğan, S., Özkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, Ibid, 49. 39 40

Bozdoğan, S., Özkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, Ibid, 100. V2.arkiv.com.tr. 2014. Tahsin Günel Yalısı. [online] Available at: http://v2.arkiv.com.tr/p2779-tahsin-gunel-yalisi.html [Accessed: 28 Feb 2014].

43 44

Taslik

Coffe

House:

The

Epitome

the

Turkish House Eldem is seen as the architect of the Bosphorus. His passion and nostalgic interest gives him credibility as a practicing architect. No doubt he has been trusted with prestigious commissions in this region including remodelling of neglected and unkempt palaces such as the Ciragan Palace Tourism Development Project or renovations of old houses. 45 One of the reasons why Eldem is so celebrated is because he puts tradition before creation and exempts from resorting to any grand design that may clash with the context of the Bosphorus.

Fig. 22: Plans for the Ilicak Yali (renemodelled version of the Tahsin Gunel Yali, 1938), Istanbul, 1978

Fig. 24: Amcazade Yali in a painting of Theodore Frere, approx. 1850

Fig. 23: The Bosphorus view of the Ilicak Yali as photographed by Suha Ozkan 14

BozdoÄ&#x;an, S., Ă&#x2013;zkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, Ibid, 53.

His appreciation of the tradition undoubtedly comes from the Koprulu Amcazade Huseyin Pasa Yali, the oldest standing wooden house by the Bosphorus dating back to the 17th century. 46 The Amcazade Yali is seen as the embodiment of the traditional Turkish House. The house was comprised of multiple buildings that stretched over along the shore. While the others are currently extinct or preserved in ruins, the divanhane is the only stillstanding part of the whole complex. 47

Fig. 27: Interior reconstruction perspective by Eldem

Fig. 25/26: Personal photograph of the divanhane of Amcazade Yali, 2013 and the exterior view from the south with unindentified man, photographed by Nicholas V. Artamonoff, 1938

The divanhane is composed of three-rectangular volumes ; also known as the iwan arranged in a T-section. 48 The center of the intersection, where the main living activities take place is highlighted with a dome. The domed, lofty interior with rich decorations juxtaposes the modest facade of the building. Reconstruction perspectives by Sedad Eldem depict the richness of the interior. Fig. 28: The reconstruction drawing of the ceiling (showing the central dome) by Eldem

Eldem has always been interested in the arrangement of furniture. During his travel years he drew interior perspectives of showing a modernist discourse with prevailing western fashions of the day. 49 He has, however, 49

Akcan, E. Çeviride Modern Olan: Şehir ve Konutta Türk-Alman Ilişkileri. (İstanbul: YKY, 2009), 222. Bachmann, M. Wooden Istanbul: Examples From Housing Architecture. Istanbul: Istanbul Arastirmalari Enstitusu, 2008), 218. 48 Bachmann, M. Ibid, 204-244. 46 47

Bozdoğan, S., Özkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, Ibid, 41.

always thought that the Turkish interior would provide the best arrangement with built-in wooden seats along the periphery, cupboards and other utilities hidden behind decorated wooden panels, freeing a central space of maximum habitable area.

Huseyin Amcazade Pasa Yali. While Eldem was heavily involved in his research of the Turkish House, he frequently visited the Amcazade Yali around the time he designed the coffee house, thus the influence of this Yali on Eldem was eminent. Unlike his private residential designs, the Taslik Coffee House becomes a showpiece where Eldem ‘supressed his own identity, he has tried to display what can be taken as the modern qualities of a traditional example of Turkish domestic architecture.’ 50

Fig. 29: Interior studies, Eldem, 1926-30

After Eldem’s first private housing designs, the Taslik Coffee House of 1947 becomes the first highly acknowledged public building. It is said to have all the qualities that make Turkish architecture – the epitome of the modern Turkish House. The coffee house is a direct replica of the Koprulu

Fig. 30: The exterior of the Taslik Coffee House looking up the retaining walls 50

Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Turkey (London: Reaktion Books, 2012), 101.

Later on this literal replica of the 17th century Ottoman yali drew criticisms of being eclectic and historicist. However, Eldem would defend his design by saying that he was respecting the historical urban fabric and utilizing what is already modern in Turkish architecture, thus for him the Taslik Coffee House was a ‘showpiece of all the essential modern qualities of traditional Turkish House.’ 54 This was the first time a Turkish concept was implemented in a building that was not just for private housing but for the use of the public. Thus, the Turkish House was something for all the Turks and what better way to highlight that by associating this building with coffee, a symbol of Turkish culture and tradition. 55 In this sense the coffee house becomes a statement of how culture can manifest in a new fashion.

The building sits on an existing masonry wall with a kosk that is projecting over supported by a series of tilted timber brackets. It gives the impression of being organically grown out of the retaining wall. Like the Amcazade Yali it has wide horizontally projecting eaves. The horizontal window arrangement compliments the low roofline and the overall composition is emphasized with the predominance of wood. 51 Underneath the wood cladding is Eldem’s frame as inspired by Le Corbusier and Perret’s use of reinforced concrete. The location of the Taslik Coffee House provides picturesque views of the Bosphorus from above. The plan type is the central sofa type with three projections of the T-plan. 52 The interior also takes its inspiration from the Amcazade Yali with the built-in wooden furniture. The furniture is arranged on the periphery of the building with a marble water fountain in the centre of the sofa highlighting the cross axis symmetrically. The water feature was an important element in the houses of wealthy Turks at the Ottoman times, in this design it becomes a public element to be appreciated by all visitors to the Coffee House. 53

Fig. 31: The interior study sketches for the Taslik Coffee House, Eldem Fig. 32: The plan of the Taslik Coffee House, Eldem 51

GreatBuildings. 2014. Coffee House on the Bosporus by Sedad Eldem at GreatBuildings. [online] Available at: http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Coffee_House_on_the_Bospo.html [Accessed: 8 Dec 2013]. Tanyeli, U. Mimarlığın Aktörleri: Turkiye 1900-2000. (Istanbul: Garanti Galeri, 2007), 169. 53 Curtis, W. J. R. Modern architecture since 1900. (London: Phaidon,1999), 381. 52

54 55

Bozdoğan, S., Özkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, Sedad Eldem: Architect in Turkey ( İstanbul: Literatür, 2005), 50. Bozdoğan, S., Özkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, Ibid, 50.

Eldem’s

Encounter

with

the

Post-War

Modernist Discourse The American influence takes over the European one at the start of the Cold War period where funds provided by the Marshall Plan brings the American architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) in collaboration with Eldem for the design of Istanbul Hilton Hotel in 1952, the same year of Turkey’s admission to NATO. 56 The chain of Hilton Hotels represented the face of America abroad, thus there was a great importance placed on how they were architecturally portrayed. The Hilton Hotel, with Gordon Bundshaft as its head designer and Eldem as its local collaborating architect, displays a powerful post-WWII work drawing many references from Le Corbusier’s Unite d’Habitation.

Fig. 33: The interior of the Taslik Coffee House, references to the Amcazade Yali are observed; built in furniture, low, horizontal windows, central water feature, wooden interior elements

Eldem was preoccupied with statement public buildings and showpieces and never designed mass housing. He was an architect privately commissioned by elite. Scholars will always wonder how the Turkish collective housing would have been different if Eldem prioritized designing for the masses using his ideas of the Turkish house. One can argue that there would have been a more context friendly and cohesive characteristic to the modern day apartment blocks. During the post-war period, Eldem’s bulk of commissions were still for private yalis (villas) but at this time the architectural activity in Turkey became varied. Architects began to experiment with the new technology and started to explore influences not only from tradition-conscious Turkish houses and Europe, but also the United States of America. Even Eldem was briefly interrupted to experiment with this new International Style.

Fig. 34: View of the main approach to Hilton Istanbul 56

Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Turkey (London: Reaktion Books, 2012), 114-117.

The Corbusian elements from his Five Points of Architecture such as the pilotis, the roof garden and the brise soleil are present in this iconic Hilton design. 57 The hotel was subsidized with Turkish Pension Funds with heavy loans from the Bank of America. 58 During the opening ceremony in the June of 1955, the hotel was launched for the use of the upper classes with spectacular extravaganza.

Wright’s Falling Water. The Safyurtlu II Villa is raised on pilotis and the terrace encircling the entire house becomes the most striking feature of the overall composition. The domino frame gives the house a transparent expression solely raised on slender columns. The interior is freed and thus the sofa takes full advantage of the open plan. 59 The Riza Dervis Villa is also made up of largely glazed surfaces, the projecting slabs and the low roofline providing yet another testimony to the influence of post-war modernist aesthetics on Eldem. 60

Fig. 35: Unite de Habitation, Marsaille, Le Corbusier, 1952.

The Hilton Style disseminated throughout Turkey, especially in hotel design, but also in Eldem’s private housing designs. His works pertaining to this new aesthetic are the Safyurtlu II Villa and the Riza Dervis Villa designed in 1952 and 1956 respectively. These houses show the use of large glazed panels and volumetric projections under flat roofs a-la- Frank Lloyd 57 58

Fig. 36: Plans of the Safyurtlu House, Eldem, 1952

Khan, H. and Jodidio, P. International style. (Köln: Taschen,2009), 213. Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 117.

Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 148. Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 148.

heating. 62 Around this period, the Turkish Arkitekt magazine dubbed SOM’s Lever House, New York (1952) and Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building (1958) as the newest modern aesthetic, also known as American corporate modernism. 63 The use of large panels of glazing in the façade of the Semsettin Sirer Villa is viewed as Eldem’s engagement with this new style. The house is of reinforced concrete frame but has decorative elements of white rendered hollow steel boxes and polished wooden finishes on the façade. The street façade alludes to the kosk type projection; typical of Eldem’s Turkish house aesthetic but the water front portrays the same frame hollow – exposing the building skeleton. 64

Fig. 37: A view of the Riza Dervis Villa; the domino frame, the projecting slabs and the glazed surfaces are legible from the exterior.

The Semsettin Sirer Villa constructed in 1966-67 does not lend itself into the category of the traditional Turkish house. However, it still borrows some elements such as the façade proportions which are sympathetic to the surrounding context. 61 The villa is located on a narrow plot, the depth, however, compensates for its narrowness. The entrance of the building creates a linear line that connects the summer hall and the below terrace. The common rooms such as the kitchen, dining and living are located on the first floor. The second floor has the bedrooms and the attic houses a sun deck and a sauna. Eldem has planned the mansion so that the shared wall with the neighbouring house it utilized for services such as plumbing and

Fig. 38: Floor plans of Semsettin Sirer Villa, Yenikoy, 1966-67 (ground, first, second floors)

Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 115. Merkezi/Email:Info@Mimarlikmuzesi.Org, Y. 2014. Şemsettin Sirer Yalısı | Yapılar | mimarlikmuzesi.org. [online] Available at: http://www.mimarlikmuzesi.org/Collection/Detail_semsettin-sirer-yalisi_60349.html [Accessed: 5 Nov 2013]. 64 Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 145. 62

Bozdoğan, S., Özkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, Sedad Eldem: Architect in Turkey ( İstanbul: Literatür, 2005), 118.

Fig. 38: Floor plans of Semsettin Sirer Villa, Yenikoy, 1966-67 (third and fourth floors)

Fig. 39: The water front view of Semsettin Sirer Villa, Yenikoy, 1966-67

When designing to keep the picturesque image of the Bosphorus, Eldem created many ‘object-types’ – idealized buildings. 65 Critics agree that his houses are ‘rational, schematized, classic and somewhat aristocratic architectonic interpretation of vernacular archetypes.’ 66 Furthermore, they are grand and expensive, out of reach for many average Turkish families. Instead of focusing on designing for the elite; architectural solutions had to be devised for the poorer income groups. We know as major cities such as Istanbul and Ankara started to expand there was an urgent need for social/ compact housing to upkeep with the migration from villages to the city. Bozdoğan, S., Özkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, Ibid, 120. Yücel, Atilla. Contemporary Turkish Architecture. In MIMAR 10: Architecture in Development. (Singapore: Concept Media Ltd., 1983), 60-61.

65 66

Illegal City and the New Residential Segregation As major cities such as Istanbul and Ankara started to grow in population, buildings needed to multiply in order to satisfy the need of the growing city. There was a struggle between the ‘build and sell’ housing, mushroom developments (gecekondus) as well as developments designed by architects. Yap-satci buildings, literally translated as ‘build and sell’, are mass building blocks constructed on cheap land purchased by small business contractors who make plenty of profits by selling each living unit to different clients. These mass building blocks vary in architectural language and prevent Istanbul from having a coherent context friendly architecture and a unified urban façade. This ‘build and sell ‘ phenomenon was also becoming evident in the capital of Ankara where the single family settlements that were built in Ankara inspired by Herman Jansen’s ‘garden city ideal’ were getting altered to allow room for higher rise, compact dwellings. Exemplifying this is the demolishment of Jansen’s Bahcelievler in Ankara where his masterplan was drastically altered in 1957 to permit building heights to be raised to five storeys on the avenues and four on the streets. 67 Regarding the direction of Turkish architecture was heading, Rem Koolhaas observed ‘the built product of modernization is not modern architecture, but Junkspace’ is confirmed by Turkish cities in the second half the twentieth century.’ 68 Koolhaas is right indeed with his observation, that between 1938 and 1960, the density of building lots have increased up to sixteen times showing the vast scale of the ‘junkspace’ that has been created. Although currently there is an increased emphasis on the architect as the designer of mass housing, ‘build and sell’ is the prominent manner of Turkish building whereby 40-50 percent of building activity is still done in this manner all over Turkey.

67 68

Fig. 40: Juxtaposition of the gecekondus and the mass housing blocks (yap-satci buildings) that are usually erected on land where gecekondus used to be located.

These types of dwelling are illegal and currently they are being bulldozed in order to create new types of housing in the city, most of them being high rise so-called ‘prestige’ buildings. One can imagine, however, this re-facing of the city is not something that can be done over the period of a few years as with squatter developments and regressive city planning, Istanbul has become a melting pot of a variety of architecture from the run-down developments, gated communities, high rise buildings to the classical buildings in the historic peninsula.

Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 162-163. Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 161.

restricted entrance’, creating outsiders and insiders. 70 This new lifestyle targeted the city’s new rich and upper classes promising them a prestigious lifestyle away from the busy city centre. The statistics taken from the research done on 161 new gated communities reveal four distinct housing categories in Istanbul. These are gated high rise towers, horizontally spread communities/ villa towns, gated apartment blocks and lastly a gated town with a mix of low and high rise housing. 71 These gated communities were initially strategically located outside the overpopulated city far away from the busy traffic, pollution and the lack of green. 72 Istanbul grew from its center radially outwards initially to the north (Gokturk-Kemerburgaz) and to the southwest (Bahcesehir-Buyukcekmece), however, today these gated communities are located all over the city. 73 The peripheries of the city saw a growth of about 5 million from 1985 to 1997 with developments stretching 60km from east to west. 74

One can say that the garden city model was the problem in itself and unsuitable for developing countries such as Turkey that needed to industrialize quickly and cope with enormous levels of migration from the country to the city. There was a big emphasis placed on public buildings, government buildings and private housing and thus ways of tackling the problem of mass-housing have been neglected. This resulted in the sprawl of mushroom or squatter settlements. Many of these migrants were poor and could not effort to purchase a house in the city, thus, they create their own squatter developments known in Turkish as ‘gecekondus’. Without the adequate knowledge of building or construction they resorted to constructing their own illegal squatter housing, also known as ‘gecekondu’. This started to give rise to an unorganized development on the periphery of major cities. This ad hoc housing started in Istanbul’s Zeytinburnu, Kagithane and Gaziosmanpasa as early as 1947 and during the early 1960s 45% of Istanbul’s population was housed in gecekondus. 69 The sights of the gecekondus could be hidden until the opening of new roads that passed through the squatter developments revealing their disjunction in the wider urban context of the city. When driving around in Istanbul today, it is no surprise that one finds themselves passing through a mix of gecekondu, ‘build and sell’ and the new developments aimed at the higher classes. Turkey’s appearance in the Global market after the 1980s created a new real estate market in the new metropolis of Istanbul. The attraction was not only from the local developers but also from foreign investors who had foreseen the potential Istanbul possessed based on her location as a bridge between Europe and the Middle East. Gated communities became the largest housing trend in the new global city of Istanbul. According to Blakely and Synder’s Fortress America: Gated Communities in the United States, gated communities constitute ‘physical privatized areas with

Fig. 41: Residential areas of Istanbul

Baycan-Levent, T. and Aliye Ahu Gulumser. 2007. Gated Communities in Istanbul: The New Walls of the City. Graduate. Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Istanbul Technical University, 2. 71 Baycan-Levent, T. and Aliye Ahu Gulumser. Ibid, 6-7. 72 Togay, N. Mimarlık ve tüketim. (Istanbul: Boyut Yayın Grubu, 2002), 49. 73 Baycan-Levent, T. and Aliye Ahu Gulumser. Ibid, 5. 74 Cekic, T. I. 2009. Gated communities leading the development on the periphery of Istanbul metropolitan area. Graduate. Yildiz Technical University Faculty of Architecture, 79.

Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 164.

The New Luxury: Turkish Style Villas in Gated

House that started as the standard way of living for an average Turkish person during the Ottoman times is now marketed in a way that it is only affordable by the higher income groups in Turkey. This deepens the already existing class segregation in Turkey. One can argue that Eldem himself contributed to the divide between the rich and poor as he was preoccupied especially in the later part of his career for building private commissions for the Turkish industrialist elite such as the Koc Family.

Communities Unlike Eldem’s investigative attitude during the design process the post 1980s ‘Turkish Style Villas’ became a new prototype of commercial luxury. The Turkish house is no longer designed with a context in mind but becomes an instant-kit applicable to a range of suburban typologies, frequently appearing in the gated communities. Eldem probably did not intend his Turkish house to become the spine of mass-produced luxury. Unfortunately after the 1980s, Turkish villas defined the standard for luxury with elements copied directly from tradition. Turkish house no longer represented the tradition but became a marketing technique. Kemer Country is one of the best examples of a gated development in the European side of Istanbul near the Belgrade Forest that features these new Turkish style villas. 75 The name immediately implies that there is a ‘country’ within the ‘city’. The country has connotations of greenery and the location near the forest reinforces the idea of creating a healthier environment. While first being marketed, the illustrations showed Kemer Country in a glass – isolated from the surroundings, emphasizing exclusivity. 76 A key concern for the developers of gated communities such as Kemer Country is creating a brand that markets not just a house but a prestigious lifestyle to the buyers. This jargon of ‘lifestyle’ presents itself in the form of communities with high-security surveillance; appeals to the people’s search for a sense of belonging and often have attractive amenities.

In the designs of these villas, one can see strong references to Eldem’s architecture with a low roof line and the projections that are reminiscent of the ‘kosk’. The houses are freestanding with private gardens surrounding them connected by streets creating a neighbourhood.

Fig. 42: The new Turkish style villas of the Kemer Country gated community

The design of these mini-neighbourhoods alludes to the old Turkish villages with village squares, coffee houses, shopping bazaars – subconsciously manipulating people’s longing for these nostalgic elements of traditional settlements. 77 Although these villas are said to be inspired by the old Turkish traditions, Bozdogan points out that Kemer Country and other examples behind their ‘traditional’ façade have large gardens, garages, large pools – pretty typical of a villa that is for higher income groups not just in

Kemer Country manipulates the concept of Ottoman neighbourhood or ‘mahalle’ and reinterprets Eldem’s architectural layout of the traditional Turkish House. The reference to the Ottoman theme of collectiveness is key to marketing these properties where the aforementioned sense of belonging to a community is reiterated. Ironically, the wooden Turkish 75 76

Kemercountry.com. 2014. KEMER COUNTRY. [online] Available at: http://www.kemercountry.com/ [Accessed: 10 Jan 2014]. Togay, N. Ibid, 53.

Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 255-259.

Turkey but in all other western countries. They no longer represent the arts and crafts of the tradition, but mass production of the 21st century.

At the turn of the century, the concept of a ‘gated community’started to become something exquisite with ‘theme parks’. The most recent example that started being built in 2010 is the Bosphorus City located in the Halkali region, 40km west of Istanbul, known for ‘contamination by migrants, crowds, crime, political unrest and traffic mess’ 79 The Simpas Real Estate Investment and Partnership with a highly renowned international team aims to recreate Istanbul in this region by replicating the Bosphorus as a 720 meter long canal of 1.5 meter deep. Facing this artificial Bosphorus are a mix of waterfront yalis inspired by the traditional Turkish house and higherrise luxury towers. 80

These gated communities, besides shelter, provide recreational activities such as communal pools, gyms, green areas, shopping centres, cinemas and even schools for the children. Shopping centres, in their own, are places for consumerism. Some of these are a small shopping street with a supermarket, banks, hairdresser, pharmacy and dry cleaning whereas other ones are targeting people inside the gated communities as well as other citizens with their much larger scale. 78

Fig. 44: Computer rendering of Bosphorus City, Sinpas GYO, Halkali region, Istanbul

Fig. 43: The new Turkish style villas of the Kemer Country gated community, the recreation of the Ottoman neighbourhood (mahalle) to reinforce the sense of belonging. Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 256. Bosphoruscity.com.tr. 2014. BOSPHORUS CITY. [online] Available at: http://bosphoruscity.com.tr/Default.aspx [Accessed: 10 Jan 2014].

79 78

Togay, N. Ibid, 63.

The Urban Renewal of Big Cities The current Turkish government aims to regenerate big cities, especially Istanbul due to her strategic position and seemingly promising economic future. All building activity is regulated by the Mass Housing Administration (TOKI) which has close ties with the current AKP government. TOKI’s residential gentrification projects prove to be highly controversial especially in Istanbul. 81 Since 2002, the local municipalities have full permission to declare any zone as an ‘urban renewal zone’; many of these zones have historical significance and should be preserved as part of the Turkish cultural heritage. 82 Two important cases of this is the renewal of Tarlabasi and the Fener-Balat-Ayvansaray at the heart of the historical Pera-Beyoglu. These are the neighbourhoods where Eldem discovered the beauty of the wooden Turkish house and spent his Sundays sketching details. They were formerly populated by the Armenian, Jewish and Greek communities. Currently, there is a mix of migrants and a large spectrum of urban poor housed in these districts. TOKI claims by changing the architectural scene to ‘more nostalgic, theme-park style reconstructions of imagined or idealized Ottoman mahalles’ 83, the area will gain a higher profile. To an extent this region could benefit from some reconstruction, however, this would come at the high cost of displacing the existing poor far away to TOKI mass building units outside the city where the people have to live in small units paying high rents. While the urban poor are strategically removed from these sites, the richer find themselves in a luxury gated community at the heart of the city.

Fig. 45: The construction of Bosphorus City started in 2010 and now most of the construction is finished and many of the houses are occupied.

In a book titled ‘Milyonluk Manzara: Kentsel Donusumun Resimleri’ (View Worth of a Million: photos of city’s transformation), the striking juxtaposition of the squatter settlements and the new dwellings are

Fig. 46: Traditional Turkish houses remodelled to symbolize the ultimate luxury in Bosphorus City, similarities of these designs to Eldem’s private house commissions are observed.

This new dwelling aimed at upper middle class and the elite create private mini communities in the wider context of the city with promises of prestige. They are also scrutinized for creating a social segregation within Turkey, where there is already an existing deep class division.

81 82 83

Cavdar, A. and Tan, P. Istanbul: Mustesna Sehrin Istisna Hali. (Istanbul: Sel Yayincilik, 2013), 114-118. Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 288-89. Bozdoğan, S. and Akcan, E. Ibid, 290-91.

observed. On one side is a gated community of high rise buildings and immediately next to this is a squatter development. 84

There is heavy security questioning who I am and the reason for my stay in this property – the gated community needs to be secured from the outsiders. Entering through these doors is almost like leaving the reality of Istanbul and entering a fantasy land with greenery, gardens, private parking, sports facilities, indoor and outdoor swimming pools.

Fig. 47: The Juxtaposition of the Nar City development and the urban poor, Zumrutevler, Istanbul, photographed by Saner Sen

This image is striking in that it shows these rather alien new high rise developments in Maltepe, Istanbul on the Anatolian side of the city near the Sabiha Gokcen Airport. I have had the opportunity to stay at a flat in this development called ‘Nar City’ for a month. From personal experience, the movement from the Maltepe metro station to Nar City is like going from a village to a city. The rugged roads at the bottom of the hill give way to brand roads with smells of freshly poured asphalt leading up to this new world above the mountain.

Fig. 48: The high-rises versus the poverty, Esenyurt, Istanbul, photographed by ErenAytug. Another heart-breaking image of the ‘transformation’ of the city is depicted in the below image where the squatter settlements are being swept away to create land for more of these high-rise buildings.

Akşeker, S. Milyonluk manzara. (Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2013), 129-133.

Conclusion Istanbul is a city that has been home to many civilizations from the Eastern European to the Ottoman Empires. The culture of the city is rich best exemplified by its art and architecture. Eldem has had an impact on the city with his efforts of keeping the picturesque Bosphorus whilst adapting the traditional Turkish house to the modern day standards. It is unfortunate that post 1980s, the liberal economy expanded Istanbul to a point where the architecture was not enough to accommodate the poorly migrated population. Eldem’s manner of designing individual houses was not a solution to this problem. With new urban renewal schemes, the poor continue to be neglected and the gap between the rich and the poor deepens. Despite this the city continues to grow with new shopping malls, gated communities and high-rise apartments. This relentless expansion needs to be halted and the city needs to be revised in a context-friendly manner. ‘If there is any consensus on the value of historical consciousness and cultural continuity, then post-Kemalist Turkey cannot afford to reject the architecture of the 1930s in the same way that the architectural culture of the 1930s rejected its Ottoman precedents’. 85

Bozdoğan, S. Modernism and Nation Building. (Seattle, Wash. [u.a.]: Univ. of Washington Press, 2001), 330.

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Image References

Fig. 20 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 47.

Fig. 1 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Sedad Eldem: Architect in Turkey. (Istanbul: Literatur, 2005). 27.

Fig. 21 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 49.

Fig. 2 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 30-31.

Fig. 23 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 101.

Fig. 3 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 32-33.

Fig. 24 Bachmann, M. Ahsap Istanbul. (Istanbul: Istanbul Arastirmalar Enstitusu, 2008). 215.

Fig. 22 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 102.

Fig. 4 Akcan, E. Ceviride modern olan. (Istanbul: YKY, 2009). 207.

Fig. 25 Personal Photo, Istanbul, July 2012. Fig. 5 http://v2.arkiv.com.tr/p7459-tc-cumhurbaskanligi-kosku-pembe-kosk.html Fig. 6 http://v2.arkiv.com.tr/p7459-tc-cumhurbaskanligi-kosku-pembe-kosk.html

Fig. 26 http://icfa.doaks.org/collections/artamonoff/items/show/1859

Fig. 7 http://howtoistanbul.com/en/florya-ataturk-marine-mansion/376

Fig. 27 Bachmann, M. Ibid. 211.

Fig. 8 http://www.galerialfa.com/v2/gravur-galeri.html?artist=33

Fig. 28 Bachmann, M. Ibid. 224.

Fig. 9 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 97.

Fig. 29 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 41,42.

Fig. 10 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 98.

Fig. 30 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 51.

Fig. 11 Kortan, E. and Le Corbusier. Turkish Architecture and Urbanism Through the Eyes of L.C. (Istanbul: Boyut Kitaplari, 2005). 81.

Fig. 31 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 50,52.

Fig. 12 Kortan, E. and Le Corbusier. Ibid. 81.

Fig. 33 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 52.

Fig. 13 Kortan, E. and Le Corbusier. Ibid. 96.

Fig. 34 Bozdogan, S. and Akcan. Ibid. 117.

Fig. 14 Kortan, E. and Le Corbusier. Ibid. 96.

Fig. 35 http://www.heathershimmin.com/le-corbusier

Fig. 15 Kortan, E. and Le Corbusier. Ibid. 106.

Fig. 36 http://v2.arkiv.com.tr/p3271-safyurtlu-kosku-ii.html

Fig. 16 Kortan, E. and Le Corbusier. Ibid. 106.

Fig. 37 http://v2.arkiv.com.tr/p2768-riza-dervis-kosku.html

Fig. 17 Bozdogan, S. and Akcan, E. Turkey. (London: Reaktion Books, 2012). 98.

Fig. 38 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 118.

Fig. 18 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 47.

Fig. 39 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 119.

Fig. 19 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 48.

Fig. 40 http://lsecities.net/media/objects/articles/istanbuls-gecekondus/en-gb/

Fig. 32 Bozdogan, S., Ozkan, S., Yenal, E. and Hollein, H. Ibid. 52.

Fig. 41 Ulku, G. K. 2010. Advertising Media and Housing Production: Gated Communities of Istanbul in the Post-2000s. Graduate. School of Engineering and Sciences of Izmir Institute of Technology. Fig. 42 http://www.evimolsun.com/konut/images/projeler/kemer_country_01.jpg Fig. 43 Suer, D. and Sayar, Y. Y. Mimarlik ve Tuketim. (Istanbul: Boyut Yayin Grubu, 2002). 57. Fig. 44 http://bosphoruscity.com.tr/GenelGorseller.aspx Fig. 45 http://www.tmb.org.tr/firma.php?ID=178 Fig. 46 http://bosphoruscity.com.tr/GenelGorseller.aspx Fig. 47 Akseker, S. Milyonluk manzara. (Istanbul: Iletisim Yayinlari, 2013). 152153. Fig. 48 Akseker, S. Ibid. 66-67.