Rowhouses in Istanbul

7/27/2019 Rowhouses in Istanbul

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of the historical environment has

man-made environment thatugh complex processes willthat cannot be

tothat historic preservation should be

to conserving entire environments and

of an environmentan active urban setting,on the

and financial levels, andt simply questions of structure and

to these new problemsboth the planning

d implementation of preservation projectsto look into the problems of

we had consideredof the problems involved and

data as possible, weabout a project of

and practical experience, in such athat each would benefit from the other

d every step could be refined along the

of rapidis quickly running out

of our historic sites; choosing sitesd taking steps without delay are essential.

e kinds of projects emphasized byof the practical prob

e made. To put it another way, the criteriaand

data are collected to take these

Reuse of Nineteenth Century Rowhouses m Istanbul 60Afife BaturNur FersanAtilla Yucel

level before the choice of site is actuallymade. The criteria that we will list here wereof course designed to fit a specificallyTurkish context.As we all know, Turkey is in a period ofrapid change. The acceleration of change inthe socioeconomic structure started slowlyin the course of the last century and thenincreased with the establishment of theRepublic, especially in the 1950s. Theproportion of urban to total populationincreased from 18.5 percent in 1950 to 33.5percent in 1970 to 41 percent in 1975. Inround numbers these figures represent anincrease in the total urban popUlation oftwelve million people in 25 years; most ofthe increase has been in the largest centres,causing cities like Istanbul, Ankara andIzmir to become metropolitan areas. Turkeyis clearly becoming an urbanized country.Urbanization has reached particularlyuncontrollable and problematic dimensionsin Istanbul, which shows the highest social,economic and cultural mobility rates inTurkey. I t pays dearly for this growth interms of the destruction of its historic areasand its natural environment. Speculation inurban real estate is far too profitable topermit any optimism regarding the preservation of Istanbul's architectural heritage ifit is left unattended. In addition, the lack ofany viable housing policy and organization,despite provisions for them in the constitution and the laws, makes the picture one ofunremitting gloom: immense squatter settlements, a devasted natural environmentand a disappearing architectural heritage.The picture is by no means atypical indeveloping countries. Undoubtedly thegreatest amount of destruction is concentrated in the units that form the urbantexture, structure and appearance, especiallythe residential areas. As a result of thisdestruction, housing is disappearing and theurban landscape becoming deformed,adding still more to the cultural loss.In Turkey, the inclusion of housing into the"historical preservation area" concept isquite recent. Law 1710, passed in 1973,provides for the preservation of monumentsand historic areas; it does not even mentionthe word "house" or "residential housing" in

its first article, where all those structuresdestined for protection are separatelylisted. The law considered palaces, seasidevillas (yalz) and kiosks worth preserving, butnot residential buildings. While the Constitution orders our forests to be conserved, itoffers no legal protection for our urbanarchitectural heritage.Nevertheless, through the concerted effortsof interested people and strengthened by theinfluence of the European ArchitecturalHeritage Year, public support was musteredin the defense of residential dwellings.Significant steps have since been taken tomake Law 1710 more comprehensive andeffective.Law 7116, passed in 1958, placed housingpolicy under the jurisdiction of the Ministryof Reconstruction and Settlements; solutions to housing problems were consideredto be its chief responsibility. However, theresponse of this Ministry to the idea ofpreserving our architectural heritage has notprovided much ground for optimism. Thehousing administration's social researchdepartment has conducted several studies onthe squatter problem, but has kept wellaway from the subject of evaluating historical, or even just existing, building stock.We therefore embarked on our study toencourage the development of proposals toevaluate the existing housing stock, a needso long neglected. The method we evolved torealize both theoretical and practical aimsrequired a number of steps. The first phaseincluded the determination of criteria for theselection of area and scale, then finding theareas and units that fit those criteria. Wewould then conduct test studies in one of theareas that seemed to fit and which includedcertain varieties of urban units, to seewhether the criteria worked. The secondphase involved making a preservation andadaptive reuse plan for the area finallyselected, and designing the actual project.The criteria we finally chose for determiningthe project site were as follows (disregardingquestions of procedure and priority for thetime being): the capacity of the building tosubstitute for new construction, includingassessment of all the possible functions itmight perform, its adaptability to them, and


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61 Reuse of Nineteenth Century Rowhouses in Istanbul

KEY:IIIIl Historic centre WI Settlement areasLocation of the nineteenth century rowhouses in IstanbulPhoto. A Batur, et al

a financial analysis of the comparative costsinvolved; its physical condition (e.g., light orheavy restoration needed); and finally, thelocal administrative decision system thatwould be involved if the project wereundertaken. Our architectural qualificationsincluded an assessment of the building'Squalities, its historical importance, its type,the population density of its location, and itsvalue in terms of its part icular genre. Wealso considered the urban context: transportation facilities; the availability of utilities, services, administration; its ownership(private individual, corporate, foundation orpublic); and the limits of its flexibility forcorrelation with other urban planning.We chose Istanbul as the most likely city inwhich to find our proposed rehabilitationarea, because of the variety and complexityof that city's problems. To limit the scale ofour project, we selected the nineteenthcentury rowhouse as our typological unit.

Most of these buildings are still structurallysound, although they lack sufficient upkeep.Though currently in a state of neglect, theycould be renovated at low cost with onlyminor restoration. As small units, therowhouses were eminently suitable forpreservation efforts by a group our size.They were in marginal settlement areas, andtherefore largely outside those parts of thecity subject to speculative value fluctuations.Thus the immediate environs were undamaged, and the preservation area itselfwas physically intact. The fact that the rowhouses were in part common property wasconsidered an advantage for operation andutilization of resources. They were easy totypify and standardize, and appearedeconomically suitable for group renovationdesign and techniques.The next step was to test our criteria. Weidentified regions where rowhouses (oftenbuilt as temporary housing for those left

homeless after fires) and buildings ofreligious foundations (vakfs) and workingclass or service-personnel housing werelocated. After roughly determining theseregions, we began to narrow our search. Wesurveyed the areas, and the results of thesesurveys were recorded on maps (scale1/1000). Photographs and descriptions ofeach rowhouse were made and inventorycards drawn up. The buildings of each areawere catalogued, classified according to theirlayout, planimetry, elevation and groupcharacteristics. Measured drawings of typical buildings in about seventy locales weremade; these were translated into a 1/200scale diagrammatic presentation techniqueto enable typological classification, and aninitial typification experiment was performed.The final step was to determine how suitablethe inhabitants in each area were for a reuseproject, by collecting data on demographic

Arnavutkoy, Istanbul: Bakkal Street rowhousesPhoto: A Batur, et al


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Reuse of Nineteenth Century Rowhouses in Istanbul 62

characteristics (see Appendix). Included inthe data we collected were family type,standard of living, utilization of the housesand current demands in housing. The attitude of the user toward the house wasparticularly emphasized, since this woulddirectly affect any rehabilitation decisions.Attempts were also made to determine towhat extent these nineteenth century designswere fulfilling the needs of their twentiethcentury users. The kinds and directions ofany changes envisaged by the inhabitantswere also investigated.

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.....111..1. . 11._ gR l _Rowhouse typification scheme: Fener, Kumkapl,Balat districtsPhoto A Batur, et al

Over most of its two thousand year historyIstanbul has been the capital of empires,lending enormous variety to its culturalheritage. Beginning as the capital of thelargest political organization in the paganworld, it then became the centre of theChristian world, and the capital of the firstlarge Christian empire and civilization; then,

Rowhouse distribution in the Fener district, IstanbulPhoto A Batur, et al

after the Muslim conquest, it became-and'remains-one of the cultural centres of theIslamic world. The material and spiritualmemories of all these different cultures haveaccumulated, lived together, amalgamatedand integrated in modern Istanbul.In the nineteenth century, as the OttomanEmpire gradually declined and the Westernworld began to impose itself in the East, thegeneral cultural patterns of the West alsoimposed themselves on this already heterogeneous texture. The rowhouse was introduced into housing architecture duringthis period. The history and characteristicsof this particular housing form have no t yetbeen sufficiently investigated, bu t we knowthat all of them can be dated to the secondhalf of the nineteenth century and that theywere houses of the petite and middlebourgeoisie. Their location in the city andtheir archi tectural characteristics both reflectthe emergence of that class. Even though the

row house as a type had no place in thetraditional urban structure of the Ottomancity, it had a significant development in thehistory and sociology of the period. Thedistribution and position of the rowhousesleft in the city today can provide data aboutcertain developmental trends in Istanbul inthe nineteenth century and about thegeography of social groups in the capital.The row houses did not greatly alter theexisting street-lot texture, but they did bringabout a new house-street relation as a resultof their tendency to form units with thestreets in which they were located. Thetopography of Istanbul has made specialcontributions to these morphological unitsat certain places; these qualities alone justifytheir preservation as environmental units.Rowhouses are a typological category ofWestern origin and undoubtedly reflectnineteenth century Western architecturalstyles. But the cultural pluralism which


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Befiktaf, Akaretler rowhousesPhoto: A. Batur, et al

Karakol Street, Milhurdar district rowhouses 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35Photo: A. Batur, et al

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Istanbul derives from its own history hashere provided a unique flavour. In Istanbul,extant neo-Renaissance and neo-Baroqueelements have yielded an original synthesisin the hands of the anonymous rowhousebuilders.In conclusion, the most important finding ofour study was undoubtedly the need toconserve our vernacular architecturethrough adaptive reuse, and to impress theimportance of this need not only on thepublic authorities but also on the popUlationas a whole.

AppendixThe following Social Survey Form was used to documentthe Istaubul row houses in terms of individual userreactionGENERAL INFORMATIONI) City the survey is conducted in:Country:District:Street:House number:

Utilization of the building:Basement: First floor:Second floor: Third floor:Number of rooms: Total an,a: . . . . . . . . m'2) Please list the residents of this house, starting withthe head of the family:Name Relation to Head of Family Sex

I23456AgeI23456JobI23456

Birthplace Education

Work Place

Monthly income of head of family:MOBILITY3) How long have you been living in Istanbul?Year: . . . Month: . . . Day: . . .4) How long have you been living in thisneighbourhood?Year: . . Month: . . . Day: . . .5) How long have you been living in this house?Year: . . . Month: . .. Day: . .


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Reuse of Nineteenth Century Rowhouses in Istanbul 64

6) Where did you live before coming here?What was your reason for moving here?7) Was your job the same or different before youmoved?Same job: . . . . Different job: . . .8) Has there been any change in your monthly income?Yes: . . . No: . . . Did it increase? . . .

STATE OF OWNERSHIP9) Are you the owner?Yes: . . . If you sold your house, how much wouldyou ask for it?No: . . How much rent are you paying?10) If you moved to a rental house, what would be themaximum rent you could afford to pay?

Befiktaf. Akaretler rowhousesPhoto: A Batur. et al

IDEAS ABOUT THE HOUSE11) Are you satisfied with your home?Yes: Why? .No: Why? . . .Partially: Why? .12) Do you consider moving out?Yes: . . . . No: . . . .13) If not, why don't you move to another place?14) If you would or could move, which district wouldyou like to move into? . . . .Why that district? . .IS) If you would or could move, what kind of housewould you like to live in?16) Do you think that your home now meets all theneeds of your family?Yes: . No: . . . .

17) If not, what is lacking?18) Are you satisfied with the sunlight and ventilation

your home gets?Yes: . No: . . . . Partially: ...19) Which of the following does your house have?Running water: . Electricity:.. Gas: . . . .Connection to sewage system: . . . .Central heating: . . . . W C: .. .Bathtub-shower: . . . . Kitchen:20) Do you have a garden?Yes: . . . . No: . . .21) If yes, are you satisfied with your garden?Yes, why? .. No, why?UTILIZATION OF INTERIOR22) Where do you eat at home? Why? . . .Is this space sufficient? . .23) Which room do you use as the living room? ..Why? . . Is this space sufficient?24) Where do the parents sleep? .. . Why? . . . .Is this space sufficient? . . .2S) Where do the child ren sleep? . Why? . . . .Is this space sufficient? . . . .26) Where do the grandparents-if any-sleep? . . . .Why? ... Is this space sufficient? '"27) Where do you cook? . . . .Is this space enough? .28) Where do you peel the vegetables? . . . .29) Where do you do the laundry? ..30) Do you do ironing?

I f yes, where? . . . . No: . . .31) Do you do quilting? If yes, where? . . . . No:32) Do the children have a separate room? . . .33) Where do they play? . . . .34) Where do they study? . . . .3S) If there is a baby in the family, where does it sleep in

the evening? '"Where does it sleep during the day? .. .NEIGHBOURHOOD RELATIONS36) Are there noisy people in your neighbourhood? . . .

If yes, who are they? . No: ...37) Do you consider your neighbourhood crowded?If yes, why? .. If no, why? . . .38) Do you consider the buildings in your neighbourhood beautiful? .. , .If yes, why? "I f no, why? . . .Partiallv, why? . . . .No answer: . .

NEIGHBOURLY RELATIONS39) With how many of your neighbours do you haveclose relations? . . . .40) Do your neighbours get along well amongthemselves?Yes: No: . . . .Partially: . No answer:4 I) How often do you visit your close neighbours? ..42) Where else do you come together with theseneighbours?43) What do you do during your vacations? ..44) Do you have any relatives living on the same streetwith you?Yes: . . . . No: . . . .4S) Do you have any relatives living in the same districtwith you?Yes: . . No: ...46) Have you at some earlier time had relatives living onthe same street or in the same neighbourhood?Yes: Where did they move to? . . .Why? No: ...

URBAN ACTIVITIES47) Where do you do your daily shopping? . . . .48) How often do you shop at the market place? .


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49) How often do you shop around Beyazit?50) How often do you shop around Beyoglu?51) Which of the following would you like to liveclose to?I Market2 Coffee shop3 Entertainment places . . .4 School . . .5 Park .. .6 Bus stop . . .7 Close to all . . . .8 Other52) Which of the following do you own?I Ca r :.2 Bicycle3 Motorcycle4 Other . . . .5 None . . .

53) Do you plan to purchase any of the above that youdon't have?Yes: .. Which one(s)? ..No: Why? .,54) Do you know of any additions that have been madeto this house since it was first built?Yes: . . What?No: . . .55) Does your house need plastering and repair?Yes: . No: .. Partially: .56) Would you have liked any changes inside the house?Yes: No: . . .57) If yes, what ale they?58) Could you afford to pay for this change?Yes: . . How much?No: . .59) Do you consider the old houses in your neighbour-hood worth conserving?Yes, why? No, why? .Partially:60) If you had to move because the house needed repairswould you want to return to the same house whenthey were completed?Yes:. . . No: . Undecided: ...61) What do you think is necessary to improve these oldhouses?

62) Would you want to help repair the house yourself?63) If the residents of your neighbourhood founded anorganization to repair houses, would you join thatorganization?64) If the State were to loan money for the repair ofyour house, how much could you allocate from yourbudget each month to pay back your debt?

Observations:

Surveyor: Date:Ki1lham Street, Fener district rowhouses 7, 9, 11Photo A Batur, et al

Documents

Rowhouses in Istanbul