CIPA 2003 XIX th International Symposium, 30 September - 04 October, 2003, Antalya, Turkey
A heavy traffic exists in the streets to the west of the
river as well as in Harbiye, Hiirriyet and Kurtulu? Streets
around the historical tissue. This density decreases in smaller
streets and dead-ends. Parking problems can be observed on
the intersections of wide streets. The pedestrian traffic
density shows parallelism to the vehicular traffic density.
Building Functions:
Most of the buildings within the study area were
constructed as a dwelling. However, along the edges of wide
streets buildings have commercial activities on ground floors
and residential functions on upper floors. The monuments
within the tissue are: 5 churches (2 of them being traditional),
3 mosques (all traditional), 1 sinagog, 1 hamam (traditional),
19 public buildings (7 of them having neoclassical features).
Orthodox and Catholic Churches have service buildings
nearby. The administrative center of the city is located to the
west of the study area and the river, namely around
Cumhuriyet Square. Many public and cultural buildings exist
here. 70% of the buildings in the study area are still used with
their original function.
The traditional houses in the study area are one or
two storeys. Eight buildings have basements, too. The
buildings on Kurtulu§ Street with neoclassical features can
also be seen in the study area and they are usually higher than
two storeys. The multi storey apartments to the east of the
river cut the relationship of the historical tissue with the rest
of the city. This creates both visual and climatic problems as
those high buildings do not let the wind go to the inner parts.
Ownership Pattern
90% of the building lots in the area are owned
privately. 5 lots are owned by the Orthodox Church
Foundation, 11 lots by the Treasury, 1 lot by the Municipality
of Antakya, 1 lot by the Sarimiye Mosque Foundation. 1 lot
owned by the Treasury is currently used by the Turkish
Association of Veterans. 49% of the users are landlords
whereas the rest pay a rent.
Construction Technique and Material:
The widespread construction technique in the area are
stone masonry with timber skeleton roof and stone masonry
at ground floor with timber skeleton at upper floors and
timber skeleton roof. Most of the upper floors have been
altered into reinforced concrete whereas in some examples
both storeys have been altered. Timber is the most common
material used in the construction of floors. However, there
are examples in which I beams were added to reinforce and
support the timber floor structure. Moreover, in many
examples screed is used as the finishing material of the
floors. Roofs are made of timber and pitched. Some examples
were altered into renforced concrete flat roofs.
Although none of the traditional buildings are
plastered originally, except the timber frame parts, today
almost all of the buildings are plastered even painted by the
inhabitants. In the south-western part of the area, the
traditional buildings are lime plastered and painted on the
ground floors and upper floors. In the north-eastern part
buildings are only painted. All the new buildings are cement
plastered.
Structural Condition:
Most of the buildings in the study area are
structurally sound and the damaged ones do not form a
subarea in the general tissue.Yet, the buildings to the
nortwest of the quarter, which are perpendicular to the slope,
present dampness problems. There is no material problem in
the area. On the other hand, the buildings can be grouped
under four categories from lighter damaged to heavier one
according to their structural deterioration. The least important
and more common deterioration type is plaster deterioration.
In the second group, there are buildings which have problems
in finisihing material and floor materials whereas in third
group there are buildings which have deteriorations in
structural materials and roof materials. In the area, 35% of
the buildings are in good condition, 25% of the buildings
have slight damage, 15% of the buildings have moderate
damage and 25% of the buildings have severe damage. 3 of
the buildings are ruined.
Current Spatial Uses:
When spaces are examined, it is observed that
basements are used as a depot and storage. Service spaces
and living rooms which are also used as a bedroom are
placed at ground floors. Moreover this situation is very
common at upper floors, too. There are few examples where
service spaces are placed at upper floors. In two examples
which were rent by the Catholic Church basements are used
as a music room and guest room.
Architectural Characteristics:
In traditional Antakya houses that are rich in terms of
architectural elements, the elements such as door, window,
ceiling and cupboards were examined and the typologies
were produced. According to these typologies, there are
different combinations of use in Antakya Houses. The
interventions done in time were determined with the
originality of the architectural elements and the
characteristics of the periods were tried to be clarified. With
the richness and the order of the architectural elements and
the information collected from the inhabitants, original plan
schemes and original space functions were determined.
Building plan and facade typologies were produced
according to this survey. In these typologies, the relations of
building lot-building-courtyard were examined and courtyard
was taken as the primary element. Plan schemes that were
developed according to the courtyard, were analyzed with
different building lot shapes and locations. Therefore a
building lot typology was produced.
As a result of these analyses, 6 plan types were
determined in the houses of the area. These are; Group A in
which service spaces and living spaces are located in a single
building mass situated in the courtyard, Group B in which
service and living spaces are located with different
combinations in two building masses situated in the
courtyard, Group C in which service and living spaces are
located in three building masses situated in the courtyard,
Group D in which two building masses were located as an L
shape in the courtyard and finally Group E in which a single
block is located in a building lot without a courtyard. These
are late period traditional dwellings.
In the first floor plan typology, the location of
staircase reaching the upper floor - from courtyard or in
building - and the passages between the rooms were
determined. According to this survey, Group A is composed
of the plan schemes in which the access to the upper floor is
in the courtyard and Group B is composed of the plan in
which the stair is located in the building, in mabeyn, a local
type of cupboard. These two groups are divided into two due
to the existence of the semi open space at upper floor.
When the original space use is examined, it can be
seen that ground floors are composed of service and living
spaces together with the courtyard.
The importance of the courtyard is reflected to the
courtyard facade. Although the early period dwellings are
close to each other and face the courtyards, in later periods
windows looking towards the street can be observed in street
facades. These types of elements show the interventions and
alterations done in later periods. Therefore facade typology is
limited to the courtyard facades. On the other hand all of the