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