AGAINST STYLE: RE-READING “NEW ARCHITECTURE” IN EARLY REPUBLICAN PERIOD IN TURKEY (1931-1940) A Thesis Submitted to The Graduate School of Engineering and Sciences of İzmir Institute of Technology In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Architecture by Bilgen DÜNDAR September 2011 İZMİR We approve the thesis of Bilgen DÜNDAR __________________________________ Assist. Prof. Dr. Şebnem YÜCEL Supervisor __________________________________ Assist. Prof. Dr. Erdem ERTEN Co-Supervisor __________________________________ Assist. Prof. Dr. Fehmi DOĞAN Committee Member __________________________________ Assist. Prof. Dr. Adile AVAR Committee Member __________________________________ Assist. Prof. Dr. Ufuk ERSOY Committee Member __________________________ Assist. Prof. Dr. Özlem ARITAN Committee Member 16 September 2011 ___________________________________ ________________________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Serdar KALE Prof. Dr. Sedat AKKURT Head of the Department of Architecture Dean of the Graduate School of Engineering and Sciences ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I wish to express my thanks and appreciation to my supervisor Assist. Prof. Dr. ġebnem YÜCEL for her continued interest in my work, her constant support, guidance and encouragement. I would like to thank my co-supervisor Assist. Prof. Dr. Erdem ERTEN for his critics, suggestions and encouragement throughout the study. I would also like to thank Assist. Prof. Dr. Fehmi DOĞAN, Assist. Prof. Dr. Adile AVAR and Assist. Prof. Dr. Ufuk ERSOY for their contributions to mature this dissertation. I would like to express my special thanks to my colleague Dr. Ülkü ĠNCEKÖSE for her encouragement, valuable critics and suggestions especially in difficult times. I would also like to thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özlem ERDOĞDU ERKARSLAN to provide suitable milieu and time for me in the University. I am thankful to Nedret ÇELEBĠ for her patience and her sensitive editing of the final text. Above all, I am grateful to my family for their encouragement, great patience and unconditional help. Finally, I am very much grateful to my husband Ali DÜNDAR who has always provided a suitable atmosphere for me to concentrate on my study and his inexhaustible patience. To Mira goes my love and thanks for her stolen time. ABSTRACT AGAINST STYLE: RE-READING ―NEW ARCHITECTURE‖ IN EARLY REPUBLICAN PERIOD IN TURKEY (1931-1940) This dissertation is intended as a contribution to the understanding of modernization in the early Republican period (ERP) architecture, namely including the neglected attitudes. It criticizes the stylistic periodizations such as ―National Style‖ and ―International Style‖ and rigid classifications such as classifications of Sedad Hakkı Eldem only as the forerunner of national architecture and Seyfi Arkan only as the forerunner of the international architecture in Turkey. This study aims to transcend these reified categories by presenting the varieties and contradictory approaches that existed in architectural theory and practice. This dissertation aims to develop a new reading of the ERP architecture by questioning the categories that were constructed by the first generation of architectural historians who produced their texts between 1973 and 1983. The main aim of this dissertation is to show simultaneous existence of different modernities in the ERP architecture. By revealing different understandings of new architecture in architectural theory, architectural pedagogy and architectural practice, this dissertation focuses on the heterogeneity of the architectural milieu. The first generation of architectural historians constructed the ERP architecture with Euro-centric set of theories, and with conventions such as categorizations and stylistic periodizations. They also read that period‘s architecture within the frame of the nation-building process. In their texts, the architecture followed a linear and progressive modernization process, paralleling the nation-building process. By tracing the different understandings of modern architecture in architectural theory and tracing different tendencies of architects in architectural practice, this dissertation aims to question not only the categorizations and stylistic periodizations, but also this linear and progressive modernization ideal. iv ÖZET STĠLE KARġI: TÜRKĠYE‘DE ERKEN CUMHURĠYET DÖNEMĠ‘NDE ―YENĠ MĠMARLIK‖ IN YENĠDEN OKUNMASI (1931-1940) Bu tez gözardı edilmiĢ tavırları analiz ederek erken cumhuriyet dönemindeki modernleĢme anlayıĢına bir katkı koymayı amaçlar. ÇalıĢma ―Milli Stil‖ ve ―Uluslarası Stil‖ gibi stil temelli dönemleĢtirmeleri ve Sedad Hakkı Eldem‘i sadece milli mimarlığın öncüsü olarak ve Seyfi Arkan‘ı da sadece Uluslarası Stil‘in Türkiye‘deki öncüsü olarak sınıflandıran katı sınıflandırmaları eleĢtirir. Bu çalıĢma mimarlık teorisi ve mimarlık pratiğindeki çeĢitlikleri ve çeliĢkili yaklaĢımları ortaya koyarak böyle ―ĢeyleĢtirilen‖ kategorileri aĢmayı amaçlar. Bu tez metinlerini 1973 ve 1983 arasında üretmiĢ olan ilk kuĢak mimarlık tarihçilerinin söylemlerini sorgulayarak, erken cumhuriyet dönemi mimarlığına dair yeni bir okuma geliĢtirmeyi amaçlar. Bu çalıĢmanın temel amacı erken cumhuriyet döneminde aynı anda var olan farklı moderniteleri ortaya koymaktır. Yeni mimarlığın mimarlık teorisinde, mimarlık eğitiminde ve mimarlık pratiğindeki farklı anlayıĢlarını ortaya çıkararak, erken cumhuriyet dönemi mimarlık ortamının heterojenliği üzerine odaklanır. Ġlk kuĢak mimarlık tarihçileri erken cumhuriyet dönemi mimarlığını Avrupa- merkezli teoriler ile ve kategorileĢtirme ile stil temelli dönemleĢtirmeler aracılığı ile kurmuĢlardır. Bu dönem mimarlığını ulus-devlet kurma süreci çerçevesinde okumuĢlardır. Tarihçilerin metinlerinde mimarlık, ulus-devlet kurma sürecine paralel olarak lineer ve ilerlemeci bir modernleĢme sürecinin içinde yer alır. Bu çalıĢma, erken cumhuriyet dönemi mimarlık ortamındaki farklı anlayıĢların, farklı eğilimlerin, farklı tavırların izini sürerek sadece tarihçilerin kurgulamıĢ olduğu kategorileri ve stil temelli dönemleĢtirmeleri değil, bu lineer ve ilerlemeci modernleĢme idealini de sorgulamayı amaçlar. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURE ........................................................................................................ viii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE EARLY REPUBLICAN PERIOD ARCHITECTURE IN BETWEEN 1973 AND 1983 ............... 8 CHAPTER 3. DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF THE ―NEW‖ IN EARLY REPUBLICAN ARCHITECTURE ....................................................... 18 3.1. The Revolutionary Mission of Architecture in the Cultural Policy of the New Republic .......................................................................... 19 3.2. Diversities of Understanding and Describing New Architecture: Arkitekt .............................................................................................. 27 3.2.1. The Articles on ―New Architecture‖ ............................................ 29 3.2.2. Translations .................................................................................. 34 3.3. Theoretical Variety Regarding New Architecture .............................. 39 3.3.1. Definition of the Old Turkish House ........................................... 47 3.3.2. ―Cubism‖ in the Early Republican Period ................................... 52 CHAPTER 4. NON-STYLISTIC ARCHITECTURAL PEDAGOGIES IN THE EARLY REPUBLICAN PERIOD ........................................................ 64 4.1. Between Classicism and Modernism: Vedad Tek .............................. 67 4.2. Against Euro-centric Modernism: Ernst Egli, Bruno Taut, Sedad Hakkı Eldem ........................................................................................ 72 4.3. Seyfi Arkan‘s Struggle in the Academy .............................................. 83 CHAPTER 5. INSTRUMENTALIZATION OF RATIONALIZATION: THE RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE .............................................. 87 5.1. Rationalization of the Vernacular ........................................................ 87 5.1.1. To Reconcile the ―Vernacular‖ with the ―Modern‖ ...................... 87 5.1.2. Spatial Interpretations of the Old Turkish House .......................... 99 vi 5.1.2.1. Taming the Vernacular ......................................................... 99 5.1.2.2. The Integration of Turkish House with the Modern .......... 104 5.2. Rationalization in terms of Standardization: The Notion of Type ..... 113 5.2.1. The Notion of Type as ―Conventionalization‖ ............................ 114 5.2.2. The Notion of Type Regarding Economical Design ................... 122 5.3. Rationalization in terms of Stripping the Ornament off .................... 132 5.4. Rationalization in terms of Minimalism ............................................ 136 CHAPTER 6. THE INFLUENCES OF NEW ARCHITECTURE IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS ....................................................................................... 141 6.1. Questioning the Relationship between Building and City ................. 141 6.2. Questioning the Articulation of Different Masses ............................ 149 6.3. Questioning the Façade ..................................................................... 158 6.4. Plan Organization: Dissolution of the Boundaries among Spaces .... 166 6.5. Space as a Volume: Dissolution of the Boundaries among Spaces ... 173 CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................