An alternative housing experiment by the housing administration of Turkey: Ankara, Eryaman stage III.

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Thesis Type: Postgraduate

Institution Of The Thesis: Middle East Technical University, Turkey

Approval Date: 2016

Thesis Language: English

Student: Gülnur Güler Kavas

Co-Supervisor: AYDAN BALAMİR, ALİ CENGİZKAN

Abstract:

This thesis aims to analyze the alternative position of Eryaman III at the urban and neighborhood scales in terms of its production process and design quality. First, it discusses the ways Eryaman Stages III and IV represent an alternative in terms of design and production among the first four stages led by TOKİ since the 1980s in Eryaman. To this end, it reviews TOKİ’s publications that are representative of its institutional characteristics in the early 1990s, the influential actors and the critical urban planning decisions in the establishment of the Eryaman neighborhood. In addition, it examines the mass housing and urban design theories in post-1960 Europe, considering the theoretical approaches on issues such as typomorphology, urban block and street as patterns of associations adopted by the architects of Eryaman III, Ahmet Gülgönen and Tuncay Çavdar. Through a selection of Gülgönen’s and Çavdar’s design practices prior to Eryaman III, it compares their respective design approaches in terms of continuity and discontinuity between selected projects. Finally, it examines how the physical environments created by these two groups of housing located opposite to each other constitute alternatives to each other in their effort to establish social associations. The study uses a multilayered methodology, including documentation, observation, semi-structured interviews and diagrammatic analysis demonstrate the formal relationships of the urban fabric. The conclusion section asserts that Eryaman III with its production and design characteristics still stands out as a reference for current mass housing production.