How Traditional Ottoman Houses Affect Contemporary Architecture in Turkey*

  Abstract In the twentieth century after the advent of republicanism in Turkey, nationalistic and regional approaches were at odd s with approaches influenced by the West in search of Turkish identity in architectural works. For this reason, this interested Turkish architectures to pay attention to their native architecture and urbanism during Ottoman era. In this context, traditional houses came to the fore as the key to achieving Turkish identity in architecture in the course of the second nationalist movement in modern times, and thereafter it was developed by following generation of Turkish architectures. The acclaimed modern features lying in the architecture of the houses and customs representing the Turkish civil identity have turned them into a symbol of contemporary Turkish identity in this course of action.   Ottoman tradition of house construction and its effect on Turks' architecture in the course of the second nationalist movement in Turkey's contemporary architecture have made the study of Turkish architectures' transition from tradition to modernity a significant issue, which is addressed in this paper. The results of the seminal works by the second nationalist leaders as to Turkey's architecture were here approached in terms of how they were impressed by the architecture of Ottoman traditional houses, which were divided into three categories and the architectural characteristics of each of them were analyzed and compared.