Traditional Alanya Houses and Sustainability Characteristics in the Example of Alanya Eray Erdem House

Abstract

Traditional houses, which are one of the greatest treasures of our cultural heritage, are important in terms of informing future generations about the present, showing the richness of our culture and documenting the technique used and should be protected. Traditional houses, which are the best representatives of our cultural heritage, are not only historical, cultural and aesthetic documents, but also sustainable examples in today's architectural understanding. If we define sustainability as sustaining life in environmental, social and economic terms, it is seen that traditional houses support sustainable life today as they did when they were first built. Traditional houses have features that respect nature, the environment and people. These buildings have features such as the use of local materials, suitability to the climate, etc. context, the fact that the building was built within the framework of the living culture of the period, being able to accommodate a large family, durability, and even not harming nature in recycling. In today's Turkey, the number of traditional Turkish houses with sustainable features that form a part of our history is gradually decreasing due to reasons such as unconsciousness of individuals, rapid sociocultural, economic change and unplanned urbanization. However, it is of great importance to transfer our cultural assets to future generations in terms of historical continuity. Instead of eliminating traditional Turkish houses, ways of rehabilitating and using them should be sought. Traditional Turkish houses should be integrated into the present day not only from a historical and cultural point of view, but also because of the sustainable human values they harbor. Alanya is a settlement on the Mediterranean coast, east of Antalya and west of Mersin. It has played an important role throughout history due to its location on the Eastern Mediterranean trade route. Until the mid-19th century, the residences in Alanya were located inside the castle. Later, traditional residences were built outside the castle. These houses, which are old and abandoned today, are important structures with their traditional and sustainable values as well as their material values. In this study, the studies on Eray Erdem House, which is planned to be reused as a residence by preserving the sustainable features of the traditional Turkish house, will be presented. In addition to literature review, on-site observation, photography methods, the change that the building has undergone is explained by making explanations through restoration projects. It is concluded that Eray Erdem House, which was built in accordance with the sustainable life of its period, is suitable for both urban memory and sustainable architecture understanding today and necessary suggestions are made.