Places Peproduced by Imitation; The Example of Themed Hotels

Abstract

Before the Industrial Revolution, production is made individually. With the Industrial Revolution, standardization and serialization began in production. Thus, the goods, which were produced individually with the help of machines, started to be produced in a similar way as one another. As a result, when we come to the postmodern age, people have turned into consumers who wear the same clothes and use the same products. The society has become the same over the objects it produces and consumes, and people who have become consumers have abandoned their individual identities and become members of the society that are copies of each other. The similarity and sameness on products and individuals has also found a place in art. Reproduction of existing works of art has emerged with technological means. Artists preferred the way of ‘reproducing’ by copying instead of reproducing. Building production was also affected by these developments. In fact, imitation in building production is not a new phenomenon. While creating spaces, people have always followed the traces of their predecessors. Sometimes this situation is encountered in the form of copying the same architectural element and sometimes in the form of interpreting a form. Especially in the 18th century, movements such as neo-classicism, which emerged as a reaction to different searches, are an imitation of the ancient architecture beyond its interpretation and even interpretation. However, in the 20th century, beyond the search for architectural aesthetics, social dynamics became a priority in the production of space. The changing understanding of urbanization and increasing housing demand after the Second World War, the mass production and prototyping motto of the Industrial Revolution, and economic expectations have been the determinants of space design. This period, supported by the discourses of modernity, led to the emergence of mass production spaces. These similar spaces have begun to evolve in a different direction with the changing user expectations and postmodernist movements over time. In the globalizing world, the concepts of time and space have undergone a change in meaning and have been played with perceptions of reality and truth. Users have begun to expect a space to satisfy their hedonic feelings beyond being functional, practical and aesthetic. The experiences of being different, living in a fantasy world by breaking away from their real time and place, being everywhere or anywhere while being somewhere, and being beyond time have given birth to the non-places of the postmodern age. Today’s non-places (terminals, banks, hotels, shopping malls, etc.) are similar to each other all over the world and establish the same type of relations with the user with the same identities. At this point, the act of imitation plays an important role in moving the non-places from one point to another. By imitating the ready-made images that have taken place in the user’s memory, it brings a historical structure and culture to this time, creates a new time and place for itself. It builds relationships with the user on ready-made images that it imitates. What is done here is actually the reproduction of an existing structure through formal and symbolic similarities. The issue of imitation in design is a controversial and often accepted situation. However, while the production and acceptance of other products repeatedly shows the success of that product, this repetition in building production is perceived as a situation that reduces the value of the building (Güzer, 2007). Among contemporary structures, there is production by imitation. However, it is an architectural adaptation of a mass production model that is out there. Similar residences, shopping malls, hotels, architectural elements and equipment are the results of this model. However, the problem addressed in this study is the reproduction of an existing structure belonging to another time at this time. In both cases, an architectural space is produced by imitation. But in the first, function is important. There is also a similarity of function among similar forms. However, this is not possible due to the change in social life norms in imitation of historical structure. A connection cannot be established between the function and form of a space produced with this model, the space cannot find a place of its own in the place and time it is located, and rootless spaces with no context emerge. Today, historical buildings are revived by being reproduced in many building types with different functions. This situation has been frequently encountered in consumption places such as theme and amusement parks, shopping centers and hotels in recent years. Shopping malls resembling a medieval forum, parks resembling Ottoman walls, hotels resembling palaces transform the concepts of historicity into consumption objects and acquire a theme for themselves. Examples of this are most common in hotels. Hotels, which are the most sought-after tourism venues with the changing understanding of travel in the postmodern era, apply to different themes in order to attract more tourists and to stand out in this competitive environment. Themed hotels take an object, idea or historical structure known to the general public as a concept, and apply this in a formal, functional or just business approach. The most common theme among themed hotels is the reproduction of a historical building. The delusion of being in the past and in a different culture is presented to the post-tourist through place.