The Traditional Residential Architecture in Historic City Center of Sarayönü and Suggestions for Conservation

Abstract

Traditional residential architecture is a tangible and spatial cultural heritage shaped with geography, history and life experience surrounding it. Sarayönü county of Konya has been by its ancient history and cultural diversity and it is home to traditional residential buildings. These constructions are concentrated around Pir Hüseyin Bey Mosque where is the historic center of the town. The population movement observed in recent years and the new settlements built in the county have made the traditional buildings in the historic center idle or to be abandoned. Idle and abandoned traditional buildings disappear due to negligence, misuse, fire and destructive effects of nature. These losses threaten the urban, architectural, and spatial identity of Sarayönü's historic center. The study aims to transfer the features of traditional residential buildings in the historic center of Sarayönü into the literature and to develop suggestions towards conservation of these houses. In this context, 15 houses and room structures with traditional architectural features were examined within the historic center. The traditional domestic buildings have been documented by photographing and surveys. Inferences were made regarding the typologies of the documented buildings as examining their plans and facade features. Furthermore, some conservation suggestions have been developed at the settlement scale. As a result of the study, it was observed that the type of “iç sofalı” plan was used extensively in the residential buildings in the historic center of Sarayönü. It has been identified that in terms of facade typologies the traditional residential buildings have the facade types titled “cumbalı”, “çardaklı”, and “kademeli”. Considering the traditional settlement integrity provided by the surroundings of Pir Hüseyin Bey Mosque, the historic center of the town, some conservation suggestions have been developed particularly for this region.