An Evaluation of the Facade Desing of Atik Valide Hospital (Darüşşifa) Restoration

Abstract

Atik Valide Complex built in Üsküdar is one of the latest works of Mimar Sinan. It is also the largest building group built on the Anatolian side of Istanbul by Sinan. It consists of many different types of buildings like mosques, madrasahs, dervish lodges, primary schools, darülhadis and darülkurra (Islamic schools), imaret (charity organization), a hospital, and a Turkish bath. The complex which was reused for many different purposes in the past, was involved in a restoration process in the 2000s. The hospital (darüşşifa) section of the complex is adapted to reuse as an education building now to be used as a part of an existing university. During the restoration application, all over the facade was covered with blue-toned spider glass. This design blocked the perception of the original porticoes, the proportions of the windows, and even the floor slab level, caused the building to be seen as a glass mass. In addition, this glass facade cladding caused the semi-open space with the portico in the courtyard to turn into an indoor space, causing the spatial qualities of the building to disappear. Afterward, the facade was renewed with a different restoration approach because of the negative public reactions. In the new design, the glass spider cladding was removed completely, the porticoes were turned into semi-open spaces again. Within the scope of the study, two different facade designs applied in the complex were evaluated. Qualified examples of the use of glass surfaces in adaptive reuse projects have been examined.