Learning from Mardin and Cumalıkızık: Turkish Vernacular Architecture in the Context of Sustainability

Abstract

The criterion of sustainable design today ranks among the most important factors influencing architectural design, and the contributions of sustainability to architectural design are steadily increasing in parallel with developments in technology and material science. Although sustainability seems to be a new concept, the subject, in reality, is not. Much of contemporary architecture depends on references to traditional architecture in its development, and there are many examples of sustainable architecture found in different parts of the world to which architects can refer. Turkey is one of these countries and it has a variety of traditional housing cultures that have developed with their own unique characteristics. This paper uses two examples that are very different from each other to investigate the traces of sustainable design criteria in Turkey’s traditional housing architecture. One of the investigated locations is in Cumalikizik, while the other is located in Mardin.

Keywords

• vernacular architecture
• sustainability
• sustainable architecture