Structural identities of Siirt Cas Houses in Anatolian traditional architecture

Abstract

Objectives: Siirt is a city in Turkey with a rich history and has hosted many civilizations since the Neolithic period. Siirt Cas Houses date back to the 19th and 20th centuries, located in the historical city urban texture of Siirt, formed by the cultural heritages of different civilizations, showing original characteristics in plan-space organization, material selections, construction systems, cover systems, mass forms, facade layouts, floors, and ceiling details. Methods: The 'architectural', 'socio-cultural' and 'climatic' identities formed by the effects of cultures, religions, lifestyles, local materials, climatic factors, local natural products, and societies lived at different periods in history, together built the structural identity of Siirt Houses. Results: These houses have been shaped according to this structural identity with unique characteristics. In this research, which aims to reveal the architectural, socio-cultural, and climatic analyzes and structural identities of Siirt Cas Houses, firstly information from the literature about Siirt's brief history and historical urban texture was given. Then, Siirt Cas Houses are described in detail with architectural characteristics based on our field study findings. Then, the formation of the 'architectural', 'socio-cultural' and 'climatic' identities that make up the structural identity has been comprehensively explained under the title of “structural identity” of Siirt Cas Houses, which forms the basis of our study. The formation of the structural identity of the Siirt Cas Houses, which have unique characteristics shaped by the local and climatic effects of the cultures in its history, has been evaluated and presented in the conclusion part.

Keywords

• Siirt
• Cas houses
• Charasteristic
• Architectural
• Identity