Block 188, Parcel 26 — Measured Survey + Restitution + Restoration Project

About the Project

The project covers the measured survey, restitution and restoration of the traditional courtyard house on parcel 26, block 188 in Şenköy. The ground floor, first floor, roof, ceilings, sections and elevations were documented together with their materials, building techniques and the traces of decay and damage.

The restitution stage assessed together the sequence of rooms around the courtyard, the ashlar and rubble-stone walls, the arched openings, the timber joinery, the niches and hearths and the roof system. The restoration project is founded on preserving the original material and repairing the damaged stone, timber, plaster and roof elements by compatible methods.

Urban Context

Parcel 26 in block 188 lies in the settlement of Şenköy in Hatay, within a dense traditional residential fabric that adapts to sloping ground. The building forms a whole with the stone rooms ranged around its broad courtyard, its garden walls, its boundary relationship with the neighbouring parcels and the surrounding trees. The ashlar courtyard elevation, arched openings, timber doors and shutters, and the tile-clad timber roof are the defining elements of the local architectural character.

The Project in Numbers

Project Process

01

Measured Survey — Existing Condition and Damage Assessment

The measured survey documents the ground and first floor rooms around the courtyard, the roof planes and the neighbouring parcel boundaries within a single drawing system. Circulation, the sequence of rooms, the openings, floor levels and the relationship with the garden are read as a whole.

The sections and elevations distinguish the ashlar facing, rubble-stone walls, timber roof and joinery, plaster losses, cracks and partial collapses; original interior elements such as hearths, niches and cupboards were recorded separately.

Selected plans and sections from the measured survey sheet

BasisOn-site measurement · material and damage assessment · readings of the building and courtyard

02

Restitution — Reading the Original Configuration

The restitution assesses the building traces documented in the measured survey together with the traditional courtyard-house character of Şenköy. The sequences of rooms opening onto the courtyard, the circulation between floors, the service spaces and the garden boundaries are reread within the original configuration.

The ashlar arched openings, timber doors and shutters, wall niches, hearths, cupboards, timber ceiling and tiled roof have been turned into restitution decisions in the light of the surviving traces and the architectural features of the period.

Selected plans and elevations from the restitution sheet

BasisSurvey data · surviving architectural elements · building traces · typological comparisons

03

Restoration — Conservation and Intervention Decisions

The restoration project defines structural and material interventions while preserving the original plan scheme, the stone walls and the significant timber elements of the courtyard house. Cracking, separation and losses in the walls are addressed through repair decisions compatible with the original fabric.

Consolidation and, where necessary, renewal to the original detail are envisaged for the timber roof and joinery; cleaning and reintegration for the plastered surfaces; and conservation for the stone elements on the courtyard elevation. The interventions aim to sustain the rural character of the building and the integrity of its courtyard.

Selected intervention plans and elevations from the restoration project

BasisSurvey and restitution decisions · original material · a minimum-intervention approach

Project Sheets

Project Team

• Yonca Yılmaz Çelebi
  M.Arch · Conservation Specialist
• Burcu Özlüoğlu
  Architect
• Eda Yabancı
  Conservator

Method and Sources

The sequence followed in this file — documentation, diagnosis, evidence-based restitution, repair with minimum intervention — is the established method of the conservation literature. Intervention decisions were taken on the principles that repair must not begin before the cause of damage has been diagnosed, and that the degree of intervention rises from consolidation towards reconstruction only as far as necessity requires. For the theoretical framework see Zeynep Ahunbay, Tarihi Çevre Koruma ve Restorasyon (YEM Yayın, 2009); for the principles, the Venice Charter (1964), the Nara Document on Authenticity (1994) and Turkish Law No. 2863 on the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Property.

Services applied in this project

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