District 3, Parcel 634 — Reconstruction Project

Condition Assessment

After the February 2023 earthquakes the building, which stood within the Antakya Urban Conservation Area, collapsed entirely, and its debris was sorted and removed from the site. The work therefore does not constitute a damage assessment in the conventional sense: it was conceived as a condition assessment focused on documenting the traces surviving at foundation level rather than any standing architectural elements. The spatial organisation, plan scheme and original architectural features of the building were reread and recorded by assessing together the foundation traces, the material remains identified in the debris field, oral history studies and written and visual archival documents. The aim was thus to document systematically the material and documentary traces of a cultural property that no longer exists.

BasisVenice Charter art. 16 · Law No. 2863 · Regional Conservation Board notification

Measured Survey — Excavation Survey

As the building had collapsed completely, an excavation survey was carried out instead of a measured survey. The debris was removed under control, and the architectural data revealed in each layer was measured and photographed before removal continued.

The excavation plan and sections show separately the remains of the collapsed rubble-stone walls, the wall surfaces still standing on neighbouring parcels, the areas of vegetation growth and the inferred foundation traces. Ground where no finds were made is marked with the same care, so that the limits of the record are set out transparently.

Drawings from the excavation survey sheet that describe this stage

BasisVenice Charter art. 16 · Charter for the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage

Restitution

Restitution is the evidence-based reconstruction of the building’s original state before its collapse. On this parcel the work rests on the 1929 Ville d’Antioche cadastral sheet, photographs of the courtyard and street taken before the earthquake, the roof layout read from a historic aerial photograph and an oral history study.

On the sheet, every restitution decision is marked against a three-level reliability legend: decisions confirmed by traces in the building and by period documents are shown as first degree, those based on comparative study of similar buildings as second degree, and those for which there is insufficient data and which remain proposals as third degree. It therefore stays legible on the drawing which information rests on evidence and which on interpretation.

Plan and elevation decisions from the restitution sheet

BasisVenice Charter art. 9–13 · Nara Document on Authenticity

Restoration Decisions

As the building was no longer standing, the conservation decisions turned towards defining the original qualities of the building to be rebuilt rather than intervening in existing fabric. The walls were defined as a three-layer stone section and the internal partitions as bağdadi lath-and-plaster; the courtyard was determined as ashlar paving, the ground floor rooms as 20×20 cement tiles with timber-beamed ceilings, and the upper floor as timber flooring beneath a timber roof.

Material and construction-system decisions

BasisVenice Charter art. 9–12 · Law No. 2863

Reconstruction

The reconstruction project defines the rebuilding of the original configuration established in the restitution, together with current building-safety requirements. The ground floor — a 112 m² stone courtyard, the liwan, two rooms, two kitchens and service spaces — and the upper floor of five rooms and halls have been rebuilt in keeping with the original plan scheme.

The blank stone elevations facing the two streets, the arched courtyard gate and the arched openings turned towards the courtyard have been redefined with their original dimensions, and the hipped roof built with its original pitch and eaves arrangement. The northeast and southeast elevation silhouettes show the building’s place in the street silhouette together with the neighbouring parcels.

Elevations and sections from the reconstruction sheet

BasisVenice Charter art. 15 · Riga Charter · Regional Conservation Board approval

Construction and Supervision

The construction stage is the process of producing the exact counterpart of the approved project on site. Door, window, built-in cupboard and shutter details were drawn at working scale, and the frame, sill and stone-wall junction details of the timber joinery were defined individually.

Traditional construction details at working scale

BasisVenice Charter art. 16 · Construction supervision and archiving

Liwan — The Iwan Opening onto the Courtyard

The liwan is the most defining element of the Antakya house: a semi-open space enclosed on three sides and opening fully onto the courtyard. In this building the 17 m² liwan, with its arched opening, forms the focus of the courtyard; in summer it is used for sitting and dining, and in winter it forms a threshold between courtyard and interior.

Arched Stone Courtyard Gate

The only element that establishes a relationship between street and house is the entrance door in the thick, blank courtyard wall. On the Oğuzlar Caddesi elevation this opening is framed in ashlar and spanned by a semicircular arch. The door leads directly into the courtyard.

Arched Timber Windows

The windows facing the courtyard are timber units spanned by an arch above, with the arched tympanum divided into small panes. Smaller and framed in ashlar on the ground floor, the openings widen on the upper floor and set the rhythm of the courtyard elevation.

Timber-Beamed Ceiling

The ground floor rooms are covered by timber-beamed ceilings, with the beams and the boarding between them left exposed. On the upper floor the rooms sit directly beneath the timber roof, and the ceiling is read together with the roof structure.

The Courtyard — Centre of the House

The 112 m² ashlar-paved courtyard is unquestionably the centre of the building. The liwan, the rooms, two kitchens and the service spaces all open onto this void, and the upper floor is reached from it as well. Through the long summer, much of daily life is spent here.

Stone Masonry and Bağdadi Lath-and-Plaster

The walls are built as a three-layer section of 20 cm rubble-stone masonry, 10 cm fill and 20 cm ashlar, while the internal partitions use a bağdadi lath-and-plaster system between timber studs. The ground floor carries the weight of stone, the upper floor the lightness of timber.