District 4, Parcel 2437 — Measured Survey + Restitution + Reconstruction Project

About the Project

The project covers the debris survey, restitution and reconstruction of the completely collapsed building on parcel 2437 in District 4. The foundation and wall traces uncovered on the excavation site, the walls of the neighbouring parcels, the ground levels and the material remains were measured and documented.

At the restitution stage, the excavation data, the surviving building traces and the typology of the traditional Antakya house were assessed together to reread the sequence of spaces around the courtyard and the organisation of floors and roof. The reconstruction project turns this data into a building whole consistent with the original plan character, the stone walls and the timber floor and roof system.

Urban Context

Parcel 2437 in District 4 lies within the historic residential fabric running up to the foot of the mountain in Antakya, between a narrow street and the surrounding blocks of courtyard buildings. After the earthquake the main building on the parcel collapsed entirely, and the neighbouring stone walls, foundation traces and courtyard levels remain the principal physical data through which the memory of the city can still be read. The scale of the street, the topography, the neighbouring parcels and the surviving trees within the parcel form the context of the restitution and reconstruction decisions.

The Project in Numbers

Project Process

01

Debris Survey — Excavation and Building Traces

The debris survey documents the foundation boundaries still legible within the parcel, the wall remains, ground levels and the relationship with the neighbouring parcels of this completely collapsed building. The excavation plan records the position and continuity of the surviving traces within a common measurement system.

The sections and elevations distinguish the topography of the excavation surface, the traces of party walls, rubble-stone bonding and the remains of masonry foundations; the site photographs serve as the visual record of the physical findings in the drawings.

Selected excavation plans and sections from the debris survey

BasisOn-site measurement · excavation and foundation traces · party walls · site photographs

02

Restitution — The Original Building Configuration

The restitution assesses the foundation and wall traces documented in the debris survey together with the parcel geometry and the spatial order that the traditional Antakya house develops around its courtyard. The circulation of the ground and first floors, the sequences of rooms and the service units are reread according to the original configuration.

The stone walls, arched timber joinery, the proportions of the doors and windows, the timber floors and the hipped roof have been turned into an integrated restitution proposal, following the traces on site and the architectural character of the period.

Selected plans and sections from the restitution sheet

BasisExcavation survey · surviving building traces · parcel data · typological comparisons

03

Reconstruction — Rebuilding the House

The reconstruction project rebuilds the courtyard-house configuration established in the restitution, together with current building-safety requirements. The ground and first floor rooms, the vertical circulation and the service units are arranged in keeping with the original scheme.

The stone masonry walls, ashlar surrounds and arches, timber door and window joinery, timber floors and ceilings and the tile-clad hipped roof together reproduce the historical character of the building and its continuity in the street silhouette.

Selected plans and sections from the reconstruction project

BasisRestitution decisions · the original plan scheme · traditional materials and building techniques

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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