TRACES OF CULTURE IN STRUCTURES: “ALAÇATI” EXAMPLE

ISVS-66th International Seminar on Vernacular Settlements,

Contemporary Vernaculars: Places, Processes and Manifestations,April 19-21, 2012, Famagusta, North Cyprus.

TRACES OF CULTURE IN STRUCTURES: “ALAÇATI” EXAMPLE

ESRA AKSOY

Faculty of Fine Arts,Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey

Abstract

Places are not merely physical textures consisting ofstructures and streets. They have depths forming on their own. Inthose depths, there exist wars, migrations, economic and socialstatus of the societies lived in, their beliefs and connectionswith other settlements. That is to say, it is impossible tosearch historical textures that have kept their existence frompast to present in merely structures. Perception of historicalplaces eventuates by dealing with multi-dimensional relations.The time, thusly, plays a significant role in that concept. Onone hand, traces of social life on physical structures are to besearched to comprehend the structures, and on the other hand, thequestion how the social life forms the places must be probed. Forthat very reason, when we emphasize the historicity of theplaces, the time phenomenon shows itself considerably. Historicalenvironment is a place where times overlap and sidle together.Sometimes it erases the previous one and sometimes it constitutesconglomeration, carrying traces from the previous one. Alacati isa cultural heritage including places, architecture of which hasnot been destroyed, and with its 6000 years history in Turkey andtexture peculiar to Aegean, cobblestone pavement, terebinthgardens and a hundred years-old windmills. In the first book ofHerodotus History; for Alacati that is the very centre of thearea from south of İzmir to Menderes river which is called“Ionia” in West Anatolia history, it was written, “Ioniansestablished their cities under the most beautiful sky and in themost suitable climate that we know”. With its location,architecture, life philosophy, and culture that is worth to beunderstood and told in both past and present, Alacati has been aninimitable settlement. Structures in Alacati that hosted firstlyRums and then Turks, traces of both the cultures are possible tobe seen. Physical structure of the town consists of three parts.The first; Alacati is an area including traditional texture initself. The second, it involves new settlement area. And thethird part is being a tourism area in the south of the city whichstarted to generate newly. Within the scope of the study, thearea including traditional texture of Alacati has been dealt

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with. The structures in this area constitute traditionalcharacteristics of architectural examples. Windmills that are thesymbols of the area are within this area. It involves old stonestructures and historical streets reflecting Rum architecture. Itis seen that, old stone structures are used as boutiques, café-restaurants, boutique hotels etc. after having been restored.Boutique hotels constituted from old stone structures in the areaby re-animating have been examined. It has been analysed how thestructures, which were turned to boutique hotels from housesformed with construction materials and techniques of the period,reflect the time that they were created and how they included theculture in themselves, with architectural and interiorarchitectural comparison method.

Key Words: Culture, Place, Alacati History, Urban andArchitectural features of Alacati, construction materials andtechniques of houses in Alacati, Boutique Hotels in Alacati

Introduction“Change is a feature of time. Time changes essentially. Wisdom is the one that transforms the

change on behalf of human and society...’’

Şengül ÖYMEN GÜR

The technological, economic, social and political changesoccurring in societies influence the discipline of architectureas well. For that very reason, existence of any structure is notstable. Structures having traces of the time in which they werebuilt become unable to meet the needs expected as a result of achange in the societal structure and identity. The fact that theneeds expected cannot be met requires a standing building to bereused with a different function. Installing a new function to astanding building structurally provides ecological and economicbenefits. One of the settlements in our country includingbuildings which existed in a period and still live today with anew function installed is Alaçatı, one of the districts of İzmircity. Especially the mansions from the Greeks in Alaçatı offerservice today by being converted to boutique hotels. To be ableto install new functions to a building that is structurallystanding, an analysis for the quality and spatial features of thebuilding need to be performed. Concordantly, Tashmahal hotel,

ISVS-6, April 19-21, 2012, Famagusta, North Cyprus

one of the best boutique hotels in Alaçatı, has been handled withits spatial organization and structural nature; and itsadvantages and disadvantages of being converted from a mansioninto a boutique hotel have been evaluated.

Settlement of AlaçatıAlacati is 70 kilometers far from İzmir, and 7 kilometres

from Cesme district. There are 7 villages around the town. Thepopulation of Alacati is 10 thousand. However, this populationreaches 60 thousands in summer months [1]. The name Alacatiappears in boundaries of Erythrai, northeast of Ilıca in B.C.3000 years. Erythrai is one of twelve Ionian cities. Erythrai andCesme area of Byzantium Empire in Middle Ages were taken by Turksin second half of the 14th century and joined to AydınogullariPrincipality [2].

In “Cesme Codex” prepared in 1530, the name Alacati wasnamed as “Alacaat”. In the codex, the fact that there are 211houses in Cesme, 60 in Ildırı and 127 in Alacaat is written [3].Marshy ground in the south of Alacati started to produce malariamicrobes in 1800s. In order to drain the marsch, workers fromGreek islands were brought. The workers reconstructed Alacatiafter they settled in. They improved viticulture in the area.Alacati port used for wine exportation to France and Chios becamevery important. Rum population that was predominant in Alacati inthis period centred on the port area. They, then, spread to theneighbourhood, which is 1 kilometre away from the portenvironment and called Haci Memis” today, and to the northafterwards [4].

Turkish population in Alacati started to migrate to Anatoliawhile Rum population living in Cesme peninsula went to AegeanIslands in consequence of Ottoman Empire’s defeat in Balkan warin 1908-1912 [4].

After the World War First and Liberty War, large part ofRums left Alacati. Instead of viticulture Rums made, Turksstarted to tobacco manufacture. They started to use the places asstorage for tobacco in which grapes had been stored then wine wasproduced [5].

Since 1950s, economy based on tobacco has weakened and the areahas lost population. With tourism promotion projects prepared in

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1980s, Alacati was re-animated and has become one of touristiccentres in a short time span.

Altitude above sea level of Alacati is 16 meters and itssurface area is 55 km². On the geological ground of the town,under the topsoil, there is white and yellow ground with marn andsiet as 0,50-1,00 thick [6].

Physical structure of the town consists of three parts. Thefirst is the area including traditional texture in Alacaticentre. The second covers new residential area. And the thirdpart is the tourism area started to be formed newly in the southof the town. The first part of the area where traditional textureis present in the centre includes Haci Memis, Tokoglu and YeniMecidiye neighbourhoods. Traditional characteristic architecturalfeatures of the area are seen in the structures in that area. Itincludes old stone structures and historical streets reflectingRum architectural features. It is seen that old stone structureshave been restored and have often been used as boutique, café-restaurant, boutique hotel etc. The symbols of the area,windmills, are also in that area (Figure 1).


Figure 1. Traditional Texture in Alacati Alacati[3] Figure 2.CustomPin Map of Neighbours in Alacati New

Residential Area[3]

When housing and street structures are examined in that area, wesee two types of textures. One is a geometric texture includingTokoglu and Mecidiye Neighbourhoods in the north of Mektep Streetwith the texture around Kemal Pasa Street. The other is an

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organic texture in Haci Memis Neighbourhood including the area ofrather southeast region of the town [3].

This area, which is included in the centre of the settlementas well, has been declared as Civic Protected Area by İzmir 1Cultural and Natural Heritage Preservation Board and taken underprotection [7]. Dalkıran A. et al., in their studies, retainedphysical status of the structures in traditional texture as wellas in 2nd Region (Table 1).

Table 1. Physical Status of the structures in traditional textureand 2nd Region [7]

Districts RequiresnoRestoration

Requires RestorationStructuralMaterial Superficial

Ruin Total

HacıMemiş*

424 10 34 28 14 510

Tokoğlu* 275 7 62 109 13 466YeniMecidi

ye*700 11 57 11 8 787

Total* 1399 28 153 148 35 1763FevziÇakma

kº368 2 5 44 1 420

Menderesº 1051 2 5 45 0 1103İsmetPaşaº

1228 2 91 222 1 1544

Totalº 2647 6 101 311 2 3067Total*º 4046 37 254 459 37 4830

*Districts that take place in traditional pattern ºDistricts thattake place in new settlement

The second area is the place where second housings takeplace in the north of Alacati. This area has an arrangementcomposed with an understanding of a modernist plan used assummerhouses that are very far away from traditional texture.There are improper structures composed by not abidingarchitectural features of available structures in urban protectedarea in Alacati centre (Table 2).

Table 2. Accordance of Traditional Texture and Second RegionStructures with the texture [7]


DistrictsPrimeElement ofPattern

PatternComplementer

New OldArchitecturearchitecture

Against PatternNew Old

architecturearchitecture

Total

HacıMemiş*

58 124 120 74 120 496

Tokoğlu* 30 181 155 31 56 453YeniMecidi

ye*30 160 239 69 281 779

Total* 118 465 514 174 457 1728FevziÇakma

kº0 1 68 1 349 419

Menderesº 13 1 603 1 485 1103İsmetPaşaº

292 2 267 3 979 1543

Totalº 305 4 938 5 1813 3065Total*º 423 469 1452 179 2270 4793*Districts that take place in traditional pattern ºDistricts

that take place in new settlement

As the third, we see the tourism area that has started tocompose recently in the south of the town. This areadifferentiates both with the traditional area in terms offunction type and feature, and with the second part which is anew development area. The area includes the place that enableswindsurfing having a great importance for winning a name for thetown.

In the first area hosting the local architecture of Alaçatı,we see that old Greek houses offer service as mostly re-functioned boutique hotels. One of these examples is Tash Mahalhotel which is located in Tokoğlu Street having a traditionaltexture in the centre of Alaçatı.

Boutique Hotels in AlacatiThe hotels in Alacati are generally 5-10-rooms and have the

capacity of total 600 beds [8].

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Boutique hotels in Alacati town are two types inarchitectural sense. The first are the ones composed with re-functioning of old Rum houses, and the others are the onescomposed afterwards abiding by old architectural texture.

Boutique hotels composed as a consequence of re-functioning,because of being the transformations of Rum and Turk houses,reflect the effects of Turk and Rum architecture. Referring tothose structures as synthesis of Turk and Rum houses is moreappropriate. The main reason of the fact that structures reflecttwo different architectural elements is the effects of Turkishculture, which were because a forced migration since 1920s andRum culture, effective on spatial composition since 1800s [9].

We can classify the re-functioned boutique hotels into threemain groups as plan, façade and construction.

Features of the Plan: All the boutique hotels that came intoexistence by transforming the houses remaining from the past inthe region are constituted with the units segmented according tothe living standards of that time. Most of the boutique hotelsare made as two-floors. The ground floors of structures containstorerooms and kitchen units. Living units have been designed onthe upper floors. The units have generally been constructed in aplan type with outer and middle sofa. Another important featureof the houses is having terraces viewing the backyard in almostall the houses.

Facade Features: Many structures resemble to each other in termsof their façade features. There are cantlevers and spurs in thestructures. Some of them have more effects on the environment.The doors and windows of the structures made of façade elementsare important factors that make the building unique. Rawmaterials of the traditional Alacati doors are timbers. There areiron doors made later in that region. As in all historicalstructures of Anatolia, particular importance has been given towindows as well as doors of Alacati structures. It has beenobserved that window frames have been placed near the inner sidesof the thick walls so as to let the inner sides have more lightthan the window openings. Thusly, the openings of window sasheshave been ensured.

Construction Features: Stone houses, converted to boutiquehotels, were built using hardening white stones, extracted fromthe region. Yellowing of those stones in time reflects the ages


of the buildings (Photo 1). Since the main material of thestructures is the stone, indoors of the buildings are cool insummers and hot in winters. The walls of ground floors wereoperated thicker compared to first floor walls. Soil mixture andlime including soil, lime, albumen etc. were used in wallconstruction instead of cement. And that afforded buildingsremain hotter in winters and cooler in summers. Some of thehouses were completely made of stone materials whereas timber andbrick materials were used in upstairs while ground floors werestone materials. Facades are painted with white and oxide yellowtones lime kalsomine. Door and window sides are mostly borderedwith indigo-blue [8].

The stone houses are made as two-floors. On the groundfloors, kitchen and living space are present mainly. As to upperlevels, there are penthouses also defined as life. There is asofa upstairs and the rooms opening to this sofa. This floor canalso be reached with a stairway by the street. This stairway isalso made of timber or stone material.

Ground flooring of the hotels are covered with timber,natural colour and classic diamond figured plates and slates. Tothe floorings in the stopes of the structures made of completelytimber, under-floor scarves were attached after thick bearers incircle or rectangle forms were placed as girders and then floorwoods were nailed. If there is, around of inner gardens werehedged with garden wall 50 cm thickness and 2-4 meters height[8].

Tashmahal Boutique HotelsTashmahal hotel is located in the 1st Mektep Street in

Tokluoğlu Neighborhood which is one of the first settlements ofAlaçatı district. The 150 year-old building built in 1864 is oneof the important civil architectures of the district reflectingthe architectural character of Alaçatı.

General Features of the Hotel

First owners of the building were a Greek family dealing withwine production and trade. Then, a Jewish linen draper working inthe workplace on the first floor used it for a long time. Themansion switching users for several times after the interchangeshas managed to be alive until recently [10]. The 150 year-oldmansion restored with a two-year work between 2005 and 2007 got

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its current state. Its restoration was made by ProfessionalArchitect Salih Seymen and his team.

Figure 3: Façade Before Restoration Figure 4: AfterRestoration [11]

The mansion was re-functioned and got a workplace and hotelstructure. The building is a masonry construction. It has got awooden frame bearing system as well as the walls as bearingsystems. Its façade was re-constructed faithfully to its formerstate. The façade has an original marble looking. The windows andthe door openings are made of blue solid wooden material.

Figure 5: Detail view of the door Figure 6: Detail viewof the window

[12] [12]

Spatial Analysis of the Hotel


The spatial partitioning of the boutique hotel constructedas a result of the restoration of an old workplace and house wasmade according to the space and state of the building.

Entrance-Lobby Space

The hotel has got two entrances. Entrance is possible bothfrom the workplace on the first floor and from the main entrancedoor in the dead-end street. While entering from the dead-endstreet, the guests see a garden space that was made asindependent from the street with its high walls. All theseentrances come together at the lobby of the hotel [13].

Figure 7: Ground Floor Restoration Plan Schema [12]

There exists a wet area on the opposite, a fliers connectingthe ground floor to upstairs, kitchen area on the right and athree-step workplace on the left of the entrance on the groundfloor (figure 8). The cement tile flooring on the floor of theentrance hall was protected during restoration [13]. There is noreception or lobby space in the hotel because of the smalldimensions of the entrance hall.

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Figure 8: Entrance Hall [11]

Kitchen Area and Dining Space

The kitchen area is on the right side of the entrance of thehotel. Screed flooring of the kitchen area before restoration wascoated with ceramic material. The kitchen cabinets are made ofwooden and white. There is a service door from the kitchen to thegarden. Dining space in the Tashmahal Hotel exists in threedifferent areas. One is on the table in front of the fireplace inthe kitchen area, the second is in the yard and the third is onthe grass in the garden (Figure 9 and 10).

Figure 9: The Yard Area [11]Figure 10: The Garden Space [11]

Sleeping Space

There are totally 6 rooms in the hotel; three on the firstfloor, two on the second and one in the garden. The sizes of therooms on the first floor of the hotel vary between 25 m² and 35m².(Figure 11).


Figure 11: The First Floor RestorationPlan Schema [12]

The biggest room on the first floor of the hotel is the part ofthe mansion that was used as a guest room in the past. The mostimportant distinguishing characteristic of the room having bothfrontal views is the marble-covered walls preserved in its 150year-old original form (Figure 12).

Figure 12: Romance Room [11]

The doors on the second floor of the hotel have got 20 m²and 30 m² space. The room having 20 m² space was used as kitchenspace in the past. That’s why, the oven area was preserved withits natural looking during restoration and it has got anaesthetical view (Figure 13).

Figure 13: İnterior View of the Oven Room [11]

The other room having 30 m² space is two-storey. Thesleeping space of the room whose entrance is on the second flooris on the penthouse.

The 6th room of the hotel is constructed in the garden asindependently from the hotel building. The ceiling and windowopenings have more than normal measures since it was used as a

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storage for protecting foods and drinks by former owners of themansion. The ground floor of the two-storey space is to be usedas a living space and the mezzanine for sleeping space.

Figure 14: The Ground Floor View of the Provence Room [11]

Evaluation and Results

Tashmahal hotel, one of the boutique hotels constructed as aresult of old structures’’ re-functioning in Alaçatı, has beenexamined as an example of the best civil architecture. The mostimportant feature of the 150 year-old structure is its being ableto preserve its historical texture until today and to contributeto the district economy as well as ecologic aspect with its newfunction. Being satisfactory in terms of users with its newfunction is quite significant in terms of sustainability andliveability. The level of the building to adapt to requirementsof its new function has been determined with observation andspatial analysis.

When examining the hotel in architectural sense, we see thatit has been restored with least damage to its old texture andcovered with stone materials special to Alaçatı. Bay windows andoutbreaks can be seen by looking at façade typology. When we lookat the door and window openings, we can see that they have arectangular type. The windows and doors are made ofhistocompatible solid wooden. The bedrooms on the upstairs of thehotel were positioned as middle sofa which is the traditionalhouse-type of Alaçatı.

Upon examining the hotel in terms of the internalarchitecture, we see that the hotel spatially has beenpartitioned as structurally as possible. There is not enoughspace for each unit as it was not built as a hotel. There is noreception or administration unit in the hotel. Since the entrancehall of the hotel has small dimensions, lobby space could not beconstructed. Dining places were placed in the kitchen areas and


garden spaces. The spaces were covered with classic and vintagefurniture compatible with the texture of the hotel. There existshandmade antique equipment in the rooms. Only garden space isavailable for recreation area.

As a result of taking all these factors into consideration,Tash mahal hotel offers a boutique hotel comfort for its users.Working together with boutique hotel design experts equipped withall kinds of information, however, may result in a better design-business relationship.

NAME OF HOTEL: TASHMAHAL BOUTIQUE HOTELGENERAL INFORMATION HOTELADDRESS: Tokoğlu Mahallesi1005 Sokak No:68CONSTRUCTION FLOORS: 3DATE OF OPENING OF HOTEL: 2007STRUCTURE OF THE STATE OLD BUILDING■NEW BUILDING□PREVIOUS STRUCTURE FUNCTIONHOUSE■COMPANY■UNKNOWN□CONSTRUCTION MATERIALSTONE■CONCRETE□MATERIALS USED IN THE STUDYDRAWINGS■PHOTOS■CAMERA□ INDOOR UNITS OF HOTELRECEPTION

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■EXECUTIVE ROOM□LOBBY□ MULTI-PURPOSE HALL■KITCHEN■RESTAURANT■ BREAKFAST ROOM□ LAUNDRY□ WAREHOUSE□ OUTDOOR UNITS OF HOTELGARDEN■POOL□ BAR□ PARKING□ THE TYPOLOGY OF THEPLAN

FACADE TYPOLOGY SITE PLAN

↑

Ground Floor

TopFloor

Northern front

South facade

↑

LEJANT : ROOMS COMMON USES HORIZONTAL AND VERTICALCIRCULATION AREAS


Reference

[1] http://www.alacatibelediyesi.com/alacatihakkinda.html[2] Türkiye Gezi Kitaplığı: Alacati., (2006). Boyut Yayıncılık,

İstanbul[3] Özgönül, N., (1996). A Method for Restructuring the

İnterrelation between Tourisim and Usage of Traditional /Historic Settlements- Case Study Alacati, Doktora Tezi,O.D.T.Ü. Fen Bilimleri Ensititüsü, Ankara

[4] Şahin, E.,(1998). Alacati Kentsel Sit Alanı Analitik EtüdRaporu

[5] Özgönül, N.,(2010). Alacati da Yaşam, Ege Mimarlık Dergisi,Mimarlar Odası, İzmir Şubesi

[6] Anonim.,(2007). Alacati Dergisi, Haberler Ajansı, Basım, Yayın,Gazetecilik, Reklamcılık, Turizm San. Tic. Ltd. Şti.

[7] Dalkıran, A., Bal, E.,(2007). Alacati da Mekansal veToplumsal Farklılıklar Üzerinde Yükselen Farklı TurizmEğilimleri, Ege Coğrafya Dergisi, İzmir

[8] Anonim.,(2009). Alacati Rehberi, Alacati Belediyesi veAlacati Turizm Derneği Yayın Organı, Metro Matbaacılık, İzmir

[9] Atilla, A. N., Öztüre, N.,(2006). Alacati-Agrilia’danGünümüze Bir Mübadele Kasabası, Öztüre A.Ş. Kültür Yayınları-5, İzmir

[10] Çelik, E.,(2010).Butik Otellerin Alacati Örnekleri ÜzerineAnalizi. Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Konya: S.Ü. Fen BilimleriEnstitüsü

[11] http://www.tashmahalotel.com[12] Alaçatı Belediyesi Arşivi, 2009, Alaçatı’daki Otellerin

Plan Şemaları[13] Ulaş, Ö. 2010, Alaçatı da Yaşam, Ege Mimarlık

Dergisi, Mimarlar Odası, İzmir Şubesi

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TRACES OF CULTURE IN STRUCTURES: “ALAÇATI” EXAMPLE

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