Science, Engineering & Architecture

The origin of the mother goddess cult was born in Anatolia, and it has spread beyond the borders of Anatolia over time.  Though the most intense period of the cult in Anatolia was the Iron Age, the representations of the Mother Goddess performed by the Anatolian civilizations both in the Late-Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age were addressed in the paper.  Within the scope of the study, the origin of the Mother Goddess culture and its representations in Anatolia were analyzed. A literature review on the emergence of cult associated with the Mother Goddess, cult centers and cult representations were made, and a review on the data as a ‘’Representation of the Mother Goddess’’ that have survived until today was made. As a result of this study, the data were collected in two categories as intangible and tangible.  The intangible representation of the Mother Goddess was considered as part of the terms ”materially unperceptible“ and the tangible representation of it as  ‘’materially perceptible.’’ At this point, while oral history is the main source of intangible representations; iconographic expressions constitute the sources of tangible representations. While mainly sculptures and figurines constituted the intangible representation of the Mother Goddess in the beginning,  then rock monuments which the sculptures were placed in niches consituted it. The embossings and seals which include the description of the goddess except rock monuments and statues set important examples of this representation. The inscriptions on the rock monuments also provide important data for tangible representation due to the fact that the name of the goddess was mentioned on them.  The birth and existence of the Mother Goddess comprise thousands old history of Anatolia, and this existence manifested itself through intangible and / or tangible representations. In the study, the cult of the Mother Goddess was discussed in the context of its representation; and the representations of the goddess were also taken under evaluation as its meaning, usage and function values as well as being a liturgical object. The study is important both in terms of approaching the Mother Goddess cult from the perspective of Architectural History discipline and fully examining the representations of the cult that have survived until today.

The generation of sanctuaries in ancient cities in archaic era was generally based on an origin of a specific cult. There were numerous sanctuaries devoted to the Mother Goddess cult which is common in Anatolia in the relevant era. Those sanctuaries were extended and regenerated when they became more important. Pergamon is an important example in this term. Mamurt Kale Kybele Sanctuary locates in a place close to Per-gamon. In this sanctuary which is thought to have a ritual path connection with the city people started to worship the Mother Goddess from 5th century B.C. The sanctuary was extended and regenerated after it gained importance. At the fi rst stage, there were an altar and a pedestal where the sculpture of God was placed in this sanctuary. In 3rd century B.C., a monumental temple containing the pedestal from earlier dates and a new altar surrounding the older one were built. New buildings related to the relevant cult and the needs of the people visiting the sanctuary were continued to be built along with the temple. A sanctuary devoted to the Mother Goddess not only created an important focal point which have strong natural relationships, but also turned into a built-architecture in time. Contrary to the sanctuaries in the city, an example of a rural sanctuary created an urbanization around itself. With this study, regeneration of the sanctuaries consisting of natural factors and the urban substrata constituted through its transformation to a structured architectural design were addressed and it was aimed to contribute to the relevant research field in this term.

1971 yılında Üsküdar’da Atatürk Anıtı Yaptırma Derneği tarafından yapımına başlanan Atatürk Anıtı, 1973 yılında tamamlanmıştır. Profesör Heykeltraş Kenan Yontunç tarafından tasarlanan anıtın yapımında, Yüksek Mimar - Mühendis Yaprak Karlıdağ ve Yüksek Mimar Necdet Kurultay birlikte çalışmışlardır. Anıtın kaba inşaatının yüklenicisi Müteahhit Yüksek Mühendis Servet Bayramoğlu firması olmuştur.

Meydan, Şemsipaşa külliyesi, Rumi Mehmet Paşa külliyesi ve tarihi karakol binası gibi önemli tarihi yapılarla çevrelidir.  1930’lu yıllardan beri meydan olarak süregelmiş bu mevki halkın sosyalleştiği önemli bir kamu mekanı olmuştur. Meydan bu süreçte kimi zaman bir spor kulübünün oyun alanı olarak, kimi zaman balık tutulan, kimi zaman lunaparka ev sahipliği yapan bir alan olarak kent belleğinde yer etmiştir. Meydanın ilk tanımlı tasarımı Atatürk Anıtı ile beraber yapılmıştır.

Atatürk Anıtı, merdivenlerle çıkılan geniş bir taban üzerinde yer almaktadır. Tabandan türeyen dikdörtgen duvarın önünde Atatürk, sağ yanında genç bir kadın ve sol yanında genç bir erkek ile birlikte yürürken tasvir edilmiştir. Heykelin kaidesi yerden 14 m. yüksekliktedir. Atatürk heykeli 3,5 m., gençliği temsil eden kadın ve erkek heykelleri ise yerden 3’er m. yüksekliktedir. Kaide çevresinde yer alan ve 47,5 m² tutan rölyefler; Milli Mücadele, Ana Vatan, Meçhul Asker, Son Darbe ve Devrimleri anlatmaktadır.

Modern Türk Anıtı’nın önemli örneklerinden biri olan Atatürk Anıtı, çağdaş çizgilere sahip olması bakımından önemli bir değere sahiptir. Özellikle Atatürk ve gençliğin temsili olan kadın ve erkek figürler dik duruşları ve kararlı çehreleri ile dikkat çekmektedir. Anatomik açıdan kavisli olması beklenen dirsek ve göğüs kısımlarının daha geometrik ve dik açılı olarak tasvir edilmesi anıtın modern çizgilerini ortaya koymaktadır. Üçlü heykel grubunun arkasındaki fon duvarı ve anıt platformunun oluşturduğu yatay-düşey etkisi anıtın modern çizgisinin temelini oluşturmaktadır.

Günümüzde, çeşitli çevre çalışmaları ve tören alanının otopark olarak kullanılması sonucu meydan algısı zedelenmiştir. Atatürk Anıtı, özgün durumuna yakın olmasına rağmen heykeli oluşturan bronzda meydana gelen korozyon, rölyeflerde tespit edilen biyolojik bozulmalar ve platform döşemesindeki çatlama sebebiyle korumaya yönelik çalışmalara ihtiyaç duymaktadır. Anıt ve meydanın çevresindeki ek yapılardan arındırılarak özgün değerinin ortaya konulması gerekmektedir.

Cumhuriyetin ilanının 50. yılı anısına yapılan, kamusal bir bilinç ve istekle yapım hikayesi başlayan anıtın toplumsal hafızadaki yeri önemlidir. Bu noktada anıt ve meydanın hem toplumsal ve tarihi önemi hem de modern mimarlık mirası olarak önemi dikkate alınarak gerekli koruma çalışmalarının yapılması gerekmektedir.

Latmos Mountain has been an important center of belief in the Karia region since the Prehistoric Ages. In this region, the Weather and Mountain God cult had continued from Prehistoric to the-Medieval Age. The place of the Mother Goddess, who is believed to live on mountains or high hills, is the summit of Mount Latmos, known as Tekerlekdag. In Ancient Ages, this cult was replaced by the epithet "Akraios" and left to the Greek Mountain God Zeus. Numerous caves in Latmos became shelters for pilgrims expelled from Sinai and South Arabia in the 7th century A.D. Pilgrims continued the sacredness attributed to Tekerdag in this Medieval Age and prayed for rain at the summit. Although the traces of the cult still survive today, it constitutes an important cultural accumulation for religious tourism. Cave pictures and figurines with depictions of gods from the Prehistoric Ages, temple attributed to Zeus in the Ancient Age, and monasteries used by pilgrims in the Medieval Age have survived until today as the architectural ruins of a regional belief. It is important to trace this cult in historical continuity and to reveal its potential in the context of religious tourism. Within the scope of the study, it is aimed to trace the Mother Goddess cult in the region, to be taken as a whole, and to bring the tourism potential to light in this context.

Latmos Mountain has been an important center of belief in the Karia region since the Prehistoric Ages. In this region, the Weather and Mountain God cult had continued from Prehistoric to the Medieval Age. The place of the Mother Goddess, who is believed to live on mountains or high hills, is the summit of Mount Latmos, known as Tekerlekdag. In Ancient Ages, this cult was replaced by the epithet “Akraios” and left to the Greek Mountain God Zeus. Numerous caves in Latmos became shelters for pilgrims expelled from Sinai and South Arabia in the 7th century A.D. Pilgrims continued the sacredness attributed to Tekerdag in this Medieval Age and prayed for rain at the summit. Although the traces of the cult still survive today, it constitutes an important cultural accumulation for religious tourism. Cave pictures and figurines with depictions of gods from the Prehistoric Ages, temple attributed to Zeus in the Ancient Age, and monasteries used by pilgrims in the Medieval Age have survived until today as the architectural ruins of a regional belief. It is important to trace this cult in historical continuity and to reveal its potential in the context of religious tourism. Within the scope of the study, it is aimed to trace the Mother Goddess cult in the region, to be taken as a whole, and to bring the tourism potential to light in this context.

The project of Stad Hotel designed by Doğan Tekeli, Sami Sisa and Metin Hepgüler won the first prize in an architectural competition organized by the Retirement Fund in 1964. The complex consisting of hotel, cinema and shops was built. The hotel is located in the commercial center around Ulus, on a corner next to Gençlik Parkı. While the hotel block joined the Ankara panorama of the 1970s with its high mass architecture, the bazaar, restaurant, cafe and cinema units provide the asymmetrical balance of the building as two-storey low masses. The brutal character of the building is clearly visible from the main axes of Ankara. The exposure of concrete surfaces, the use of RC curtain walls and profiled beams refer to the brutalist trend was very popular around the world at that time. With the scope of the study, the changes were tried to be determined by comparing old and current photographs. As a result, Ankara Stad Hotel was examined within the framework of new brutalist principles.

This study was supported by TUBITAK 2224A - International Scientific Activities Participation Support Program (2022) and Istanbul Research Institute (IAE) Conference Grants (2022-2023).

Turkey was not a part of the Second World War. Due to its intercontinental location, it has been affected by post-war social, economic, and cultural transformations. One of these is the new architectural approaches. International Style, which was effective in Turkish Architecture in the 1950s, was replaced by the revisions of Modernism in parallel with the developments in the 1960s. In this period, which Goldhagen describes as an interregnum between an expiring modernism and dawning postmodernism, experimental designs emerged under the influence of Brutalist Architecture in Turkey. The absence of Turkish architectural examples in the publications on Brutalism in the world architectural literature constitutes the originality of this study. The study aims to provide a new perspective on understanding the geographical spread of post-war Brutalist influences.

While post-war Brutalist elements rose to prominence, Peter and Alison Smithson both conducted the theoretical discussions and designed the first examples of Brutalism. The reinterpretation of interior spaces, especially with the emphasis on raw concrete, has created international effects. In this context, there are experimental interior spaces shaped within the framework of Brutalist aesthetic principles in Turkey. The interior spaces discussed in the study are selected in this context and based on the work of Reyner Banham, the first theoretician of the concept. The study contributes to the literature on Brutalism in the light of archive documents and original, current photographs from the author's archive.

The study focuses on examples of experimental interiors that developed under the influence of Brutal aesthetics. Turkey, which is a Mediterranean country and at the same time has an introverted structure due to cultural codes, has unique examples in this context. The examples handled with the theme of introversion are divided into two groups as atrium and courtyard interior designs. Turkish Historical Society (Turgut Cansever; 1951-1967) and the Turkish Language Association (Cengiz Bektas & Ertur Yener; 1972-1978) located in Ankara are involved in the study with two important atrium designs. Turkish Historical Society exhibits a Brutal aesthetic with the folded plate concrete construction on the atrium roof and the natural materials; concrete, wood, and stone in the interior. Local wooden furniture designs also increase this effect. Accordingly, the atrium of the Turkish Language Association has brutalist influences through the coffered concrete ceiling, the shape of stairs, and the folded glass surface. Middle East Technical University Faculty of Architecture (Behruz Cinici & Altug Cinici, 1962) and Istanbul Market-Complex (Dogan Tekeli & Sami Sisa, 1967) have different Brutalist interior experiences with their courtyard plan typologies. The courtyards of the Faculty of Architecture provide experimental living spaces for students, with the exhibition of structure, the use of raw materials, and landscape elements made of raw concrete. Market-Complex has a Brutal aesthetic value with its raw concrete open courtyards and curvilinear vertical circulation elements and works of Art Brut.

This study presents an intercontinental example of the expansion of global currents combined with cultural diversity. It also examines how Brutalist tendencies are interpreted in Turkey and expose experimental examples.

Numerous students become distanced from the concept of design and excogitation until their university years. However, creativity is one of the talents that show indications from childhood. Therefore, improving skills and knowing themselves is very important for children, especially during their education. Providing primary school children with an opportunity to discover and increase their design skills is crucial for their pediatric development. Within the scope of the study, a two-stage program, theoretical and practical, was carried out in designing urban spaces with children aged 8-12. In this context, participants were informed of urban space and urban design through samples from the Ancient Age to the Modern Age in the theoretical stage of the study. At the practical stage, the tutor requested to visualize urban spaces such as courtyards, streets, and squares of their dreams in 2D and 3D from children. At the end of the study, it is aim to analyze children’s perception of urban space and examine the effect of this program on children’s design skills. This study, carried out on urban space and its design, has ensured that children's sense of space is strengthened, they gain awareness of the city, the concept of scale is developed and their design skills are increased. On the other hand, positive affection for children’s ability to self-expression and self-confidence development are also determined.

Numerous buildings in Europe were destroyed and damaged during the Second World War. Many places of worship damaged due to the targeting of particularly religious buildings at the end of the war. Berlin is among the cities that suffered losses. Repairing the damage to churches that have a place in the collective memory and designing new churches played a key role for people to hold on to life again. In the 1960s and early 1970s, new church construction in West Berlin experienced its pick for this reason. In this period, which Goldhagen describes as an interregnum between an expiring Modernism and dawning Postmodernism, experimental designs emerged under the influence of Brutalist Architecture. This study examines the reflection of Brutalism in religious buildings in post-war Europe, focusing on the Brutalist-style churches built in Berlin in the 1960s. “Memorability as an Image,” one of the basic principles of Brutalism put forward by Reyner Banham, has been an approach that serves the purpose of religious buildings to create a landmark for the city. Other principles of style “valuation of materials; as found” and “clear exhibition of structure” found their equivalents mostly in interior designs. In this context, the study comprehensively examines three examples of churches that create an image for the city and have experimental interiors; Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (Egon Eiermann, 1961), Maria Regina Martyrum Memorial Church (Hans Schädel & Friedrich Ebert, 1963) and Paul Gerhardt Church (Hermann Fehling, Daniel Gogel & Peter Pfankuch, 1964). Defining a point of identity for the city, these churches not only represent a point of social unification for the community but also aim to strengthen the faith between God and human beings with their impressive interiors. It is possible to capture the same spiritual effect in the blue light leaking through the glass blocks with exposed concrete frames in Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, in the light shining through the exposed concrete beams in Maria Regina Martyrum Memorial Church, and in the colors reflected from the stained glass in Paul Gerhardt Church. This study examines the concepts of image, interior design parameters, and light through examples of 1960s Berlin churches.

Modern Istanbul Map / Modern İstanbul Haritası covers an incredible selection of buildings between 1930 and 2010. Istanbul, a culturally and historically layered city, defined by its intercontinental location between Europe and Asia, is host to numerous 20th century architectural styles – including a uniquely regional strain of Brutalism.

The buildings featured on the map tell the story of a country modernising at great speed: from the Bauhaus-influenced early Modernism in the 1930s including the Ragıp Devres Villa and the Atatürk-commissioned Florya Sea Pavilion; through the large-scale buildings of the 1940s and 50s such as the Istanbul University Faculty of Science and Literature and the Hilton Hotel. From the 1960s to 80s, further political democratisation in Turkey encouraged a unique blend of Rationalism, Brutalism and Regionalism. Finally, after the 1980s, Postmodernism was embraced by an increasingly active private sector; notably in the E House of 1994.

Each building on this map, covering multiple generations and genres of architecture, is its own chapter in the fascinating social, economic and cultural history of modern Istanbul.

In recent years, the study of the indoor microclimate has assumed increasing importance, both in relation to the health of people living in confined environments for a considerable part of their time, both for the problems associated with the conservation of works of art and cultural heritage housed in museums, galleries and libraries. In this paper, we present the results of a measurement campaign carried out in two periods of the year, which can be considered “extreme” from the meteo-climatic point of view, in the Classense Library located in the city of Ravenna (Italy). This is a famous Italian historical library that houses many books of great value. The campaigns took place one in the summer period (from July 22nd to August 6th 2014) and another one in winter (from 15th December to 30th December 2014). During these measurements campaigns, we have characterized different and heterogeneous indoor environments. The internal pollutants concentrations and thermo-hygrometric data have been compared with the external ones, obtained from nearby measuring points. In this way, we have been able to determine the Indoor/Outdoor ratio (I/O ratio) of the pollutants concentrations. From these data and from the estimated air exchange rate, the pollutants deposition velocities have been calculated, too. The building has no air conditioning systems and our experimental data show that it is characterized by a relatively low rate of air exchange and a high thermal inertia. We have also compared the analysed microclimatic data with the specific values recommended by different norms and standards, in order to verify the conditions of preservation of the precious texts. Finally, we have applied a mathematical model to study the indoor pollutants concentrations, in order to confirm that the correlations between the outdoor and the indoor pollutants levels can be explained in terms of the building characteristics. The results of the model application fit well the experimental data and the consequent theoretical estimates made in this work; in fact, they are consistent with very low values of air exchange ratio of the building.
These results can be used to define a specific “Performance Index” (PI) of the building, expressed as the percentage of time in which the microclimatic parameters of the library (i.e. the thermo-hygrometric values) do not match the recommended values. Furthermore, they can also provide a first step, based on experimental data, for the development, in close collaboration with the conservation scientists, of a methodology for risk assessment, specifically to be used for cultural heritage housed in museums, galleries and archives.

The concept of risk has been applied in many modern science and technology fields. Despite its successes in many applicative fields there isn’t still a well-established vision and universally accepted definition of the principles and fundamental concepts of the risk assessment discipline. As has been still recently emphasized, the risk fields suffer from a lack of clarity on their scientific bases that can define, in a unique theoretical framework, the general concepts in the different areas of application. The aim of this article is to make suggestions for another perspective of risk definition that could be applied and, in a certain sense, generalize some of the previously known definitions (at least in the fields of technical and scientific applications). By treasuring my experiences of risk assessment in different applicative situations (particularly in the risk estimation for major industrial accidents, and in the health and ecological risk assessment for contaminated sites) I would like to revise some general and foundational concepts of the risk analysis, in as consistent a manner as possible from the axiomatic/deductive point of view. My proposal is based on the fundamental concepts of the systems theory and of the probability; in this way, I try to frame, in a single, broad and general theoretical context, some fundamental concepts and principles applicable in many different fields of risk assessment. I hope that this article will contribute to the revitalization and stimulation of useful discussions and new insights on the key issues and theoretical foundations of risk assessment disciplines.

In recent years, the study of the indoor microclimate has assumed increasing importance, especially for the problems associated with the conservation of the cultural heritage housed in museums, galleries and libraries. In this paper, we describe the most important national standards relative to the procedures for the measurements and the analysis of the environmental conditions regarding the preservation of the works of art. These methods are related to the measurement techniques, which have to be applied for monitoring and analyzing the microclimatic conditions of museums, galleries and archives; these norms report, also, the threshold reference values for optimal climatic conditions. Furthermore, we present some considerations on the importance and on the foundations of the proposed scientific/methodological approaches.
Finally, we have done a reasoned analysis on some reference values reported by the international regulations with some considerations on the possible chemical/physical mechanisms of degradation of the valuable objects.

In the last decades, the analysis and the monitoring of the indoor pollutants concentrations and of the microclimate has become more and more important; the reasons of this interest are manifold: people, in fact, spend a great part of their time in confined environments and a detailed assessment of the consequence of the exposition to the air pollutants have to consider their indoor concentrations. Furthermore, the general indoor microclimatic conditions (i.e.: temperature, relative humidity, lighting, pollutants concentrations) play an important role in all the aspects related with the conservation of works of art and cultural heritage housed in museums, galleries and libraries. For these reasons, in this paper we present two case studies focused on the application of new methodologies for the microclimatic and the indoor air quality analysis, specifically devoted to the preventive conservation and to the enhancement of the cultural heritage. In particular, we will describe some case studies in which modern and up-to-date technologies for the monitoring of microclimatic conditions have been applied to study the characteristics of two important monuments in Ravenna: the Biblioteca Classense and the “TAMO” mosaic museum. In particular, in all these cases, we have used new portable testers for recording indoor thermo-hygrometric conditions and newly developed passive samplers for monitoring the indoor and outdoor air pollution concentrations. In this article, we specifically describe the characteristics and the main innovative peculiarities of the new instruments we have adopted for these measurements campaigns, devoted to the characterization of the microclimatic indoor conditions and to the evaluation of the so called environment-work of art system.

In questa nota si riportano i primi risultati delle analisi sui resti ossei di Arrigo VII e su campioni lignei della bara entro cui era stato deposto il corpo, pervenuti presso il Dipartimento di Beni Culturali dell'Università di Bologna, sede di Ravenna, ed analizzati presso i laboratori chimici del Centro Ricerche e Servizi Ambientali -C.R.S.A. di Marina di Ravenna, Ente convenzionato con l'Università di Bologna. Le analisi condotte ad oggi hanno riguardato, in particolare, la ricerca dei seguenti elementi in traccia presenti nei reperti osteologici: mercurio, cianuro ed arsenico; gli ultimi due, in particolare, indicatori di possibili atti di avvelenamento dell'imperatore.

In this paper, we discuss the most important theoretical aspects of polluted soil Risk Assessment Methodologies, which have been developed in order to evaluate the risk, for the exposed people, connected with the residual contaminant concentration in polluted soil, and we make a short presentation of the major different kinds of risk assessment methodologies. We also underline the relevant role played, in this kind of analysis, by the pollutant transport models. We also describe a new and innovative model, based on the general framework of the so-called Cellular Automata (CA), initially developed in the UE-Esprit Project COLOMBO for the simulation of bioremediation processes. These kinds of models, for their intrinsic ''finite and discrete'' characteristics, seem to be very well suited for a detailed analysis of the shape of the pollutant sources, the contaminant fates and the evaluation of target in the risk assessment evaluation.