The traditional Anatolian city developed in conformity with one of the basic principals of modern urban planning; that is, necessity for the location of the residential and commercial quarters separately. From greater to smaller the traditional living units are as follows; city, district (mahalle), street (sokak), courtyard (avlu), paved entrance hall (taslik), central reception room (sofa) and room (oda). Regional differences in Anatolia led to the use of a great variety of building systems, materials and plans.
Southeastern Anatolia is characterized by the use of stone, Central Anatolia by the use of a combination of stone and adobe (originally Hittite style), while the Aegean and Mediterranean regions are characterized by their cubic stone structures. In the inner Aegean region, the upper floors are built on the timber frame principle with mud brick filling, while in the Eastern Black Sea region the houses are made entirely of wood. This variety can be explained both as a result of climatic differences and of the very different cultures that have existed in Anatolia during the course of the centuries.
Courtyard Garden Entrance Area
Traditional houses always had a garden, quite irrespective of the size of the house itself. The Turks built the garden before proceeding to build the house. This attracted the attention of the French architect Le Corbusier who is regarded as one of the greatest of our age and he wrote: “The Turk first of all lays out the garden and plants trees; the Frenchman cuts down the trees to build the house.” The gardens were planted with climbing roses, honey-suckle, geraniums and fruit trees. Lanterns used to be hung at different places in the gardens.
As a result of the agricultural social basis, old houses had large garden gates, wide enough to allow the passage of the horse and carts. The handles performed the function of door-knockers; when the door opened, the bell suspended behind the door would ring and inform the residents that someone had arrived. For practical reasons, the store-room, pantry, granary and stable were placed on the ground floor. The kitchen, bath, bakery, fountain (sometimes a well with a pump) and toilet were located outside in the garden.
The sofa
The sofa was the central space to which the other rooms opened out. Foodstuffs for winter use were prepared either in the sofa or in the garden; the carpets, kilims and other fabrics were woven in the sofa.
The room
The rooms were multi-functional. During the daytime they were used as living rooms with a hearth, during meal times as dining rooms and at night as bedrooms with bathrooms. One part of the cupboard served as the bathroom. and water was carried in buckets or just heated on a brazier. The wall cupboards filled with mattresses, quilts and sheets might well be regarded as prototypes of the “fold-out beds” to be found in some modern houses.
The windows were long and narrow. Balconies were not common. Instead, they had bay-windows which provided 3-sided vision of the street. According to Islamic belief women especially had to protect their privacy from potential onlookers, so they sat unseen behind the curtains. The rooms were surrounded on 3 sides by divans, with white lace covers or carpets upon which cushions would be laid. A favored pleasure of traditional life used to be fresh Turkish coffee in the traditional living room.
Anatolian house types
As a result of an old rule, the way to make houses depends upon the natural conditions of regions. According to the basic mentality, in forest areas houses will be made of wood, or in places where there are quantities of stones, houses will be built of stones.
a) Mud-brick houses
Bricks made of mud including high amounts of clay are commonly used in rural Anatolia, especially in regions where stone and wood are rare. Nearly one third of all village houses are made with mud-bricks in Anatolia. The size of a brick is about 20-30 cm / 8-9 inches and is made stronger by adding pieces of straw or dried plants into its mud before drying.
When the walls are laid with bricks, the roof is covered with pieces of trunk and these are filled with tree branches or plants. The last stage involves covering the roof with clay and pressing it flat with a cylindrical instrument. These flat roofs provide many advantages for villagers, such as a place to sleep on during hot summer nights, to dry fruit and vegetables, and to preserve things like straw or dried dung.
b) Stone houses
Another common method of building houses is using suitable stones. Stone is the dominant building material in the Taurus Mountains, the Aegean region and parts of eastern Anatolia. Some stones are easy to shape, in which case, stones are placed on top of each other like bricks and it is even possible to build houses with more than one floor. Cappadocian stones are good examples for this kind of building. To prevent a house collapse, big wooden beams are used as supports inside the walls.
c) Wooden houses
Wooden houses are typical in the Black Sea area. In forest or mountain villages houses are generally made of wood. Long pieces of trunk are joined by clamps or big nails and different materials such as pieces of stones, mud plaster, dried plants and such are filled in between. In humid areas, spaces between the trunks which act as rafters are left empty and not filled.
d) Brick houses
In some villages, but mostly in towns and cities, the most common material is bricks produced from special soil in factories. Bricks are attached to each other by cement. This is comparatively the strongest system and with this technique it is possible to build many floors. In addition to these are houses made with new construction materials produced parallel to technological developments.