Karpuz, Haşim. Türk İslâm Mesken Mimarisinde Erzurum Evleri. Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı, 1993, 174pp.
ABSTRACT
Turkish-Islamic Domestic Architecture: The Case of Erzurum Houses
Türk İslâm Mesken Mimarisinde Erzurum Evleri
The aim of this book is to discuss Erzurum houses and their place within Turkish-Islamic domestic architecture. The book is written in easy to understand language with architectural terms also explained in layman’s terms.
The book defines the word “house” before discussing the history of Turkish houses, houses in the Muslim world, houses in Central Asia, Seljuk houses, pre-Turkic Anatolian houses and their influence on the Turkish Anatolian house styles. This is followed by a brief discussion of the characteristics of Turkish Anatolian houses, where it is shown that despite differences due to climate, geography and economy, there are certain common features.
The geography, history, urbanisation and traditions of Erzurum are also covered. The book looks at a number of Erzurum houses in detail listing their names, addresses and construction dates. The structure and ornaments of each house are described in detail.
The last section presents the impact of geography, climate and economy on the architecture of the houses. The construction materials, types of wall, number of storeys, types of plans, the arrangement of rooms into different sections of the house, the functions of these sections and rooms, and general decorative features of the houses are all depicted. The book also provides a terminology of houses, a bibliography, photos and plans of different types of Erzurum houses and of individual houses, as well as general photos and maps of Erzurum. The book would have been better organised if the large number of photos, plans and maps had been juxtaposed with related texts.
However, regardless of the location of the visual material, this book provides a considerable amount of information on an understudied subject, and is therefore a valuable resource for researchers.
Ecehan Koç