Browsing by Author "Akalin, Aysu"

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Citation - WoS: 103
Citation - Scopus: 104
Architecture and Engineering Students' Evaluations of House Facades: Preference, Complexity and Impressiveness
(Academic Press Ltd- Elsevier Science Ltd, 2009) Akalin, Aysu; Yildirim, Kemal; Wilson, Christopher; Kilicoglu, Onder
In this study, five different sets of single-family house facades from private Suburban cooperative housing developments in Ankara, Turkey,, were analyzed; with each set comprising one example each of minimum and maximum complexity. Although the houses in each set had the same appearance when they were first built, their facades have since been altered by their owners. The main hypothesis of the study was that preference rates would be high for intermediately altered houses by showing the existence of a U-shaped relationship. On the other hand, it was hypothesized that perceived complexity and perceived impressiveness would have a linear relationship, with perceived complexity increasing and perceived impressiveness decreasing as the complexity level changed. In terms of these two basic hypotheses, it Was also assumed that there would lie a difference in the ratings of particular respondent groups with different backgrounds. Thus, a questionnaire was given to 100 undergraduate Students of the Architecture and Engineering Departments of Gazi University, Ankara (41 from architecture and 59 from engineering). These students were asked to rate a total of 15 photographs from five housing sites with the help of five-point semantic differential scales under three headings; namely; Preference: beautiful - ugly, warm - cold, pleasant - unpleasant: Complexity: unimposing - imposing, simple complex: and Impressiveness: impressive - Unimpressive. The results proved the existence of a U-shaped relationship between complexity and preference criteria. That is, facades representing an intermediate level of complexity were favored over less and more complex ones. The facades that seemed the most impressive were the most complex ones, but these, however, were not the most preferred. Amongst these results. it was also noted that the architecture Students replied fit a more critical way than the engineering students as they criticized what they saw as negative design decisions. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Citation - WoS: 3
Postmodernism and Consumer Culture: Image-Production Via Residential Architecture in Post-1980s Turkey
(Academic Journals, 2011) Ozaslan, Nuray; Akalin, Aysu; Wilson, Christopher
Housing production in Turkey is mostly completed by merchant builders, with little or no involvement of architects. Those architects who do function in the housing industry try to satisfy state authorities, private enterprises and the customer, behaving according to these clients' intentions. This, in turn, succeeds because of the current era of flexible accumulation where a consumer society is ready to digest whatever is offered. That is, buildings that have some resemblance to historical examples or look different to what people would normally prefer are chosen by consumers. As a result, different social classes of society commodify historical, traditional and cultural values in the name of creating an identity. In this context, this essay focuses on the image of the house itself and its interpretations within the post-1980s Turkish residential housing industry. It shows that architectural styles, typologies, names and terminology are freely used according to the market desires throughout the two case studies. The housing development called Kemer Country is a clear example of the reconstruction of a traditional Turkish neighborhood (mahalle) but there is no substance behind their facades, it is only an illusion. While Kemer Country creates a fake traditional mahalle outside of the city center of Istanbul, the developers of the Bosphorus City housing development claim to have re-built a significant part of Istanbul's topography, as well as its unique architecture, outside of the city. This paper reveals that the architecture of the residential developments in post-1980s Turkey is lead by market forces and consumption-oriented construction rather than artistic, cultural or historical assets.
Citation - WoS: 19
Users' Evaluations of House Facades: Preference, Complexity and Impressivenes
(Open House Int, 2010) Akalin, Aysu; Yildirim, Kemal; Wilson, Christopher; Saylan, Aysun
This research solicits the opinions of the residents of the Kecioren district of Ankara, Turkey, in order to learn their preferences about their local postmodern environment where the municipality forces all contractors and architects to adhere to strict planning laws requiring Turkish folk and Islamic architectural references. The Municipality of Kegioren, as an agent of civil power, manages the architectural and urban transformation of the area from a district formerly composed of squatter housing to one comprised of, in the words of Robert Venturi, decorated sheds, in an effort to create a different looking environment rich in nostalgia and excitement. In this research, a total of 7 different sets of apartment facades were analyzed, with each set comprising three examples each of minimum complexity (representing the former condition of the district), intermediate complexity (representing high architecture designed by an architect, which does not exist in the district) and maximum complexity (representing the present postmodern condition of the district). The main hypothesis of the study was that preference rates would be high for intermediately altered high style houses by showing the existence of a U-shaped relationship between preference and complexity. That is, facades representing an intermediate level of complexity would be favored over less complex and more complex facades. It was also assumed that there would be a difference in the ratings of different age groups. A questionnaire was carried out with 50 adults (aged 30-45) and 50 high school students (aged 18-20) of Kegioren, who were asked to rate a total of 27 photographs from 7 apartment complexes with the help of a five-point semantic differential scales under three headings: preference, complexity and impressiveness. The results proved the existence of a U-shaped relationship between preference and complexity. On the other hand, younger respondents, compared to older respondents, gave more favorable ratings to the physical qualities of the photographed buildings.