This paper aims at investigating new residential trends in Istanbul accompanying the demographic change that introduces an increasing diversity of small/alternative (non-traditional/non-family) households to the housing market. Moreover, it triggers a theoretical debate on the concept of “offbeat spatiality”.

The paper has a twofold structure. First, the demographic change and its impacts in Istanbul and the concept of the spatiality of small housing units in relation to small /alternative household types are examined. Subsequently, the marketing strategies of three major entrepreneurs (Real Estate Investors, i.e. Nef, Dumankaya and Varyap) developed to attract small households are interpreted. Then, a limited number of offbeat schemes detected among the mostly standardized small housing production of these entrepreneurs and considered to be more appropriate for peculiar features of small/alternative households have been analyzed. The aim is to unfold the spatial potentials of such offbeat schemes for further housing demands of non-traditional households.

Many sociologists, psychologists and environmental designers have suggested that physical environment is stimulating the senses of children where they can explore and experiment not only positively effects their learning ability and skills but also influences their behavior. However practitioners of children space design adapt their spatial perspectives to meet the clients' needs and find new ways to work imaginatively within budget constraints. For this reason the focus of this study is to discuss the expectations, preferences and necessities of children’s bedrooms by adults as an example of their contemporary implementation and implications within the interior environment. The method used is examination of various publications, results of children study researches, surveys, observations in order to determine their needs, preferences, concerns and expectations. In the study 160 completed questionnaires were used under the following headings; The status of children with the possession of a room of their own, dimensions of the bedrooms, floor covering, wall papers or covering and wall colors, children desire to spend time in the room and the time spent, furniture, matters taken into account in preference of furniture, general and material preferences, while these present paradigms in the approach to children’s bedrooms at the present day, the physical qualities that need to be included within the framework of this context is the matter of discussion and argument.

This paper is concerned with a method of designing single degree of freedom (DOF) radially retractable planar plate structures (RRPS). The shape of the plates are desired to be regular polygons and they are not allowed to overlap in any configuration and no gaps in the closed configuration. The method has been developed by translating geometric knowledge of tessellation in math. Therefore the paper firstly introduces the fundamentals of tessellations and then their classification based on polygon shape. After that it proposes a method of designing RRPS by using 1-uniform regular tessellations. The method identifies the plate types, shape and the way of connecting the plates with only revolute joints. Composed of various plates and joints, the proposed RRPSs based on 1- uniform regular tessellations are single DOF multi-loop planar mechanisms. Mobility analysis is made to prove the single DOF. After various mobility analysis, a theorem is developed to find the number of excessive plates. It is also introduced that there are passive joints besides excessive plates. When more plates and revolute joints are used in architectonic applications, the excessive plates and passive joints can be removed and reassembled if necessary for aesthetic or functional reasons. Finally, a single DOF radially retractable plate structure is proposed for a building façade as a sun shade to reduce the energy consumption.

This paper focuses on the historic core of Mostar in general, and the Old Bridge in particular, and attempts to trace this city’s unique experience to rebuild and revitalize itself after a particularly destructive series of armed conflicts. Just as its preservation before the war was exemplary, Mostar’s destruction during the painful dissolution of the Yugoslav Federation proved to be an example of human destruction at its worst. The city’s devastation became a symbol of backwardness and ethnic strife in the Balkans. The destruction of the Old Bridge, in turn, came to be regarded as an attack on a multi-cultural Bosnia in general, and Mostar in particular with its Ottoman, Mediterranean and western-European architectural features. Mostar’s postwar situation, particularly as it pertains to the city’s architectural heritage, is considerably more complex than what many interpretations would have us believe. It seems that Mostar’s (and by extension, Bosnia’s) multiculturalism can be better understood if one accepts that some antagonism is necessarily present in any multicultural society. Indeed, greater insight into cities such as Mostar would be gained if they are taken not as sites of “positive tolerance” but those of “competitive sharing and antagonistic tolerance.” Methodologically, the study takes a panoptic view of numerous local and international institutions’ efforts, and evaluates them based on the expectations and exigencies of local residents. The article’s conclusions are articulated at several different, but interrelated levels: implications regarding the local populace, implications for cities that may have issues similar to that of Mostar, and lastly, implications for disciplines which focus on issues of urban regeneration, housing renovation, and the revitalization of old neighborhoods.

In this study, as part of the phenomenon of urban segregation, gated residential communities are discussed in the context of environmental stress. Gated communities, whose theoretical infrastructure is tried to be understood through political economy readings, are shaped upon two concepts basically; segregation and othering. Gated communities eliminate social connectedness with their physical barriers. The social, economic and symbolic oppositions that push each other in the context of gated community reveal a tension between the residents and non-residents of the gated compound. In order to measure the assumed tension, environmental stress parameters have been used. An interview form has been prepared for the purpose of finding out how the determined stress parameters are perceived by the ones living around the gated community. This interview form has been applied to dwellers around gated compounds which are located in three different areas with different urban syntactic values and different socio-economic structures. The statistical associations between the results of the performed semantic and syntactic analyses are examined. According to the results of the field study, it is observed that the perception of stress of people living around the gated communities increases in proportion to the compound's syntactic values. It is understood that gated compounds in which there are homogeneous groups forming a fragmented view of the urban area shaped by urban fears, causes the perception of stress on their neighbors and that this is associated with the syntactic values of their urban locations.

Wayfinding is finding of the way that reaches the particular destination of individuals without any delays or concerns. Although moving from one space to another is a straightforward and daily phase, losing one’s way may turn out to be an annoying experience, resulting in anxiety and nuisance. Negative consequences like these caused by direction loss have turned the concept of wayfinding to a non-negligible criterion in design. This text aims at meeting designers with the concept, bringing its significance forward and raising awareness as well. At the same time, it is a theoretical compilation for future research. Observing the city, the individual can perceive the environmental elements and communicate with the whole while (s)he is in motion. The substantiality of movement, i.e. wayfinding in space in accordance with a purpose comes on the scene at this point. During the period of wayfinding, cognitive maps that enable the movements of individuals within the environment are used. Therefore, convenience of the formation of the cognitive map and its completeness affect the wayfinding behavior in an environment. Visual access to spatial clues, architectural differences, usage of signage and spatial configurations are considered to be the variables that influence the wayfinding experience. The feasibility of direction finding of a built environment is an outstanding architectural criterion for both users and perception of service and brand identity in that environment. Consequently, that designers and urban planners focus on the concept at the intellectual phase of design has importance in designing environments with feasible wayfinding.

Urban fabrics, which can be morphologically defined as geometric compositions of solids and voids, are also unique patterns including different social and psychological layers depending on location, socio-cultural structure and user profile. The main backbone of these patterns is the network of open spaces, which individuals can move through different route possibilities. Movements and orientations of pedestrians diversify in accordance with their own goals and preferences, as well as alter with spatial perception and stimulation of attention processes. Basically, the stimulating factors of attention can be classified as morphological, functional and motional and also their intensities and impacts differentiate within or between urban fabrics. The purpose of this study is to investigate how various attributes of urban fabric influence pedestrian movements and orientations with physical and psychological aspects. In the scope of the study, the relationship between pedestrian movements and perceptual decision-making mechanisms has been examined in the grid-shaped bazaar district of Kadıköy, which is one of the most important urban sub-centres of Istanbul. Initially, physical and topological properties of the fabric / open space network were analyzed. Secondly, the densities of pedestrian movements were detected. Thirdly, the stimulating factors were represented as psycho-spatial layers and their relevance with pedestrian movements were investigated. Finally, a perception-orientation pilot study was performed with subjects without any spatial experience in Kadıköy to examine the possible individual-based variability of perception-behaviour process. Consequently, it was determined that there is a descriptive relationship between general movements and orientations of pedestrians and psycho-spatial layers; however, the perceptual decision-making process may alter individually with depending on the spatial experience.

Sa’adabad Mosque was built as an imperial mosque in the Tulip period (1718-1730) which corresponds to the reign of Ahmet III. The mosque was built in an area very popular in the Tulip Period at Kağıthane and not in traditional districts of Istanbul such as the historic peninsula, Uskudar or Eyup. This unusual choice of location is a reflection of the characteristics of its time. At the second half of the century, new and different concepts in architecture were assessed in the Ottoman land and especially in urban Istanbul. Tulip Period was a period when western influences were first and naively flourished in the built environment. For the first time, decoration program outside of the classical canon of Ottoman architecture were witnessed on details of the decorative elements such as doors, windows and inscriptions and fountains as the focus of urban space were set at the centers of the squares and construction activity gained pace extramuros. The most fascinating work of the period is the Sa’adabad Palace built outside the historic peninsula by the Kâğıthane Creek.
Sa’dabad Mosque was built in 1135/1722 within the Sa’dabad Palace. It was repaired at the times of Selim III (HD. 1789-1807) and Mahmut II (HD. 1808-1839). The original architecture of the mosque is unknown. Because the existing mosque was rebuilt by Abdülaziz (HD. 1861-1876) in 1279/1862, it is identified as the Aziziye Mosque after the Sultan Abdülaziz as well. The architect of this last mosque is the Balyan Family who had significant role at the construction activity of the period. It is accepted that Architect Sarkis Balyan together with his brother Agop Balyan were responsible from the construction.

In this study, expectations and possible risks from urban transformation process will be examined. For this purpose, a field survey on 4 sub universes borders of which determined depending on a) typology of urban transformation, i.e. whether led by state or developed as a result of accumulation of individual decisions b) closeness to experience of demolishing c) presence of native middle class had been carried out with 2503 people through face to face interview. The aim of the research is to set out the differences and similarities on expectations and possible risks between the people living in the sites where state led transformation or individual/parcel based transformation has happened and between the people who are native and belonging to middle class and who are not. The findings of the research limited to risks and expectations have been discussed.In the research we have discovered the agreement of majority on urban transformation on the basis of rent maximization which exceeds security and disaster risk and will in turn lead to an urbanization with higher ecologic cost and unattended public interest. Another finding is that native-middle classes approach to transformation positively and self reliant due to property/deed security and economic welfare, on the other hand people living close to experience of transformation approach negatively. Third,regardless of class position individual and cliental relations will be put into circuits and strategies of compensation will be followed. Two different paths has been identified as a reaction to the process: while middle classes will seek to form public opinion and act in the social media, people living in the places where buildings were already demolished or declared as disaster risk areas are open both to ethnic and political mobilization and street politics.

The safe areas for children’s play are declining with urbanization. Despite the fact that the significance of play in the development of children is well known and that the demand for safe areas for children increases every day, playgrounds are one of the most neglected spaces within cities. The fact that children are not represented and that they cannot vote is one of the main reasons that this problem is overlooked by the administrators of cities. In this article, the experience of a group of volunteer women, who came together to improve the playgrounds in a medium size city, is discussed. The group got together under the auspices of Çanakkale City Council, brought the issue of improving playgrounds to the agenda of the city and succeeded in attracting the attention of local authorities. The process, consisting of analysis of the current status of the playgrounds, interviews with children and parents, and raising awareness, was finalized with an action plan for playgrounds. The Action Plan for Improvement Playgrounds in Çanakkale (2010-2014) continues to be implemented even if not completely. This article shows that children and women, who are defined as disadvantaged groups, are able to effect to decision making process with help the City Council. The quality of life was improved by local participation in the city, and the awareness of decision makers was raised with regard to thinking in a more child-centered manner.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) and sustainability are the two current and emerging movements in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. Even though the importance of Green BIM is recognised, there are some barriers to a functional inclusion such as lack of measured sustainable strategies’ direct access into BIM. Their integration has a great impact on sustainable construction. Accordingly, this study focuses on setting up a substructure of the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)–based model for BIM and sustainability integration. The main purpose is to fill the gap of BIM integration with standards of sustainable construction by providing a guideline for the design team to address the sustainable features of the project during the design stage. It provides an integrated platform to work on and facilitates the green documentation generation for getting green building certification. Firstly, the property sets are developed in the IFC structure in order to designate the green properties into BIM projects. This process includes the investigation of major categories and criteria of the Green Building Assessment Systems, determination of the possible categories for IFC schema, creation of the property sets and acquisition of the related data. Following this, the green materials database and library are created to get the sustainable data for the assessment. Next, the BIM model is generated based on the green materials. The assessment tool for the data calculation is presented as the last process of the basis for the integrated model. Finally, the applicability of the model is discussed for future studies.