Due to the dense population patterns in the urban environment, residential outdoor usage need have shifted from planned or constructed semiprivate/semipublic and open/semiopen spaces (“gray matters”/GM) to unconstructed outdoor spaces. This is related to demographic characteristics, daily living cultures, and the physical features of the space. This study aims to explore educated young adults’ perception, usage, and social interaction patterns for Grey Matters formations. The methodology is conducted reflecting the first 3 steps of a planned 6-step research project. Quantitative and qualitative data obtained through questionnaires and in-depth interviews with 49 young adults were analyzed. The study shows that the young adults need the outdoors at least for “taking take a breath.” Nevertheless, the grey matters are not always the architectural “text book examples.” They are sometimes generated by coincidence but perceived to be the most prominent ones or the contrary. Young adults, aged between 23 and 37 with higher education degrees, specifically those living on the metro line routes on the Istanbul European side, are focus. In the dense urban area, young adults prefer to use some particular residential spots as if they were their own backyard, lawn, or porch. They read, study, exercise, interact, conduct meetings, drink coffee/tea, and smoke. They develop an “ownership” despite the spaces being “no man’s lands” regarding the urban definitions.

Nowadays, the rapid urbanization and the transportation problems caused by this, brought up public transportation systems and urban rail systems especially started to be preferred in metropolises. The type with the highest passenger capacity of the urban rail system is subways and the subways are mostly built underground. In this system, urban transportation is executed by underground stations and tunnels that connect different stations. Station structures are transformed into inefficient environments that are not desired to be used because they are difficult to use when user comfort is not provided, and they do not respond to user requirements. Thus, the passengers are adversely affected physically and psychologically. For this reason station constructions must be designed and applied in accordance with the comfort criteria to be used without problems. This study was limited by visual comfort criteria. In the study, Kadıköy and Kartal Stations in Kadıköy-Kaynarca/Tavşantepe Subway Line, which is the first metro of Istanbul’s Anatolian Side, were selected as the sampling stations. First of all, the visual comfort criteria of the underground subway stations are explained by examples in the world, then the visual comfort attributes of the selected subway stations are determined and these features are evaluated according to both the visual comfort criteria and the questionnaire study made by the users in both stations.

Indoor air quality rises in importance when considering that people spend large part of their time in enclosed spaces where indoor air is more polluted than outdoor environment. In the scope of this study, experimental research was done to investigate the thermal comfort and indoor air quality at an office building in the central district of Edirne. By choosing two office units, which facing different directions, in the rectangular formed building located at NE and SW directions, environment temperature, relative humidity, velocity of air flow, amount of CO2, PMV (predicted mean vote), PPD (predicted percentage of dissatisfied) and particle matter quantities at different diameters were measured. Measurements were organized so that each office unit has 8 measurements in two-month period. Besides that, measurements were taken at outdoor environment. With the help of tables and graphs, obtained numerical data were compared with limit values of ASHRAE Standard 55. As the result of investigation, it is understood that insolation direction of the office units has the importance on indoor air quality. However, building envelope, office area size and volume, type of heating system, number of user, existing furniture and equipment etc. factors are more important than insolation of the building. Moreover, smoking causes large amount of increase in the level of CO2 and quantity of particle matter in the environment. In fact, it is seen that level of CO2 is so high when also there is not smoking activity in the office.

The quality of life of people in urban areas is a result of interaction of humans with the urban environment. Many studies show that open public spaces and the activities conducted in these areas are important urban environment factors that contribute to the quality of life. However, today, not only the quantity but also the quality of open public space tends to decrease. Along with this tendency, the “quality” in the urban space concept has become overemphasized. Density and diversity of urban space activities are conducted in public open spaces developed in parallel to the quality of space. Besides the environmental characteristics of the space; some indicators such as the density and diversity of urban space activities and the socio-economic status of users provides an important means of measuring the quality of space. In this study, the relationship between the quality of space in open public space and urban space activities has been revealed in the analysis conducted for the two parks—Sevgi Park and Azerbeycan Dostluk Park–located in Besiktas. Demonstrating how urban spaces are commodified by referring only to the physical structure without acknowledging their social and communal context and explaining the relationship between quality of space in urban spaces and urban space activities are the main objectives of these studies.

The present study is concerned with a body of studies in architecture called Contextualism. As its departure point, the study takes context and Contextualism as these concepts were defined in Collage City and in their conceptualizations between 1960s and 1980s before their transformation. The main aim of the study is to create a survey of Contextualism with reference to two distinct frameworks from the field of art, often referred to as “Contextualism,” “contextualist(ic) criticism” and “aesthetical contextualism.” In the study, architectural contextualism is briefly reviewed from a historical perspective. Following this, the ideas of context and contextualism are examined with reference to aforementioned two intellectual sources to constitute a framework as a basis for the survey. With reference to this framework, departing from the main problems addressed by contextualism, an updated survey of the main notions of contextualism is being made. What is proposed is an inclusive expanded reading of contextualism and beyond the reductionist; by having a superficial understanding of contextualism this interpretation provides us an inclusive worldview, an understanding and an operational model concerning architecture and architectural design.

The aim of this study is to investigate the preferred vertical illuminance in front of a mirror and luminaire placements for mirrors through experiments. For this purpose, a mirror was fixed on a wall of a mock-up room and three linear luminaires were placed around the mirror. Six lighting arrangements were designed using three luminaires around the mirror for local lighting and four indirect luminaires for general lighting in the room. Lighting scenarios were based on six different lighting arrangements and a range of vertical illuminances between 300 lx and 2000 lx. Surveys were conducted on the mirror lighting conditions in the homes of the participants as well as their impressions and preferences in terms of various lighting scenarios provided in the mock-up room. Findings obtained by means of the survey have been evaluated in terms of preferred vertical illuminance, emerging shadows and affected glare. Consequently, guiding criteria for mirror lighting were introduced.

Students who are trying to adapt themselves to architectural design education are having some problems because they are used to the Turkish secondary education system’s doctrines and discipline. The reason for these problems is that different mental skills are needed for the architectural design education and the secondary education system. Multiple Intelligence Theory as conceived by Howard Gardner states that different mental skills actualize in different parts of the brain. “Spatial Games” is an intelligence practice, which encourages young minds to understand and define space. The game connects Logical–Mathematical intelligence and Visual–Spatial intelligence. This study handles space as a summation of physical realities (such as height, size, light, and heat) which are not measured but predicted during the game. Players relate spaces through proportional relationship. This helps players to perceive these physical properties of spaces and is fictitiously based on the process of “predicting, designing, and examining,” which is parallel to the course that Armstrong offered to facilitate by passing on from one intelligence to other. As a result, there is a connection to this formation to Spatial Triad of Lefebre, which is formed from “predicted, designed, and lived space.” The conclusion of this study also shares experiments and surveys of the game, played with students.

Natural and social resources are not evenly distributed in urban areas, which cause an unbalanced development and a differentiated socio-economic structure in the urban space. In cities, where socio-economic characteristics differentiate; social status, occupational and cultural characteristics, lifestyles, income level, relative and citizenry relations cause the location of the inhabitants in different areas of the urban space and these socio-economic differences shape the space. The aim of this study is to analyse how socio-economic characteristics of the inhabitants of Bursa shape the space and what kind of differentiation these characteristics create in the urban space. In order to find out the differentiation of socio-economic and spatial structure of the city, 2000 and 2010 population data of TÜİK and a detailed household questionnaire applied in the different neighbourhoods of Bursa metropolitan area in 2013 have been used. By the data gathered from the questionnaire survey, the changes in the socio-economic structures of neighbourhoods are revealed and by using chi square and principal component analysis, which of the socioeconomic variables are effective on the differentiation of the spatial structure in different neighbourhoods and the relation among these variables are evaluated.

The decisions about the built environment and the building codes in urban conservation plans have a critical role for a true conservation practice. Besides the necessity of planning decisions that are formed according to a holistic conservation policy, the building regulations and codes have direct effects in sustaining the characteristic and authentic features of the built environment. In urban conservation areas, buildings can be categorized in three groups: cultural assets that are already registered as heritage sites, existing buildings that do not present heritage value and proposed buildings that do not exist currently. The conservation law in Turkey provides a specific mechanism for monitoring and controlling registered heritage sites; however, this mechanism is quite limited for unregistered or new buildings in urban conservation areas. Therefore, within urban conservation plans, the decisions about the unregistered or new buildings become a primary challenge for the protection of authentic physical features in urban areas. Urbanization over the traditional urban area of Giresun dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries has created obvious integration problems between new and old sites. The limited registration for traditional buildings, the insufficiency in codes and limitations for new buildings, the lack of a holistic planning policy, and the existence of unharmonious new buildings within and around the urban conservation area are the current problems in Giresun. These problems have been mainly caused by the building decisions of former urban conservation plans. This paper aims to share and argue the principles and decisions of the Revision Plan of Giresun Urban Conservation Area.

Oltu stone is a semiprecious and well known gemstone, which is mined only in the Oltu district in Erzurum, Turkey. It is popular all over the world. Its easiness to engrave and polish enabled it to be used in jewelry in Anatolia throughout history. Processing and trade in Oltu stone began in the late 18th century and developed rapidly in the Turkish Republic period. In addition to being a unique item of value in the province, Oltu stone provides local people an important economic activity opportunity. Development of an economic sector based on this stone is important for the locals in the region where agricultural activities are limited due to harsh climatic characteristics and geographical features and industrial and tourism investments are insufficient. The processing of Oltu stone has been conducted by locals for centuries using traditional and simple methods in primitive workshops. The competitiveness of Oltu stone products produced with traditional methods has gradually decreased because of weak marketing strategies; so, the people living in the Oltu sector have difficulty in earning money. Such an unfavorable condition causes a decrease in the workforce in the Oltu sector. Product diversification and relocation of the stone are suggested ways for Oltu stone to get a greater share from the national market and allow the workforce to continue working in the sector. The present study seeks to analyze the chain of activities ranging from mining the stone to the services needed after selling products and relationship between the activities and the strategies required for the analysis of problems for each activity.

The dynamic and complex nature of children’s sense of physical environment (Lim, Barton, 2010) with respect to the location of the space concerning cultural conditions, relations, and parameters direct design criteria to meet pedagogic, physiologic, and biological needs and requirements of the children in the preschool interiors. This enquiry has grown out of the desire to examine the parameters, cultural aspects, dimensions, or contexts affecting the built environment in the preschool interiors where children spend most of their time out of their home. Conceptual components affecting the interior space of pre-school education centers are identified and based on literature review, interviews, surveys, observational data, and statistical concepts such as education models, socio-economic conditions, appreciation of adults, child–teacher–parent relations, and location related to culture. These contextual connections and relations with the interior environment shaped the body of the study. Based on the above-mentioned items, a research questionnaire was used in centers located in the Çankaya and Çayyolu regions of Ankara. Subjects were randomly selected from among the parents of these preschools’ students. Accordingly, the research questionnaire was directed to a total of 200 respondents from 15 pre-school centers; these preschool education centers are the ones applying the Montessori education model, providing education in English and highlighting features like physical space comfort, etc. Those centers have maintained their corporate identity thanks to the above-counted features. Consequently, data has shown that the education model, socio-economic conditions, appreciation of adults, child–teacher–parent relations, and location have an indirect and direct bearing on parent perception of the preschool centers which affects the centers’ formation of Interior spatial design.

Fires had an important effect on the evolution of the cities. After wide-scale fires, the precautionary effort progressed because of the financial and emotional damage done to the cities and residents. The historical progress of İstanbul has been frequently exposed wide-spreading fires which also caused significant losses of life and property. Fires, which are particularly influenced Ottoman towns, contain attached and usually wooden housing. When building the city, fire safety regulations came into force in the final period of the Ottoman Empire, and solutions for passive fire protection were examined. Questions arose about the immovable cultural property to be protected. This study benefits from previously prepared and published index studies. These effects, which were reviewed only at a surrounding and building scale, and revealed in detail the base and aimed to explain their roles in architectural formation based on the defined criteria. All these detailed solutions are marks of an era and they need to be protected during repair work. This study systematically examines İstanbul’s wide-scaled fires and innovative passive fire protection strategies. The study aims to create knowledge about the relevant eras during restoration and renewal stages of immovable cultural property, to be protected.

There exist a historical water tunnel network speared all through the historical urban area of Gaziantep. An underground tunnel, referred to as the livas, brings water from outside of the city and serves many public spaces like mosques, khans, baths, madrasahs and fountains as well as the wells of the privately owned houses. Although the water carriage system isn’t designed by an holistic approach and developed by additions throughout the history, the system works as a whole and concerns all users. By being a system that concerns all users and by being in concern of one of the fundamental needs of mankind; water, some rules are settled for the usage of the water. These rules includes information on the physical and historical background of the city. The aim of this study is to clarify the management model of historical water system through şer’iye registers and charter of wakfs. It is also targeted to contribute to the studies to clarify the characteristics of regional water management systems in Ottoman period and evaluate the development of historical water structure of Gaziantep through water usage rules and rights. In the first part of the paper, the general system and rules of water usage in Ottoman period is described. The second part presents the historical water system in Gaziantep, followed in the third part by presenting the subjects related to water system in şer’iye registers and charter of wakfs with evaluations for understanding the characteristics of water system. The last part evaluates the effects of Ottoman Period water usage rules on the formation and development of water system in Gaziantep and contributions to analyze the historical background of the city.