GUIDING ADAPTIVE CHANGE IN TRADITIONAL BEYPAZARI HOUSES: PROPOSALS FOR THEIR CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY

Date

2026-6-29

Author

Ürey, Özgür

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The sustainability of the traditional urban fabric is fundamentally linked to the continuity of its local population and local culture. The preservation of residents within their original environments is vital for safeguarding the cultural authenticity and social vitality of heritage sites. For residents to remain in heritage sites however, it is imperative that their houses meet contemporary comfort conditions. When traditional houses fail to provide these conditions—specifically regarding thermal comfort, sanitary facilities, and spatial organization—residents are often compelled to choose between making unregulated, often damaging modifications or abandoning their properties altogether. Both scenarios threaten heritage conservation: unregulated modifications compromise architectural authenticity, while abandonment results in neglect and eventual demolition. Beypazarı exemplifies this problem; despite its largely intact timber-framed Ottoman houses, the town faces increasing abandonment due to a lack of contemporary comfort conditions. The aim of this dissertation is to develop proposals for guiding adaptive change in traditional Beypazarı houses to ensure their long-term conservation. By analyzing the technical and spatial deficiencies that trigger change and abandonment, the study intends to address the lack of modern living standards without compromising traditional character. To achieve this, the dissertation first establishes a theoretical framework in Chapter 1 by examining the topics of sustainable conservation, retrofitting of timber-framed houses and adaptive change; it then explores the historical and contextual characteristics of Beypazarı, and evaluates the conservation history of the town to understand why current strategies have not fully mitigated residential displacement. Next, it analyzes the architectural and constructional characteristics of traditional Beypazarı houses in Chapter 2, through the studied 61 houses within the scope of the field survey; and subsequently analyzes and assesses the adaptive changes made to traditional Beypazarı houses by their residents in Chapter 3. Building on these analyses, it ultimately develops a set of guiding proposals in Chapter 4 that offer practical and economically affordable spatial and technical solutions for the retrofitting of traditional Beypazarı houses. Finally, it presents its conclusions in Chapter 5, detailing its limitations, directions for future research, and applicability to broader contexts. The proposals offered in this dissertation aim to reconcile the demands of contemporary living with heritage conservation principles, integrating modern amenities without compromising structural integrity. The ultimate goal is to enable users to manage their own properties and encourage the local population to remain in their original settings. This approach attempts to foster a sustainable conservation model where the preservation of the physical fabric is intrinsically linked to social continuity. Keywords: Beypazarı, Timber-framed Traditional Houses, Sustainable Conservation, Adaptive Change, Contemporary Comfort Conditions

Subject Keywords

Beypazarı, Timber-framed Traditional Houses, Sustainable Conservation, Adaptive Change, Contemporary Comfort Conditions.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/119941

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Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis