Theses - Department of Architecture

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Faculty of Art, Design And Architecture

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Open Access
Design considerations in multipurpose space of preschool educational environments
(Bilkent University, 1994) Özyurt, Elçin
Design requirements of preschool educational environments that support all aspects of child development are examined in this study. In order to determine the design criteria for preschool educational environments, the characteristics and the properties of early childhood are investigated. Additionally, educational philosophy and psychological influences of environment which affect the physical organization are stated. Within this framework, design considerations of preschool educational environments are discussed under the issues of activity places, alternative organizations, and items of furniture which build up the environment. Finally, general design criteria which are necessary for a comfortable education environment are pointed out.
Open Access
Representation and women : construction of gender-roles in computer games
(Bilkent University, 1996) Özcivelek (Durlu), Leyla
Developments in computer industry gave way computer games to become a popular entertainment agent for children as well as for adults. Interactive quality of computer games has displaced television and traditional games, however, they have become unattractive to women because of the fact that the pleasures offered by these games are gender-specific since they are offered into consumption with a male "Model Player" in mind. The purpose of this particular study is to illustrate the constitution of gender of the player by the discourse itself as a fact independent from the gender of the actual player. In this connection, topics such as gender-role socialization, representation of women in popular culture, computer as a gendered technology will be the main issues to be investigated in order to demonstrate the constitution of the player through an analysis of a group of role-playing games.
Open Access
Wine production in classical Asia Minor
(Bilkent University, 2001) Garrett, Spencer Hoyt
Wine consumption was a fundamental and daily part of Greek and Roman civilization, requiring vast quantities of wine production around the classical world. Published studies discuss the evidence for and conclusions about wine production in many classical regions (e.g. Greece, Italy, Gaul, Spain, Tripololitania, Palestine, and Chersonesos Taurike) yet there has been no conclusive study of wine production in classical Asia Minor. Broughton and Magie collated classical literary references to viticulture (grape growing) and viniculture (wine making). Mitchell discussed some evidence for wine production in the central region of Galatia. Various studies of the Aegean coastal islands have discussed wine production on a local scale. Amphora studies have dealt with aspects of dating, origin, and distribution of the vessels possibly related to the storage and transport of wine. The aim of this thesis is to collect the available evidence for wine production in classical Asia Minor and to analyze it on a regional scale, with the attempt to see how production in the region related to production in other classical regions. Viticulture, like all agriculture, is dependant on certain climatic and soil conditions. Chapter 1 discusses the suitability of regions of Asia Minor to grape and wine production. Chapter 2 discusses what types of evidence are appropiate for the study of wine production in classical Asia Minor, given the types used elsewhere and local factors. Decomposition, destruction, sampling, and relevance limit the available literary and archaeological evidence. Chapter 3 collects this evidence and analyzes it by region. Chapter 4 discusses the geographical disribution of wine production sites, and given climatic and geological suitability and demand, where the literary and archaeological evidence may be lacking. Chapter 5 collates the literary and archaeological evidence on the nature of viticulture and viniculture to draw conclusions on local and regional practices and styles. Chapter 6 discusses the chronology of wine production in classical Asia Minor and attempts to fit it into the context of wine production and consumption in the classical world.
Open Access
Representing absence and the absent one : remembering and longing through mourning photography
(Bilkent University, 2013) Aytemiz, Pelin
Exploring different practices of photographing / representing the dead, this dissertation, deals with the question how the deceased loved ones are remembered and longed for through photography in the context of family. Approaching mourning as a long-term experience in the life of mourners, the primary objective of this dissertation is to analyze the alterations of the absence/presence of the mourned one in mourning photography, using photographs found from archives and antique markets as primary source material. In the light of the critical literature on photography, studies of material culture and memory in relation to photography and classical and contemporary mourning studies, this dissertation aims to expand the parameters of the discussion on the relationship between different types of photography and mourning, remembering, longing for, and bidding farewell to the dead and to refine a new area of study concerning death photography in Turkey
Open Access
The Kantian theory of the sublime and humanist politics
(Bilkent University, 2013) Ayas, Tuğba
The German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s rendition of cosmopolitanism and the sublime have been quite popular separately in various discussions on politics and aesthetics since the late 90s. In today’s political conjuncture the Kantian sublime is consulted in describing the social disasters that had broad repercussions in international public. This study argues that in this century, Kantian ideal of cosmopolitanism together with its close relevance to human rights stands in an unusual relation with the sublime due to the feeling of distant suffering caused by social disasters. Moreover, this relation indicates that Kant’s cosmopolitanism and sublime can be tools for contemplating contemporary world politics. The present study seeks to disclose this present relationship and the regained value of Kantian philosophy in the face of a new world order through examining a) Kantian cosmopolitanism normatively, as in its original version and; theoretically as in the discussions on its revival in late 90s; b) the transformation of the Kantian sublime after 1945; and c) the state of distant suffering in the face of social disasters of the 20th century interpreted as sublime and its relation to ideal of cosmopolitanism.
Open Access
Cyberspace as a locus for urban collective memory
(Bilkent University, 2013) Sak, Segah
However salient the concept of cyberspace is, this study is an exploration of the relationship of people with their places. With a socio-spatial approach, this work sets forth a theoretical plexus between collective memory, cyberspace and urban space. This construction intrinsically relies on a conflation of associations and dynamics of memory, technology and place. Accordingly, the study explores analogies between cyberspace and memory, and between cyberspace and urban space. Merging qualities of the given concepts reveal that the cyberspace presents contemporary formations both of memory and of place. In the light of this premise, the study argues that cyberspace potentially constitutes an external urban collective memory and that it should be utilized to invent cyberplaces in this context. To understand the extent to which such potential is realized, a sample of the websites of existing location-based digital storytelling or oral history projects are investigated. To illustrate the means of projecting a cyberplace as a locus of urban collective memory, a model is established and a pilot website is created. Depending on the theoretical construction and the following propositions, a guideline for possible future implementations is generated. The intention is to bring cyberspace – the indispensible component of contemporary everyday life – to the light as a media that can be used to strengthen people’s relationship with cities rather than submitting our thought to the unavailing dystopia of digital culture.
Open Access
"Servant Princess" of the modern home : domesticity and femininity in Turkey after electrification, 1923-1950
(Bilkent University, 2014) Şavk, Bahar Emgin
This dissertation deals with the question how modern domesticity and modern femininity were discursively constructed in the advertisements and other promotional texts of electric appliances published between 1923 and 1950 in popular women’s and family magazines in Turkey. The issue is framed within socio-historical technology studies and the feminist histories of the early republican period. Moving forward from the claim that electricity had to be first domesticated to enter the homes, the study searches for the gendered connotations of this process. Besides, it ponders over the ways women are interpellated as modern subjects by the representations in question. To this end the dissertation carries on a discourse analysis of the visual and textual representations of electricity and electric powered domestic appliances. The images are discussed in their potential to bring forth the ambiguities in the definitions of modern domesticity and femininity. Analysis revealed that neither the middle-class ethos of domesticity nor the chaste woman of this family was the only idealized form of domesticity and femininity by the official discourses. There were rather different modernities defined distinctly based on various class positions all of which were approved by the republican cadres.
Open Access
Ottomentality: neoliberal governance of culture and neo-Ottoman management of diversity
(Bilkent University, 2017-09) Yang Erdem, Chien
Since the 2000s Turkey has witnessed a growing array of cultural productions and sites ranging from television series to history museums featuring the magnificence of the Ottoman legacy. Contemporary cultural analyses often interpret this phenomenon as cultural expressions of the Justice and Development Party’s (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi; AKP) Islamist ideology and foreign policy known as neo-Ottomanism. Nonetheless, this interpretation tends to overlook the complexity and underestimate its socio-political implications. This study draws attention to the analytical limitations of neo-Ottomanism and develops an alternative concept—Ottomentality—in order to more adequately assess Turkey’s renewed Ottoman motto. By incorporating the Foucauldian perspective of governmentality, the study proposes to look beyond the “ideology” and “foreign policy” interpretations and reconceptualize neo-Ottomanism not only as a distinct form of governmentality, but also in collaborative terms with neoliberal governmentality. Ottomentality is deployed here to underscore the discursive governing practices that are generated by the convergence of neoliberalism and neo-Ottomanism as a means of cultural intervention. By critically engaging with the areas of history museums, television, and cinema, this study aims to examine the AKP’s neoliberal approach to culture and neo-Ottoman management of diversity. The study contends that the convergence of these two rationalities has significantly transformed the state’s approach to culture as a way of governing the social, produced a particular knowledge of Ottoman-Islamic multiculturalism, and constituted a citizen-subject who is increasingly subjected to exclusion and discipline for expressing critical views of this knowledge.
Open Access
Reading the transformations of Konya Culture Park as an urban space
(Bilkent University, 2018-06) Pehlivan, Feyza
Culture parks, built as recreational green urban spaces with entertainment facilities, were one of the most important modernization projects of the early Republican era. Capturing national ideals and the Republican worldview, culture parks introduced new forms of leisure practices while serving as a medium to educate and enlighten the public in contemporary ways of living. As such they symbolized the notion of modernity in Turkey. The idea of culture parks as a re ection of modernity maintained its validity long after its rst initiation in the 1930s. This study examines Konya Culture Park, as a later example of culture parks, to trace its conception and association with politics in the Turkish context. The study rst examines the historical and spatial development of the grounds Konya Culture Park sits on, from a religious garden belonging to the Mevlevi sect to a civic park in the early Republican era. Next, the study analyzes the social, mental and physical properties of the culture park in the 1970s through Lefebvrian spatial theories and their correlations compared against earlier examples. The main contribution of this research is to read the transformation of Konya Culture Park within its socio-cultural context, examined through the lenses of politically directed representations of space, representational space and the practices of users e ective in its transformation. This study contributes to history of architecture and urban studies by focusing on the spatial production of Konya Culture Park, as associated with the development of culture parks in Turkey.
Open Access
Cognitive comparison of using hand sketching and parametric tools in the conceptual design phase
(Bilkent University, 2018-11) Gürel, Adel
With the advancements in the digital design tools, designers have been provided with new methods and tools, which lead them to new ways of thinking. The speed and impact of the use of digital tools in architectural design have increased at an astonishing rate in the last decade. However, the use of such tools in the initial stages of design, the concept generation phase for instance, still seems to be under the influence of hand sketching. The potentials, affects and the evaluations of the use of digital tools in the early phases of design remain to be investigated. This thesis aims at examining the potentials of using parametric design tools in the conceptual design phase in comparison to hand sketching. It is intended to find out and evaluate the impacts of using parametric design tools on the cognitive behaviors of the designers, as well as assessing the satisfaction of the designers in using parametric tools in the early stages of design. Within this framework, an experimental study was conducted with three inexperienced and three experienced graduate architecture students using Grasshopper as the parametric design tool. A content-oriented coding scheme was used together with protocol analyses to collect the data. As a result of the research, significant differences were found between cognitive behaviors of the participants in using hand sketching and Grasshopper. Additionally, the findings show that all of the participants consider Grasshopper as a useful and important conceptual design tool. In line with these findings, this thesis suggests parametric modeling tools to be used more effectively in the architectural conceptual design phase.
Open Access
A classification matrix proposal for digital fabrication techniques in architecture
(Bilkent University, 2018-11) Öztürk, Selen
This thesis investigates the relationship between digital fabrication techniques and the design constraints, such as function and materials, which are determined during architectural design processes by architects. This relationship is formulated through a matrix. Digital fabrication techniques are generally discussed upon and decided at the last step of a design process. This study roots from the idea that knowing which technique to use for fabrication affects the design process. In that sense, ‘according to which constraints which technique suits the design intention best’ should aid the designers. To propose a classification matrix two steps are practiced: first, as digital fabrication is a newly developing area, there are confusions, shifts, and overlaps of terminology among fabrication techniques; thus a simplification and classification in the terminology is needed. Such a classification is carried out in this thesis through recurrence tables based on a literature survey, the output of which constitutes the main column of the matrix. Secondly, a set of design constraints are determined by analyzing built projects, which are realized using specific digital fabrication techniques. This set of constraints establishes the columns of the matrix. The classification matrix aims to contribute both to educational and practical sides of architecture, proposing digital fabrication techniques to designers according to specific design constraints.
Open Access
A coordinate system proposal for investigating the changing body-space relationship regarding interactivity
(Bilkent University, 2019-06) Erdem, Aslı
With the development of new technologies, architectural spaces begin to offer different spatial experiences compared to conventional buildings. Especially with the emergence of interactive architecture, cues of a significant change in architecture are put forth. These changes are expected to transform the body-space relationship people form with the spaces they inhabit. Even though people still spend most of their daily lives in static buildings, movement and interactivity are seem to be more prevalent features of architecture in the future, influencing the way people experience spaces. As such, it is essential to understand the outline of the newly emerging body-space relationship and its effects on users’ spatial engagement. In order to understand this changing relationship, this study firstly describes the traditional engagement categories; physical movement, mental movement and sensuality, which are used to define the relationship between users and architectural spaces. Under these three categories, parameters that influence the spatial engagement of users are defined based on a literature review. After that, a new engagement category, movement of architecture is proposed to show the effects of movement and interactivity in architecture. Novel engagement parameters are introduced under this category based on literature review and analyzing interactive examples. Using these four engagement categories, a coordinate system, called the PMSI, is introduced and this system is used to analyze spaces starting from static examples to highly interactive ones. As a result of these analyses, it is found that interactive spaces increase users’ spatial engagement compared to static spaces, in means of all four engagement categories and positively affect their body-space relationships.
Open Access
Islamic feminism as an inquiry into the creation of Mothers’ Paradise Women-Only Park, Tehran
(Bilkent University, 2019-07) Tabrizi, Helyaneh Aboutalebi
Iran has a history full of contradictions because of ideologies behind the governments ruling before and after the happening of Islamic Revolution in 1979. Islam opened new chapter for women’s social and political status and it has made the country to experience different approaches towards feminism and contrasting changes in urban context and management. In the first place, this thesis portrays perspectives of feminism in both periods, then it maintains the Islamic feminist ideas which is the production of Islamic government and a new discourse in rethinking gender-related issues. Secondly, it studies descriptive knowledge of socio-political outlooks and changes through administration and direction of the urban form of capital city, Tehran. Then, as one of the findings, it introduces organizations run by women, working under the ruling system of Tehran Municipality, who were the key initiators and organizers in establishing spaces like women-only parks. Thirdly, this research aims to find signs of Islamic feminism in the creation process of Mothers’ Paradise, the first women-only park in Tehran which is located on the East edge of Abbas Abad land, by examining the existing physical form of the park. Since there is limited research regarding this connection, this thesis aims to study if there is any relationship between discourse of so-called Islamic feminism after the Islamic Revolution in general and Mothers’ Paradise Women-only Park.
Open Access
Smart cities; analyzing themes and concepts of smartness in urban environments
(Bilkent University, 2019-07) Yousefimehr, Ali
Cities are grappled with a plethora of socio-political and environmental problems that necessitate the new type of solution models and strategies; such as, environmental pollution, scarcity of resources, cyber-attacks, and traffic congestion. These challenges, alongside constant population growth and densification in urban areas, have fostered cities to embrace and seek smart solutions which forced them to develop responsive and intelligent approaches to create economically viable, socially livable and environmentally sustainable cities. In the same vein, the smart city notion has gained particular traction in urban design and planning contexts. Yet, the definition and application of smart cities varied among academicians, practitioners, and urban planners. Smart cities are mainly characterized by the pervasive application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in city functions, to deliver and provide efficient, safe, and reliable urban services to citizens. Following the ever-increasing focus in smartness in city planning, this research aims to review, explore, and analyze the smart city concept within the literature, followed by the complementary analysis of the pertinent smart city cases and smart city initiatives. Through identifying dominant domains in smart city platform, this study reveals the previous and current efforts of smart initiatives within the scope of smart urban practices, and provide a set of comparable implications for future researchers, architects and urban planners in the field.
Open Access
The changing dynamics of the architectural profession in Turkey, 1960s - 1970s: the rise of participatory design and the experimental case of İzmit new settlements project
(Bilkent University, 2019-07) Bozkurt, Eda
The post-WWII period was dense of political, economic, and social transformations whose repercussions spread well beyond the Western scene. Although Turkey didn’t participate directly into the conflict, it was nevertheless invested by this set of changes that turned out to be crucial in directing the internal dynamics of the country. Moreover, the widespread capitalist development and the consequent accelerating industrialization, drove Turkey along a turbulent process, full of continuous and multi-faceted transformations, which include unpredictable national politics, emerging new economies and social structures, and in particular, rapid and uncontrolled urbanization. This climate of change and radical transformations eventually affected also the discourse and the practice of architecture. After the collapse of CIAM, and the orthodox ideology of modern architecture, the climate of austerity originated in the post war era determined an internal crisis in the architectural discipline, and a profound re-foundation of its objectives and duties. In particular, the recognition of the social inequality derived from the post-war urban renewal programs in Western nations, eventually threatened the very credibility of architecture. This renewed criticism aiming to question the social roles of architecture, starting from the beginning of the 1960’s entered decisively into the architectural debate in Turkey. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate and trace the changing dynamics of the architectural profession, regarding the concern of ‘social awareness’ as a central topic in the Turkish architectural agenda of the period. Following the trajectory of this discourse, the study attempts to answer the following questions: What were the underlying causes that led the query for the redefinition of the social content of architecture, and the reconsideration of the moral obligations of the architects? For which reasons architects were encouraged to make an introverted criticism? What affected architects to seek for a radical occupational change in the conventional architectural practice? Focusing both on the Turkish and the international architectural debate, in the period comprised between the 1960s and the 1970s, this study aims to emphasize the notion of ‘user participation’ as a new tradition of thought developed within the socialist, left-wing architectural criticism. By challenging the authoritative practice of architecture, this phenomenon has addressed more equitable and democratic priorities in the generation of the space, particularly in the practices of housing. The attempt of the thesis is to pursue the rise of the ‘participatory design’ as a new architectural term which represents the consciousness of social responsibility, and to find out how Turkish architects were influenced/if influenced by their counterparts through transnational exchange of views. Eventually the thesis focuses on the re-evaluation of the ‘İzmit New Settlements Project’, an archetypal experiment to illustrate the changing dynamics in the Turkish architectural agenda. The proposed case study will investigate the presence of possible analogies with the international architectural debate. The ultimate aim of the re-evaluation of the ‘İzmit New Settlements Project’, is to enlighten its highly comprehensive program enabling the ‘user participation’ on a large scale, and to stress how it can be considered as a favorable alternative to the housing production policies for the low-income groups in Turkey, by featuring the revised complemental the dialogue between the architects, the society, and the political authorities.
Open Access
Building of a “new” architectural tradition in Kyrgyzstan: the case study of the open air park “Manas Ayili”
(Bilkent University, 2020-01) Baiborieva, Zhamilia
Kyrgyzstan experienced very critical moment during a transition from the Soviet Union state into new independent republic. Despite being rooted in the rich history of great civilizations and cultural traditions, there was an urge for the new national identity, which would unify people. In this context, new national elites promoted a mythical figure of the noble Kyrgyz hero - Manas, to portray the primordial origins of Kyrgyz culture and a tradition centred on him. It turned his image into a powerful tool to forge a new Kyrgyz identity in a nation building process. The same year, a governmental committee announced a design competition for a realization of an open-air ethno-cultural park - “Manas Ayili”. The winner of the competition, a Kyrgyz architect Dyushen Omuraliev supervised both design and construction processes in the project. The aim of this thesis is to study the discourse of Omuraliev, and in particular to focus on his attempt on transfer of ethnic, cultural and mythical symbols into an architectural language. A “new” national architectural language expected to embody values and ideals of the brand new Kyrgyz nation, and at the same time to herald the construction of the strong tradition to support the new national identity. The thesis attempts to analyze and discuss the case study of Manas Ayili and an approach of the architect in order to point out the number of significant connections with the architectural theories. In particular, the thesis will be evaluated through the four key criteria: locus, metaphor, type and diagram, which would allow to relocate the discussion to an international level. Eventually, the thesis attempts to derive the process of “construction” or “invention” tradition by the architect, on the background of the complex political and social changes.
Open Access
Biomimetic acoustic metamaterial design for architectural applications
(Bilkent University, 2020-08) Yazıcı, Beyza
This study investigates the potentials of acoustic metamaterial (AMM) applications in room and building acoustics by means of impedance tube experiments. With their extreme properties in either sound absorption or transmission loss, AMMs can perform better than many traditional acoustic materials in buildings. Importantly, they are also more sustainable and hygienic than ﬁbrous and porous materials. Depending on the matrix material used, AMMs can vary in transparency and color. Considering both their acoustic and aesthetic values, this study develops diﬀerent types of metamaterial for possible uses as a partition wall, a surface layer, or a design element. The proposed metamaterials are primarily based on the exploration of ratios and forms from nature – the golden ratio, web-labyrinthine structures, genetic and neural systems such as DNA molecules and the synapse structures in the brain – reproduced on a sub-wavelength scale. These abstractions are then combined with the 3D space coiling and 3D labyrinth approaches of AMM design. Modules of the proposed AMMs are manufactured in a 3D printer and tested in an impedance tube to estimate their normal incidence sound absorption coeﬃcients and transmission loss characteristics. Based on the results obtained, the modules with the higher performances are used in the design of partition walls of varying heights. Two real-case architecture studios are simulated with and without the proposed AMM interventions over ﬁeld test-tuned acoustical models of the studios to assess the eﬀectiveness of such an approach in a possible acoustical design problem.
Open Access
Architecture and cinema: analysis of the relationship between narrative and architectural space in Christopher Nolan’s the Dark Knight Trilogy
(Bilkent University, 2020-11) Barut, Berin
Cinema’s invention in the 19th century has changed humans’ relationship with the built environment and introduced new possibilities of representing architectural spaces. Both architecture and cinema mediums concentrate on certain (common) notions such as space, time, narrative, editing and framing all of which contribute to the strong relationship the two disciplines have. The relationship between architecture and cinema is a two-directional one; both disciplines mutually influence and affect each other. This thesis suggests that the notions of space and narrative should be regarded as the most important elements of the relationship architecture and cinema have since they encapsulate other notions mentioned and, in order to fully realize this relationship, these two notions should be analyzed in relation to each other in detail. Cinematic narrative and architectural space represented in film constantly influence each other; any change in the narrative affects the representation of space and employment of a certain space alters the cinematic narrative. In order to analyze this relationship, this thesis concentrates on how architectural spaces and cinematic narrative mutually influence each other via a close analysis of The Dark Knight Trilogy. As a result of the analysis conducted, it is found out that space and narrative have a strong and twodirectional relationship: the cinematic narrative has the power to infiltrate into architectural space represented in the film and, as a result of this, alters the meaning of the space represented. Moreover, this situation contributes to the narrative and is used to highlight certain narrative concerns within the film.
Open Access
Social affordances of residential open spaces: case study of Dikmen Valley, Ankara
(Bilkent University, 2020-12) Roshani, Mahya
This study describes a methodology to assess the social affordances of residential open spaces. To this end, referring to Gibson's concept of affordances, the study investigates the relationship between the social affordances of residential open spaces and the main environmental attributes of 1) topological depth, 2) spatial demarcations, 3) constitutedness, 4) visibility, 5) inter-visibility, 6) the number of block stories, 7) existence, location, and orientation of landscape elements. The methodology is used to analyze the case of Dikmen Valley in Ankara, which was reorganized with a comprehensive regeneration project. The first step of the study is the analysis of the open space typologies of the residential compounds. Afterwards, each type is scrutinized through an in-depth analysis with methods of spatial analysis, visibility graph analysis, and on-field observations. It is revealed that similar environmental attributes have similar social affordances and in conclusion, this study indicates which residential open space typology of the case study has the optimum social affordances.
Open Access
Tracing conservative modernization of Turkey between 2010-2020: school architecture in Istanbul’s Historical Peninsula
(Bilkent University, 2021-01) Lale, Nilgün
Modernization in all fields, including architecture, is on Turkey’s ideological agenda since the late Ottoman period. From that time, different understandings of modernization have been attempted, and reaching the last one in the first 20 years of the XXI century, with conservative power in politics. Considering modernity’s contemporary interpretation and the attempts towards making new national architecture, this thesis relates conservative modernization to school architecture. Apart from being a significant medium in describing the periods’ understanding of modernization, new national architecture was introduced in 2005 with new prototype projects for public schools. Since then, this new architectural style is under process and characterized no longer by a specific individual style but much more by an ambiguous set of characters which imply continuing negotiation. To trace these characters over the latest samples, the portfolio of reconstructed school projects in the scope of the Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparation Project (ISMEP) represents a wide diversity of architectural languages with all kinds of global, national, and local dynamics. Contrary to the regular practice in building schools in Turkey, ISMEP has also abandoned prototype projects and adopted special projects in 2010. In the light of contemporary attempts to refashion bounds with tradition, this thesis took 12 reconstructed public schools in Istanbul’s Historical Peninsula as microcosms that epitomized conservative modernization. By reading educational spaces as the reflection of ideological discourse and architectural space, the restoration ideology of conservative modernization was revealed as the (re-)invention and promotion of architectural spaces and elements. In this way, the global reconstruction of the locality was exemplified with ISMEP’s public schools.