An Attempt to Read Eldem Architecture Through Critical Regionalism

This study is an attempt to produce an alternative discourse on Eldem's architecture by focusing on the works of his youth, with the idea that Sedad Hakkı Eldem defined an important threshold in his architectural thought and practice. Eldem's desire to modernize the traditional, which he would continue throughout his career, sprouted in his youth, and this process was made visible with numerous sketches and notes in notebooks kept during this period. The study evaluates Eldem's memories of this period, along with the sketches and notes in these notebooks, and his desire to modernize the traditional within the framework of the theory of critical regionalism that emerged in the early 1980s. Critical regionalism theory discusses the production of the traditional within modernism by taking a critical position against regionalism based on imitation and the displacement of universal modernism. It is seen that Eldem also acted with a similar criticality in his youth and sought to modernize the traditional. However, this discussion and search, which show parallels, differ in the context of historicity. While critical regionalism tends to gradually exclude the historical, Eldem prioritizes historicity and attaches importance to the fact that buildings evoke a certain sense of belonging. By discussing these similarities and differences, the study brings to the fore the importance of Eldem's youth notebooks and shows that Eldem's architectural thought was refined during this period.