Tracing the Multifunctional Structure of the Traditional Housing through Turkish Literature

The pandemic, which has radically changed the daily life practices of individuals recently, is the reality of the future according to the predictions of the scientists. During the pandemic process individuals have spent most of their time in dwellings, so it is inevitable that this new process will affect housing design. New life style, adopted compulsorily, has similarity with the daily life of women in the traditional period. The traditional house, shaped by the privacy perception of the period, included many functions as it aimed to meet the needs of women within the boundaries of the house. The change in the understanding of privacy, which started with the westernization process, gave woman a chance to participate in public spaces. As a result, the functions of the traditional house spread to the city causing the housing to be simplified. The pandemic process requires gathering these functions back to the dwellings which makes it important to look back to the practices in the past. The aim of this study is to re-evaluate the current situation by examining the multifunctional structure of traditional houses that meets many needs. It is important to carry out an interdisciplinary study due to the limited data about the daily life of the past so it is aimed to enrich the resources by making use of Turkish literature. Ten novels that took place in Istanbul, covering a period between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century are selected. By examining these ten novels, which problematize the dwelling, clues about what functions traditional housing meets are obtained and the importance of reconsidering traditional housing is emphasized in order to make inferences about the future housing.