On the eve of the twentieth century, the dismembering of old empires brought the formation of many new nation states, therefore of emerging new capitals. Becoming independent in 1912, Albania chose its definitive capital, Tirana, in 1920. Since then, the city has been a showcase of planning and architectural interventions for various regimes that have come in power, and its centre was and still is seen as a possibility to show the political ideals of each. The aim of this study is to examine how this important part of the city was produced, used and transformed in a timespan starting from 1920 until the fall of the People&#039 / s Socialist Republic in 1991. The spatial analysis of the city&#039 / s centre and the description of the relations between the main actors of these processes will help us understand the underlying goals for which these representative spaces were designed. On the other hand, comparing its urban elements with those of several coetaneous capitals will locate Tirana among the important planning examples of the time.

This thesis is an attempt to explore the &ldquo / axis of innumerable relationships&rdquo / of the book which Jorge Luis Borges touches upon. In doing this, it deals with the questions of &ldquo / whats&rdquo / , &ldquo / whos&rdquo / , &ldquo / whens&rdquo / and &ldquo / wheres&rdquo / of the reading activity. While scrutinizing these aspects of reading, the main concern is to reach the &ldquo / whys&rdquo / and &ldquo / hows&rdquo / of it. Referring to Roger Chartier&rsquo / s definition of reading, there are three main components of this activity, as the content of the book, the material form of the book and the practice itself and they are aimed to be analyzed in detail. In this context, the questions of &ldquo / wheres&rdquo / and &ldquo / whens&rdquo / and their various answers create an intertwined area of history of reading and history of architecture. Within this theoretical framework, the scope of the thesis is shaped by Peter Greenaway&rsquo / s cinematography. The questions of &ldquo / who reads/writes what book&rdquo / , &ldquo / where and when&rdquo / are searched in the director&rsquo / s three films / The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover (1989), Prospero&#039 / s Books (1991) and The Pillow Book (1996) by devoting one chapter to each film. Accordingly, the question of &ldquo / who&rdquo / orients the study to the bodies of the books/readers/writers, and those of &ldquo / where&rdquo / and &ldquo / when&rdquo / to architectural history. In connection to the director&rsquo / s multidisciplinary interests, the thesis seeks to trace how this topic is intertwined not only with history of architecture but also with the history of art and literature. Hence, it is an attempt to utilize Greenaway&rsquo / s cinematography as a tool to juxtapose the two/three dimensional representations of the book, the body and the spaces onto each other.

As far as the traditional Turkish theater does not refer to any architectural structure / the theater buildings that are built during the nineteenth century are identified with the ideals of modernity and treated as the literally translations of the Western typologies.This study aims to investigate the possbility of a geniune architectural language in the theaters of nineteeenth century Istanbul. While doing this, rather than offering a pure formal analysis,the study concentrates on the cultural panorama of the nineteenth century Istanbul, political and ideological changes, international relations, economic downturn and their impact on theater that starts to appear as a popular leisure time activity of the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

In this study, the socio-spatial formation of a public place in Ankara, the capital city of the Turkish Republic, is analyzed between the 1950s and the 1980s. Within this framework, the focus of analysis is the Tunali Hilmi Avenue (earlier &Ouml / zdemir Street) as one of the main streets in Ankara. To understand experiences of daily life in relation to spatial constitution of a public place is vital for this study, because this opens the way for discussing the formation of a &ldquo / street&rdquo / as a public place where social forms and practices come into being in the city. Focusing on the socio-spatial experiences of people on a street as a public place, this study uses visual and written documents about the architectural and planning processes, as well as the information gathered from oral history survey about the experiences of individuals, in order to understand how public life and public place are shaped in a reciprocal manner, and how the spatial formation of a street is realized in relation to daily experiences of its inhabitants. The decades from the foundation of the Turkish Republic until the late-1950s are initially presented as the period when this part of the city transformed from a suburb of vineyards into a residential area. The main period of analysis in this study is from the late 1950s to the late 1980s when the Tunali Hilmi Avenue was formed as a significant public place in Ankara, acquiring residential as well as cultural, recreational and commercial functions to act as an urban sub-center in the city. Aiming to produce a comprehensive architectural history of the socio-spatial formation of the Tunali Hilmi Avenue as a public place, with reference to its public role in a specific period of time, this study examines this process as associated with the contemporary changes in the built environment and daily life of Ankara. From such a broad perspective, the study evaluates the unplanned formation of the Avenue as an urban sub-center not only as an urban or architectural entity but also as a social process.

This thesis aims to examine the transformations that took place in architectural theory and practice in Turkey in the 1980s, and the role of architectural publications in this context, by analyzing the framework that was drawn by the Mimarlik journal. The analysis of Mimarlik is undertaken in relation to architectural developments in the world and in Turkey, and foreign and local counterparts of the journal. The shifting stances of the journal, as the publication of the Chamber of Architects of Turkey, are studied with reference to the distribution of theoretical and practical content included in it and its changing editors and committees. Architects, buildings, architectural activities, and publications of the decade are scrutinized in order to evaluate the journal&lsquo / s approach towards architectural theory and practice. The thesis attempts to situate Mimarlik in the context of contemporary architectural developments of the 1980s. It argues the journal&lsquo / s role in

This study is an attempt to explore the multifarious aspects of Karl Friedrich Schinkel

This thesis aims to explore the Ottoman Imperial Harem in the second half of the nineteenth century by focusing on the memoirs of Leyla Saz, a well-known poet and musician (1850-1936). Belonging to an aristocratic family, Leyla Saz was admitted to the &Ccedil / iragan Palace at the age of four as Fatma Sultane&rsquo / s, (daughter of Abd&uuml / lmecid) maid of honour and witnessed closely the daily life in the Harem for more than twenty years. Her memoirs, dating 1920, are the earliest examples written by a court member or, in other words, by an insider. They are particularly important for documenting not only the Imperial Harem as a disappeared socio-cultural institution, but also its architectural setting as part of the Old &Ccedil / iragan Palace, built in 1841 but demolished in 1857. Accordingly, this thesis seeks to reconstruct the Old Palace and its Harem architecturally and culturally by reading these memoirs in parallel to the related historical and theoretical literature. In so doing, it discusses whether the memoirs perpetuate or challenge the orientalist discourses.

In this thesis the main focus is the varied body of entertainment structures in Pergamon in the Roman era. Pergamon was a well known city in the Hellenistic period with close ties to Athens and continued its standing as a major cultural center through the Roman period. Especially notable is the fact that one of the only three known amphitheatres of Asia Minor was in Pergamon. Since the amphitheatre is a well-known Roman building type with no Greek precedent, its presence in Pergamon is particularly worth investigating. Besides the amphitheatre Pergamon also boasted a well known Greek theatre, a Roman theatre, a stadium and several odea which make the city a highly promising case study for multiple structures of entertainment. Hence the aim is to explore the architectural, social and political implications for the combined presence of these structures all within the same city.

As the powerful visual instruments of modernity, museums have been formulated in multiple narratives under the impact of political ideologies in the modern world. The study aims to analyze the museums of different socio-political contexts of the late Ottoman Empire and the early Turkish Republic comparatively by examining to what extent their buildings, collections, and displaying methods were utilized in the formation of collective identities as part of contemporary imperialist, nationalist, and modernist ideologies. The overall aim of the study is to analyze how history and cultural heritage were perceived and processed for the definition of a common cultural identity in the two different historical contexts by focusing on their display in museums. This study examines pioneering archaeological and ethnographic museums in Turkey, focusing on the Ottoman Imperial Museum [M&uuml / ze-i H&uuml / mayun (1887-1891)], the Museum of Pious Foundations [Evkaf-i Islamiye M&uuml / zesi (1914)], Ankara Ethnographical Museum (1925-1927 / opened in 1930), the non-implemented project including a National Museum (also called as Hittite Museum) (1933), and the Hittite Museum (also known as Eti M&uuml / zesi / and later called as Anatolian Civilizations Museum) (restoration began in 1938)]. In order to provide a critical evaluation, the study utilizes the knowledge produced not only in architecture but also in history, archaeology, ethnography, and museology while analyzing the formation of those museums within their contexts.

This thesis reviews the general characteristics of rock-cut churches with an inscribed-cross plan in G&ouml / reme. These churches, namely Chapel 17, St. Barbara, &Ccedil / arikli, Karanlik, Elmali, Chapel 25, Chapel 32, Kili&ccedil / lar, Bezirhane and Yusuf Ko&ccedil / , date from the ninth to the eleventh century of the Middle Byzantine period. Firstly, this study aims to identify the general features of these churches. It also attempts to examine their liturgical planning. While doing so, architectural developments in the insribed-cross churches in Byzantine Istanbul will also be used for comparison, in order to highlight provincial characteristics in the inscribed-cross churches in G&ouml / reme.