The Architectural Façade Features of Traditional Nigde Houses that are Influential in the Formation of Urban Identity

Abstract

Factors such as the change of societies living in cities, migration from village to city, unplanned urbanization, socio-economic and socio-political effects cause the emergence of new settlements in the city, as well as the rapid change and transformation of the local architectural identity that has been formed before. This situation causes cities to become ordinary, similar to each other and even the same, distancing from their original identities. One of the most important parts of the city, which is the object of memory and reflects the identity elements of a period, is the residential architecture. When the old and original neighbourhood textures formed by the Nigde houses are reviewed, it is seen that it was settled on the Kayabasi, Tepeviran and Alaaddin hills in the centre. It was observed that the garden walls and houses were placed by using the slope of the land from the hills to the plain and the planning was made without blocking the view and the sun, thus organic street textures emerged. It is seen that the original two-storey stone houses and organic street texture in the gardens, which constitutes the architecture of Nigde and its nearby villages (Yesilburc Village, Fertek Village, etc.), have been demolished in recent years due to the roads opened for vehicle traffic. Within the scope of the study, it is aimed to reveal the contribution of the architectural elements of the traditional Nigde houses, which constitute the urban identity and urban texture of Nigde and which is one of the biggest components of the urban life setup, to the urban identity.