Thanks to its naturalness, durability and permanence, stone has been a part of human life since its existence. It has preserved its most important material feature, which meets the need for shelter, until recently. Stone structures, which can survive for thousands of years as long as they are not destroyed by natural disasters or human hands, played a very important role in the transfer of civilizations to new generations and in understanding the development of human history. For this reason, architects and sculptors who wanted to immortalize their names throughout history preferred to make their works mostly from natural stones.
Natural stone was mostly used as a massive structural element until the 1800s. As of this date, it lost this feature with the effect of the industrial revolution that started all over the world and started to be used more as a coating material. In recent years, especially with the development of environmental awareness and the beginning of returning to nature, natural stone types have been remembered again due to their healthy, ecological, thermal comfort and aesthetic qualities, but compared to the past centuries, it still has not reached the place it deserves in modern architecture.
Stone has been applied in a wide variety of forms as a building material from past to present. The stone, which served directly as a shelter by carving the rocks in the early period, develops and transforms over time. It is possible to classify the usage areas of the stone as carrier material, coating material, decoration material and aggregate. Stone as carrier material; In the masonry construction system, it can form the load-bearing wall itself, and it is also used as a load-bearing structural element (column, lintel, architrave, etc.). Stone; If it is a carrier material, it fulfills the duty of carrier in different forms depending on the degree of processing, such as rubble stone, rough cut stone, fine cut stone and cut stone.
With the development of building technology, natural stone has also been used as a covering material. The stone used as a covering material is prepared more carefully than the applications in which it is used as a carrier. With this aspect, stone is a good covering material used not only on walls but also on floors.
Today, with the advancement of science and technology, people’s living standards have also changed. Increasing awareness and sensitivity to the environment created the desire to live in natural environments. Thus, the use of natural stone in interiors and exteriors in architecture became widespread.
Today, with the emergence of ecological problems, sustainable materials have come to the fore in buildings. Natural stones gained importance as they are compatible with ecological balance, sustainable and preferable for human health. For this reason, especially in developed countries, the use of healthier and harmless natural building stones for construction purposes is preferred instead of the use of artificial materials that may be harmful to nature and human health during recycling.
Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the leading architects of modern architecture and the twentieth century, said, “Architecture is in the nature of the material”. Wright argued that every material has a unique nature, that the designer should not impose a form on the material, and that if he is a true master, he will transform that material into forms suitable for his own nature. The principle of “making stone look like stone and wood like wood” formed Wright’s basic theory of materials. From this point of view, it is not difficult to understand why architects today tend to prefer materials such as natural stone that reflect their own nature without emulating anything else.
The Importance of Stone in Anatolian Architectural Culture
Stone has become the symbol of trust and power with its language since the most primitive times when human beings lived in caves; It undertook the duty of primary source, transferring the language of past civilizations to future generations, both in Anatolia and all over the world. Anatolian people became aware of the qualities of the stone in every period, turned their experiences about stone into tradition and produced the most accurate solution specific to that place. This production gained wealth with the participation of the aesthetic understanding of the period. This richness was used in different ways, both as a building stone and as a surface covering, to create the urban aesthetics and played an important role in the formation of the urban identity in the historical process. In this process, the stone became the primary source in transferring the traces of history with its evolution.
The use of stone in Anatolia also carries traces of intercultural interaction. When the population movements and ethnographic data are examined, it is seen that the stone building culture also explains the social relations in a multicultural geography like Anatolia. In the Anatolian Seljuk civilization, stone was applied with different techniques both on the body walls and on the vaults. The stone, which appears in three basic forms (rubble stone, rough cut stone, cut stone), is directly related to who is its patron, and which of these techniques is applied and the stone has been an indicator of power and wealth in this period.
One of the most important monumental structures belonging to the Seljuk period is the Sivas Divrigi Great Mosque, the construction of which was started in 1228 (Image 1). The crown gate in the west is embroidered with different patterns that arouse admiration. This door, which pushes the limits of stonemasonry, is also called “Textile Door”. The northern door, which forms the main entrance door of the building, has the appearance of an open-air sculpture with the decorations on it. One of the main features that distinguishes the building from other stone-worked structures is the use of “stone-in-stone” craftsmanship. The mosque is one of the structures in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list in our country.
In the Anatolian lands, decorations have been made on the façade in different periods from the Seljuks to the present. In the Seljuks, the decoration complied with the structural establishment, emphasizing the frames defined by the architecture such as the portal, niche, window, wall borders, and crown arch. Aksaray Sultan Han (Image 2), which was built by the Anatolian Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin Keykubat I in 1229, is one of the stone structures with the decorations in the foreground, as in the Divriği Great Mosque. Muqarnas, which is a special detail with its unique geometry and technology, has been applied as a covering, transition section, wiping and crowning according to where it is used.
The Use of Natural Stone in Turkish Architecture from Traditional to Modernity
The Great Mosque, which was built by Sultan Yıldırım Bayezit in Bursa between 1396-1400 in the early Ottoman period, is one of the important structures where cut stone is used expertly (Image 3). The mosque, which is the largest and most monumental example of multi-domed mosques with a rectangular plan and three large entrance doors, has 12 square feet and 20 domes resting on thick body walls made of cut stone. Described as a “masterpiece” by Mimar Sinan in classical period Ottoman architecture, and in 1569-1575 Sultan II. The application of stone with perfect craftsmanship and genius in Selimiye Mosque, which was built for Selim in Edirne, is an example of the political power of the Ottoman Empire embodied in its religious structure (Image 4). The building, which is located in the kulliye, known by the same name, is as much as Ottoman architecture with its striking perfection and absolute symmetry, such as its eight-pillar support system and its design that highlights the central dome, this feature being expressed with the same strength from inside and outside of the building, and the reinforcement of monocentricity with minarets placed on four corners. It is possible to count the highest stage reached by the tradition of domed structure in stonework.
The 17th century, which is considered as “post-classical” in the field of art and culture, is also a period in which commercial agreements with the Western world were followed by cultural relations in the last quarter of the century. The Ottoman Empire, which lasted until the gates of Vienna, lost its political and military power towards the 18th century after a long period of stagnation. After successive military defeats and territorial losses, the Ottomans were forced to turn to the West. An interest is aroused against the inevitable rise of Europe, and the developments are tried to be followed. On the other hand, in the Tulip Era, stone continued to exist as a decorative element in the city, as well as in fountains along with other structures. III. The fountain of Ahmed’s mother, Emetullah Gülnuş Sultan, in Üsküdar is an important example of this period, with the appearance of a miniature Anatolian portal (Image 5).
With the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the nationalist movement came to the fore in the understanding of architecture and this movement was named the First National Architecture Movement. The new industrial building production methods (prefabrication and mass production of construction materials, components such as concrete, steel, glass and new synthetic materials), which are claimed to be the reason for the existence of modern forms, flat roof solutions are almost non-existent in early Republican Turkey, the state of the construction industry It could not be applied due to reasons such as the lack of advanced insulation techniques and considering the climatic conditions. At a time when the common construction style was still limited to traditional load-bearing construction made of brick or stone, large spans and wide consoles were also not seen as “rational” solutions.
In this period, building elements such as arches in different forms, which were applied in the Seljuk and Ottoman Empire, were handled within the framework of a new order, and the architects could not move away from the Ottoman and Seljuk forms. Building elements and surface decoration types of traditional Ottoman architecture were used to create the visual effect. Architectural decoration was used as the main tool to create national consciousness, and building elements were also used for decoration. For this reason, stone decoration shows itself intensely in these structures. Buildings with symmetrical masses such as Ziraat Bank, Ottoman Bank, İş Bank and Tekel Head Office (Picture 6), which combine the neo-classical influences of the West with the style of the 1st National Architecture movement, stand out with the intensity and diversity of the decorations collected in their facade decorations. Sirkeci Great Post Office Building (1909), Eyüp, Reşadiye School (1911), Eminönü 4th Foundation Inn (1916-1926), Ankara Gazi Teachers’ School (1927-1930), II. The Parliament Building (1923–24), Ankara Çankaya Gazi Mansion (1924) are other buildings where stone was used in a hybrid way in this period (Image 7).
Between 1938-1950, “National Architecture” in the first period, later on “II. National Architecture“ showed its effect. It was a period in which national architectural elements began to be used intensively, in contrast to the understanding of Western-origin architects, who aimed to bring national values to the forefront and in parallel with this until this time. In this movement, an architecture based on local materials and forms was aimed. It is aimed to use similar practices in the criticism of modernist architecture in Turkey, to restore the national art to maturity and to put an end to the idleness observed in the field of architecture. Istanbul University Faculty of Arts and Sciences (1942-1943), Zeyrek Social Insurance Institution (1962-1964), Bursa Governor’s Mansion (1946), Anıtkabir, Çanakkale Victory Monument (1946-1960) were among the important structures of this period. The common feature in these structures is that the stone is now used as the main material of the structures that are free from the traces of the Ottoman Empire under the national view (Image 8).
The search for a two-way identity between tradition and modernity, which manifested itself in Turkish architecture before 1960, gained new dimensions with the emergence of new situations in the political, social, cultural and economic structures, institutions, and relations with the outside world in Turkey after 1960, which led to multi-faceted searches, and with architectural stylistic complexities. Despite all architectural pursuits, technical and economic conditions necessitated rational designs, and many ongoing architectural trends in the world were generally followed within the framework of rationalism in our country. The architecture that developed in Turkey, especially after the 1980s, showed a development parallel to the understanding in the West.
Demir Holiday Village in Bodrum, designed by Turgut Cansever, is a successful example where stones of different colors are used together with two different materials such as wood and concrete and positioned in a natural texture (Image 9). The building was awarded the Aga Khan Architecture Award in 1992.
On the other hand, stone continues to be the language of many modern buildings today. The Turkish Historical Society Building (1963-1966), which was built with Atatürk’s will and won the Aga Khan Architecture Award, The Grand National Assembly Mosque Complex (1989), which was awarded the Aga Khan Architecture Award in 1995, Religious Buildings in the World Architecture Festival Sancaklar Mosque (2011-2013), which won the first prize in its category, Ora Holiday Village, and Akdeniz University Olbia Bazaar, which received the Aga Khan Architecture Award, are some of the successful examples of the recent use of stone (Image 10).
