Istanbul is a transcontinental city located at the west side of Turkey. Unlike the common thought; Istanbul is not the capital  but this city with 13milion inhabitants is the most popular destination for tourists  with its charming historical peninsula, magnificent view of boshphorus and best examples of traditional Turkish/Ottoman cuisine. So If you planned a trip to Istanbul  or want to have more information to decide, this article will be a perfect guide for you to make sure you dont miss anything in your first Istanbul experience!

1. Visit Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia Interior Dome [image source: http://inspirationseek.com/]

2. Visit Topkapi Palace

After visiting the palace you can stop by the cafeteria to enjoy the bosphorus view.

3. Visit Sultan Ahmet Mosque / Blue Mosque

Metaphor is a literary term which means “carrying over”. It associates meanings and
emotions which otherwise would not have been related and in my perspective good architecture
is the art of making metaphore. The understanding that does not see architecture only as
the act of building but making a design that touches human life,shapes human behaviour and
represents its context.
Barringten describes metaphore in architecture as clarify, orient and provide reification
of all the design parameters into a highly structured work. It is a work which homogenizes
all these diverse disjointed systems and operations into a well working machine. [Barringten,
2012, p:3] In this terms I see the traditional turkish house as a good example of making metaphore
in architecture.
Traditional turkish house is a house typology that evolved in the lands of Ottoman
Empire however its strong connection with nomadic tents of Turks can not be denied. The
strongest element in this typology is the ‘‘room’’ but not in the same perception we see a room
nowadays. Room as an element of turkish house is the place where a family cooks, eats, sleeps
and do their activities. So basicly the room is the place that has flexibility to provide all features
of living.[Eruzun, 1992, p:70] It is also the part of the house that has a strong connection with
the nomadic tent in the way of using the space.

Nomadic Tent of Turks                                                                                                   Room plan of the traditional turkish house

Plan without sofa                                                                     Plan with outer sofa

Inner Sofa
In the third stage of evoluation sofa became an inside element of the house and the
rooms were ordered on both sides of it which made the ‘‘sofa’’ the circulation area between the
rooms and a living space for all the family. In this plan the size of sofa extanded.
Central Sofa
S. H. Eldem also defines this fourth stage also as elliptical or beyzi sofa. In this plan
rooms are at the corners of the sofa and spaces between the rooms were mainly service areas
such as;storage, staircase and kitchen.

Plan with inner sofa                                                                     Plan with central sofa

Turkish house is a typology that evolved throughout 500 years, creates its own metaphores,
connects with nature, respects its context and reflects its roots. So what was the reason
behind traditional turkish house typology’s disappearance?
The change started with the influence of industrial revolution and continued with
Tanzimat Edict in Ottoman Empire. All this happennings triggered the modernist movements
in society which had a massive influence on architecture. In 19th century the first multi-storey
apartments started to appear with their facade influenced by west however plan typologies still
had the strong influence of turkish house. With the foundation of Turkish Republic modernization
process accelerated in every field of life. Hence we easily see urbanization and house
typology changes which shown as the social effects of industrial revolution, has stepped up the
disappearance of cultural buildings. [Martindale, 2005, p:38]

However multi-storey buildings entered in our life as a symbol of a western life, soon it
became the best solution for population growth. It is known that previously even the families
has low income were able to build their houses which suits its physical and cultural context.
[Kocaman, 2014, p:256] At a later stage economical incompetences started to enable individuals
to build their own houses and it has led the emergence of cooparatives. During this process
traditional housing culture has been totally abandoned and global housing culture has spread.
[Ungan, 1962, p:25] Adopting an opposite housing understanding caused the emerge of an immature
hybrid typology. Every old house that got destroyed, destroyed not only an estethic and
architectural record but also the historical and social fabric of the city.[Kuban, 2000, p:249]

To conclude, this ‘‘modernization’’ phase which started with industrial revolution and
still continues with globalisation brought us to a time that we sever our ties with culture and
nature. Popular culture created its own consumer society. There is not an ideology or great
movement that influences decades after. There is fashion that keeps changing in speed of light.
So unfortunatly between all this chaos of following fashion and all other rapid changes no one
has time anymore to take a small break and to seek for the metaphore.