Born into a wealthy, upper class family, Sedad Hakkı Eldem was the third child of İsmail Hakkı and Azize. Due to the position of his diplomat father, Eldem spent most of his childhood and youth in Europe, mainly in Geneva, Munich and Zurich. He was educated in French in primary school and received his high school in Germany, giving Eldem the opportunity to speak both native languages, although he was not so fluent in Turkish. Upon returning to Istanbul in 1924, with the assistance of family friend and renown architect, Vedad Tek, Eldem enrolled in Academy of Fine Arts where Tek was teaching at the time. While at school, he frequently worked at Guilio Mongeri’s atelier. Mongeri, who took an interest in Eldem’s skills, gave him a summer internship on one of his constructions.
Mavi Boncuk |
Sedad Hakkı Eldem
Eldem, Sedad Hakkı (b. August 31, 1908, Istanbul – d. September 7, 1998, Istanbul), architect. His work in design and application, architectural theory and education left a lasting mark on twentieth century Turkish architecture. He designed several buildings for the Koç Group and Koç family, including the Admiral Bristol Nursing School, the Atatürk Library, the Kıraç Mansion and Rahmi Koç House, also devising restoration projects for the Azaryan Mansion[1] housing the Sadberk Hanım Museum and the Koç Holding AŞ Nakkaştepe Complex, where the Vehbi Koç Foundation headquarters are based.
From 1941 to 1946, he was head of the architecture department at the academy and lectured on architectural projects and construction for 46 years. He was later appointed head of the Chair on Surveying and Restoration. He was also a member and president of various organizations in Istanbul, such as the Council for the Protection of Ancient Monuments (1941-45) and the High Council for Immovable Antiquities and Monuments (1962-78). After retiring from the academy due to an age limit in 1978, Eldem continued teaching design and in 1979 he was awarded the title of honorary doctor by ISAFA.
Eldem received many awards, among them the Turkish Ministry of Culture Award for Art and Culture (1983), the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (1986, for the Zeyrek Social Security Administration Buildings) and the Chamber of Architects Grand Award (1988). He also won first prize in many architectural project competitions.
A number of essays and books have been written about Eldem, including: Sedad Hakkı Eldem: 50 Yıllık Meslek Jübilesi (Sedad Hakkı Eldem: 50 Years in Architecture), which was published to mark 100 years since the foundation of MSU in 1983; and Boğaziçi Yalıları (Mansions of the Bosphorus; 1993-94), which was compiled using materials from an archive left by Eldem and published in two volumes by the VKV.
According to rumor, locals dubbed the building Vidalı Yalı, meaning literally “house of screws,” due to materials being brought from outside and mounted onto the facade. The building covers an area of 400 square meters and is located in a garden of 4,280 square meters, which borders the grounds of the Russian Summer Embassy behind. As in many other residences on the Bosporus, the garden is landscaped and enclosed by trees.
Built using the bagdadi technique (wattle and daub) over stone, the building layout is in the style called karnıyarık (literally “split belly”). The building, which consists of five floors including a basement and attic level, contains 33 rooms, four anterooms and three entrances, one on the façade and two on each side of the house. The ceilings are 4.2 meters high. The x-shaped timber ornamentation between the windows of the facade distinguishes it from other mansions. The projecting terrace, referred to as cihannüma in Ottoman residences, is in a balcony form. The street-side entrance opens into a large anteroom with parquet floors and two wooden staircases on either side lead to the upper floors.
The interior is decorated in an imperial style, reflecting central European architecture with various hand-carved features, imitation marbleized interior plastering and stucco ceilings. The ceiling of the now unused main entrance is decorated with carton-pierre coffers in a style evocative of Ancient Rome.
Thermal Hotel, Yalova, 1934-1937
Another of Sedad Hakkı Eldem’s designs, Thermal Hotel project in Yalova won first prize in a competition between 21 projects, in which Ernst Egli also participated as a jury member. Eldem defines Thermal Hotel in Yalova as the “First product of the National Architecture Movement”. Although the repetitions of the vernacular components and modular elements points out the International Style, riwaqs and interiors surrounded with cages reflect the characteristics of the Turkish House and traditional architecture. The hotel was demolished in 1983.
International Budapest Fair Turkish Pavilion, Budapest, Hungary, 1931 This is the first constructed design of Sedad Hakkı Eldem. As the world’s fair pavilions are considered to be of representative value to the states, it is critical that Eldem gained an important seat in the architectural society of the time, despite his age of 23. The design was easy to construct due to its modular character and application to the modernist approach, and also because of its wooden structure on the necessity for the building to remain lightweight. The building has three levels, with windows of the hexagonal center taking characteristics of the Turkish House, and the wooden material increasing the Turkish impression in the interior. In the middle of the hexagonal center is a sculpture of Atatürk; appropriate considering the political tendencies of the time.
An article published in the 6th issue of architectural periodical Mimar, is a great example for the representative nature of the fair pavilions: “The Turkish pavilion in Budapest is an achievement for the new Turkey. (...) The exhibition team decided to appoint a Turkish architect to the project and required a great interest in the display style of the pavilion. For the pavilion, a style is required, which represents Turkey in a better way. (...) We want that this example will be a lesson for those, who don’t take architectural works seriously.”
