A modernist architect in Adana: Ertuğrul Arf and his practices

The role of Ertuğrul Arf, who designed and implemented many qualified buildings throughout his career, in Turkish modern architecture has not been included in the literature. This study aims to examine the professional life and practices of Ertuğrul Arf (1913-1985), the architect of the most qualified buildings in Adana, where most of his practices were located, in the second half of the 20th century. Since Ertuğrul Arf's practices were mostly located in Adana, the majority of the building stock consisted of residential buildings, and he produced his applications with a modernist approach between 1950 and 1980, the scope of the study was determined as the modern architectural environment in Turkey in the 1950s and the residential architecture of Adana in the 1950s. In the architectural historiography, which focuses mostly on the buildings and architects of the Early Republican Period, there are many residential buildings and architects, just like Ertuğrul Arf, whose names are not mentioned, the quality and quantity of their buildings are ignored, and they are left to be forgotten. With this study, attention was drawn to the period of 1950 and after, which was neglected in architectural historiography, and within the scope of the thesis, the lifestyle, spirit and understanding of architecture of the period were tried to be revealed through the practices of Ertuğrul Arf.