Conservation, interpretation and presantation of Early Republican Period architectural heritage: Arifiye village institute campus

The Village Institutes System, which was established to develop the countryside in the modernization of the Early Republican Period, was a rational, scientific, and modern revolution brought to the education problem. Since they were planned by utilizing experimental methods, they are significant in Turkey's educational history. Village Teacher Training Schools and Village Instructor Courses provided a basis for the formation of these institutes. The Village Institutes are composed of a network of 21 institutes distributed to all parts of the country. Arifiye Village Institute, which was a part of this ideologically interconnected network system, was established in 1940 in Adapazarı district, which was a part of the Kocaeli province then. However, the educational history of the Institute begins with the establishment of the Arifiye Instructor Course in 1937. The architectural project of the Arifiye Village Institute campus belongs to Recai Akçay, the winner of the national architectural project competition in 1940. In addition to this project's area, the institute campus comprises the area that the Instructor Course structures are located and three different areas where structures were built as a result of site-specific actions. Educational buildings in Arifiye Village Institute were built by students and teachers as a result of the "learning by doing" education model. Arifiye Village Institute continues its educational function in certain parts of the campus today. Changing education systems over time has affected the spatial transformation of the campus. The campus's architectural integrity has been damaged because the original buildings became inactive due to not being used, the demolition decisions and the construction of new structures with diverging characteristics. Today, only three buildings remain from the institute period in Arifiye Village Institute campus. Only one building in the Arifiye Village Institute campus was registered by Bursa KTVKK in 2000. The protection decision taken in the institute campus was not effective in protecting the integrity and originality of the campus. In this thesis, Arifiye Village Institute's cultural importance is documented, and the necessity of preserving the tangible and intangible cultural heritage values is discussed. Moreover, some proposals are suggested for conserving the Arifiye Village Institute campus using an integrated conservation approach.