The concept of 'new' in the historical environment and phenomenological architecture approach

The design of new buildings in the historical environment is a topic that has been discussed in the fields of architecture, conservation and urban design from the years following the Second World War to the present. The question of how to establish the relationship between the old and the new in the historical environment has been answered by the ideas defined at two extremes as 'the new that imitates the old' or 'the new that overshadows the history'. These approaches differ according to the degree of similarity of the new building with the old one. New building can be a replica of the old one, provide historical continuity with contemporary design, or blend in with the surroundings by creating contextual contrast. Along with the modern movement, it is seen that historical features are considered as inputs in the design of the new building and the concept of 'new' is re-evaluated around abstract concepts related to the context such as the sense of place, actional history and collective memory. The basis of this method, which considers the city as the focus of the collective memory of the people, is the phenomenological approach, which was the subject of the architectural scene in the same period. In architecture, phenomenology, which is considered as a method for questioning meaning and understanding human-environment relations, focuses on 'meaning' consisting of 'context'; It aims to explain the meaning of space, which is a product of architecture, by excluding physical assumptions about the environment and giving priority to experience. The main aim of the approach is to perceive the essence of the 'place' through the embodied mind. The phenomenological approach, which construe the problem of new building design in the historical environment by questioning the relationship of 'place' with 'time' and 'space', enables the memory of the city and the environment to be re-interpreted through form, material and space. The new building, designed with a phenomenological approach, is part of the sense of the place and a modern key that reveals the phenomen of the historical environment. With the phenomenological architecture, the concept of 'sense of the place' has been redefined. This concept is directly related to the historical environment, but; phenomenology has not been directly addressed as a new building design approach in the literature. In this study, the issue of new building design in the historical environment is discussed in terms of the phenomenology method in architecture. The aim of the study is to consider the phenomenology method as an alternative design strategy to existing approaches within the framework of new construction in the historical environment. For the purpose of the study, the relationship between the new and the old was evaluated with new design cases in the historical environment. In the study, written and electronic sources were used for selection of case buildings and obtain information that will form the theoretical background. By examining the design features of the cases, it is expected that the relationship between phenomenology and historical environment will be reinterpreted as a result of the study.