Architect Muzaffer Bey from the period of first national architecture: His arts and works

This study describes life and the works of Architect Muzaffer Bey (1881-1920), one of the important architects ofthe First National Architecture Period. Mimar Muzaffer Bey, who had to leave his education at the School of Hendes-i Mii1kiye became famous when he won the competition ran in the name of the event March 31 with his work 'Abide-i Hiirriyet' among the architects Kemalettin Bey, Vedat Bey, Konstantin Kiryadikis and Alexandre Vallaury. Abide-i Hiirriyet is not only a symbolic monument but also a cenotaph. The body of the monument was designed as a gun barrel directed to sky with the flag and bayoneted rifles to symbolize the value and cost of freedom gained by martyrs. The base of the monument is constructed as a grave similar to Seljuk's kumbet for martyrs and a mescid room. The monument is designed with the modular system of equilateral triangles and hexagons. The choice of an equilateral triangle, which is a popular and a divine form since Middle Ages and an equilateral hexagon, which is used since the Roman Period related to the meanings of 3, the number ofperfection, and 6, the number that symbolizes human being. Mimar Muzaffer Bey treated the memory of martyrs and the form of the monument with a brand new synthesis, and he combined these two functions very successfully. One of the monuments of the artist is the Ziraat Monument, which was left uncompleted because of his death that was designed to symbolize the agricultural wealth of Konya. The baldeken style of the monument can be related to the baldeken forms in Anatolia by its construction and to the mandala by its planning. The rich and cheery decoration of the monument indicates that it was designed in a different way when compared to Abide-i Hiirriyet. The monument is constructed with a modular system that consists of a square, octagon and the golden rectangle forms. We find the human body-like rates and the number 4 which is related to the nature in the construction. The 90rtens designed as a lion head, the symbol of power in plastic arts is a unique form for the First National Architecture Period. v The constructions 'Konya Erkek Ogretmen Okulu' and ' Konya Klz Ogretmen Okulu', teachers schools for men and women respectively, are similar to the other constructions ofthe period in terms of their designings and the fronts. A modular system of the golden rectangle was used in both planning and the front of these constructions. In addition to this, a new arch style was designed for 'Konya Klz Ogretmen Okulu' derived from the classic arch forms. The design and the tile ornaments heavily used in the fronts of Hobyar Mescid, that was constructed in collaboration with Vedat Bey is a different application for the period. Huseyin Rahrni Gurpinar's house on the Heybeli Island, Istanbul is a small resort residence designed especially for a functional use. The most remarkable finding of this study is that although the works of Muzaffer Bey seem to be similar to the constructions of the period, they are indeed different in terms of the rates and the geometric design features they foreground; hence they have a special place in among the constructions of the period. It was his success to combine the western architectural features and the traditional artistic principles owing to his western style educational background. This study also underlines the fact that he based the aesthetic features of his works on geometry and mathematics because he chose the universally accepted geometric forms like equilateral triangles, hexagons, squares, octagons and the golden rectangles as being his modules and he applied these forms in his designs very carefully.