Reuse of idle office buildings as university within the scope of transformational planning

In our country, there are public universities with sufficient number of buildings on campus, but private universities have problems of insufficient space. With the increasing interest in higher education every year, the number of universities and students increases each year. As a result, universities are spatially inadequate and are transforming existing buildings rather than building new ones, especially in large cities where land is very expensive. In recent years, due to the changing working habits and the high rental costs of office buildings, many office buildings remain idle. Office buildings are becoming preferred by universities due to their idle, central location and new contemporary style. Within the scope of the thesis, four private universities which were transformed from the existing office structure established in Istanbul were selected and their designers were interviewed. The designers were asked what kind of problems they faced during the process of transformation to university and what kind of changes they made. In the light of the answers given by the designers, the drawings collected from the designers and the photographs taken at the site, all data regarding the existing structures were collected. In the first part of the literature review, the factors affecting the university design are examined. The physical, structural properties and general design decisions of the sample buildings were examined based on the criteria examined. Their current situations, joint decisions taken by designers and all interventions made are examined in the tables. The advantages and disadvantages of the buildings have been revealed. As a result of this study, over the samples examined; by suggesting the suitability of office buildings in terms of university use, suggestions were made for the universities considering to settle in the existing office buildings.