Early republican period primary school buildings: Evaluations and conclusions on Adiyaman, Gaziantep, Malatya examples

With the proclamation of the Republic, radical changes have started to take place in many areas. Education and architecture are at the beginning of the areas where changes have occurred rapidly. While education has an important role in terms of public awareness, architecture has a critical importance in terms of spatial representation of modernity. Therefore, it is not wrong to say that educational structures had important missions in many respects during the Early Republican period. The primary schools where basic education is provided are; it has been evaluated with a higher priority than educational institutions at other levels. Since a large part of the population is not yet literate; it is aimed to increase the literacy rate quickly. In addition, it is aimed that primary schools adhering to the principles of the Republic will be made widespread and everyone will have received primary education. In this context, new school buildings have been designed and built in towns, cities and villages. Early Republican primary education buildings in Gaziantep, Adıyaman and Malatya are considered historical monuments that reflect the architectural and cultural characteristics of the founding years of the Republic of Turkey. Although these structures have been subjected to various interventions due to their unprotected status, they hold an important place in the historical memory of the relevant cities. Beyond being physical structures, the protection of these buildings, which are a part of spatial and cultural continuity, and the preservation of their original features are of increasing importance. In this respect, the research focuses on the architectural features of the educational buildings of the Early Republic period, the materials used, the effects of architectural movements and their historical values, as well as the changes that these buildings have been subjected to until today, especially the transformations after natural disasters. In this regard, among the structures, those damaged after the February 6, 2023 earthquake were also evaluated. Keywords: Architecture, Primary School, Education, Primary School Buildings, Early Republican Period.