Examination of the public buildings of Republic Period (1940-1965) in Gaziantep with regard to contemporary architectural characteristics

The city of Gaziantep which is situated on historical Silk Road has hosted a number of civilizations for ages. When Turkish Republic was founded many buildings for public and residential purposes were built in capital Ankara as well as other Anatolian cities. For this reason, the aim of this thesis is to investigate Republican period public buildings in Gaziantep which are mostly under protection and also to evaluate the architectural attitude during that period by comparing them with their contemporaries with similar functions. The extent of the study comprises the public buildings in Gaziantep built between 1940 and 1965 namely Government Office building, Train Station building, Central Bank building, Gaziantep High School building, Trade Vocational High School building and Art School building. Although there were residential buildings in the city from the same period, they are left outside the scope of this study. Moreover, some of the buildings in selected from Ankara comparison had been built earlier than the discussed period. The information related with the investigated buildings in Gaziantep was taken from the relevant institutions and arranged in a systematic way. The buildings were analyzed according to this data and compared with other buildings in Turkey with the same functions or with the ones built in the same period. With these analyses carried out on these buildings, their architectural descriptions were made, a possible change in their functions has been noted and their new functions have been presented. As a result of these analyses and comparative studies, it has been understood that the architectural designs of these buildings don't reflect any local features but their materials have been provided by the local suppliers. In addition, it has been seen that these buildings provide a special identity to their surroundings in the city that they are situated in. Key Words: Gaziantep, the architecture of Republican period, public buildings