A look at the theater decorations in Turkey in the history of interior design: The case of the Küçük Tiyatro

Theater-specific "Theatre Set Approach" and "Gesamtkunstwerk" have an important place in the formation of the modern interior. Sets in department stores, three-walled interior displays at world fairs, and period rooms in museums are the products of the theater set approach. The Gesamtkunstwerk approach, which has an important place in opera and theater, has also found its way in the field of architecture, revealing the understandings that try to integrate the building envelope and the interior. Gesamtkunstwerk is an important concept in modern interiors as well as in opera and theater. Therefore, theater and stage decor design has an important place in understanding the history of modern interiors. In Turkey, at the beginning of the interior architecture profession, it was able to find an application area mostly in the field of exhibition, pavilion, fair stands, movie sets and theater stage-decor design. Stage-decor designs in the theater is one of the most important production areas in the period when the profession of interior architecture emerged. To look at the history of theater stage-decor designs, at this point, it is important to examine the "Küçük Tiyatro", one of the first theater stages of Ankara, located in the II. Evkaf (Vakıf) Apartment. He worked as a decorator-interior architect in the Küçük Tiyatro, which has an important place in the history of interior design as well as in the history of theater and as one of the self-realization channels of the interior architecture profession, and is one of the leading names of the period whose names we come across in the first stage-decor designs designed. He has documented archival material within the scope of the stage designs and decors he designed by Turgut Zaim, Tarık Levendoğlu, Sabih Kayan, Refik Eren and Hüseyin Mumcu while they were working at the Küçük Tiyatro. From the documented archival materials, analysis was made by selecting stage designs and decors that are more qualified than other designs, rich in interior components, that can create documents for the professional practice of interior architecture. The analysis of the selected stage designs and decorations has been revealed by considering the contents of the plays. It is aimed that these stage designs and decors, sketches, photographs and accessible documents will be put forward together, to be a helpful resource in interior design history research and to contribute to the future studies as a guide.