Investigation of recycled structural materials applied on architectural buildings

The aim of this thesis is to ensure the widespread use of recycled building materials in architectural structures and to contribute to increasing social awareness on the subject. For this purpose, a comprehensive literature analysis about recycled building materials was carried out then the situation in the world and Turkey was determined. In the next stage, buildings with recycled building materials were analyzed according to certain criteria. In the final stage, a survey was conducted to 3 groups of 80 people, consisting of academicians, experts in the field and building users, using the data obtained from the literature and building analyses. The situation in Turkey was tried to be determined by using the data obtained from the survey. A road map on the subject was prepared by using the results obtained from the literature, building analysis and survey study. It has been concluded that the biggest obstacle to increasing the use of recycled building materials in Turkey is that social awareness on this issue has not yet been formed sufficiently. To increase awareness over the subject, it is necessary for public and private sector to work with coordination, for academics to increase the number of studies on the subject, and for all experts in the relevant field to introduce buildings built with these materials to society. With the increased of social awareness, the number of buildings built with recycled building materials will increase and this increase will provide great environmental benefits.