A Model on Newstereotomics of the Contemporary Masonry Buildings

Today‟s conditions and masonry building examples are showing that even the buildings which are made closer to traditional and conventional techniques, have something different than the earlier examples. So this brought the idea of questioning the validity of types of masonry structures from architectural point of view. In this thesis, the problem introduced here is elements of contemporary masonry structure are not classified for contemporary masonry and they show undefined ontological differences even among themselves. In this thesis the aim is to demonstrate what kind of structural elements has on the masonry wall in the contemporary masonry buildings and categorize them according to their ontological group of structures. The reason of this change and variations also questioned according to earthquake resistancy if it played a determining role for this change. In this context, the tectonics theory is extensively related with building‟s structure, use of material, detail, and experiences through materialization and the construction of the buildings. Thus, theory of tectonics was regarded as a kind of evaluation theory for contemporary masonry buildings. Diversity of approaches on theory of tectonics, play an important role to form the basic core of the study. As a result, in this thesis, certain approaches are emphasized to define the framework of the study. Accordingly, based on Semper‟s theory, Frampton‟s tectonic and stereotomic approach is considered as an evaluation theory. It covers heavy masses (eg.masonry wall) and light elements (linear elements (frames) or openings) in the masonry building. One of the methods of this research is to identify tectonics of contemporary masonries by using the science of ontology to create a model for reading those kinds of buildings. New structural principles will be discovered by applying this model. Departing from the theories which are comprehensively identified in the thesis, a model is created to evaluate the ontological structure category of the building according to its structural elements. This chosen study is limited with the natural materials as adobe, stone, brick, according to scale; small-scale buildings in which the height is not more than 12 m (from single storey up to 6 storey). Then 8 examples from the 21st century‟s contemporary masonry structures were selected for each material (eight stone, eight brick and eight adobes). The selected structures attract attention with their advanced masonry construction technologies and won at least one architectural competition. Then Ahmet Igdirligil‟s stone houses were tested with the field study. As a result newstereotomics of the masonry systems is proven. This thesis provides an introduction to those aspects of building that can help architects and students become more aware of the ontological concerns in the building process and understand how these concerns affect their design decisions. Keywords: contemporary masonry, tectonics, ontology of structure