REUSE OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA IN HOUSING AREA DESIGN: FROM PERGAMON TO BERGAMA Mehmet Tunçer & Sibel Öztürk

 

Reuse Of Archaeological Data In Housing Area Design: From Pergamon To Bergama

Mehmet TUNÇER, Sibel ÖZTURK

Affiliation: Urban and Regional Planner, Prof. Dr., Çankaya University,  City and Regional Planning Dep.

Urban and Regional Planner,  MSGSU, City and Regional Planning Dep.,  Msc in Urban Design Program.

e-mail: mtuncer@cankaya.edu.tr, sibel_oztrk@windowslive.com

 

Figure 1: Zeus Altar In Pergamon Acropolis (Reconstructed view of the Pergamon Acropolis, Friedrich Thierch, 1882)

 

Urban and archaeological sites of Pergamon the ancient city today in Bergama, which is over two thousand years old, where scientists, archaeologists, architects, art historians, urban planners, sculptors and similar arts and culture, men talk about admiration, write about and write praises, but unfortunatelly face to face some detoriation and destruction. Bergama, which has been in operation since 2010, has entered the list as a "Multilayered Cultural Landscape Area". At the end, “Pergamon (Bergama) Antique City And Its Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape” entered the UNESCO World Heritage List  in 2014.

In the Bergama archaeological site, besides the monumental structures in the Acropolis, a small number of housing areas were excavated. With the data obtained as a result of these excavations, information about the plan of the ancient city has emerged. It is known that the ancient city of Bergama had a grid plan, and the housing pattern was similar to today's buildings, with facades from the street, with or without atriums.

Although the housing pattern of Hellenistic, Roman and Ottoman periods showed significant changes, it has been assumed in terms of cultural continuity that there was not much change in the housing architecture and construction style, especially in Rum type houses. In this paper, it is aimed to develop urban design and architectural principles in the light of the data from ancient times to the present by considering a residential area planning, urban design and architectural design principles developed for Bergama.

 

Keywords: Pergamon; Archaeology; Urban Design; Architecture; House.

 

Aims Of The Paper

The main purpose of this paper; we will be explain and summarize of urban macroform and urban design principles of housing in Pergamon. In the paper its aimed to give the urban design principles of Antique City of Pergamon and reuse the urban macroform and urban design principles as derived from archaeological excavations. Apart from the Pergamon Acropolis, its well known from the archaeological excavations the middle and lower city was developed with a grid plan.

 

Figure 2: Lower City Was Developed With A Grid Plan (Radt, W.)

 

Grid texture and residential building architecture examples unearthed in archaeological excavations in these areas will be discussed. In the paper we will use and evaluate the Urban Design Project prepared by one of the author. Focus area for the urban and housing design in the North, Mustafa Yazıcı Street, Kayhan Street; Kaymakam Kemal Bey Street in the West and in the west Adnan Menderes boulevard are chosen. Also we will use Antique Period housing architectural assets which excavated at located on a street leading down from the acropolis, the so-called Hall of Benches (Podiensaal) is a rectangular banqueting room measuring 24 m x 11 m (in its final stage).

 

Figure 3: A 3-D Reconstruction Of Ancient Pergamon, Showing The Monumental Construction On High And The Sprawling City Below (DAI-Pergamongrabung – BTU-Cottbus – Darstellungslehre)

 

The reconstruction was developed by the Chair of Design, Building Theory and Interior Design at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg in cooperation with the German Archaeological Institute (DAI).

Different reconstructions, going back to the beginning of the excavations in Pergamon, are at display, resurrecting the ruins of the ancient city. The reconstructions help to gain a better understanding for antique architecture and its relationship to manmade living spaces and natural areas.

 

1 Urban Fabric, Housing And Some Important Buildings Due To The Pergamon Excavations

In the Early Christian Period, M.S. VI. According to the information given by Christian writers until the 19th century, there were 3-4 Basilicas and a Baptistery in Bergama. In the urban fabric, no remains have remained from these structures, except the Red Court (Serapis Temple). It has been determined that the Acropolis was used in the Byzantine Period.

The Byzantine fortifications, some of which have survived to the present day, are located between the Hellenistic and Roman Period fortifications. The ceramic finds dating back to the 16th century and the traces of the Church show that the Acropolis was densely populated during the Byzantine period. It is interesting that no archaeological information has been found in the parts of the city, except for the Church built inside the Red Court.

Architectural data have been encountered in the urban fabric of Bergama since the 19th century. With the excavations that started in the 16th century, rich cultural data of the ancient period began to be revealed.

Figure 4 : Carl Von Humann's Bergama Plan (At The End Of The 19th Century)

 

Located on the northern slopes of Bergama, the "Urban Protected Area" is bordered by the skirts of the Acropolis in the north and Uçkemer stream in the south. The area, which has been settled since the Late Byzantine Period (XIV. century), is a section where examples of Hellenistic, Byzantine and Ottoman-Turkish civil architecture are concentrated.

Figure 5: Housing Excavation Areas – 1/2000 (Digitale Karte von Pergamon 1.1 (DAI 2020)

(https://www.dainst.blog/transpergmikro/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/12/Digitale-Karte-von-Pergamon-1.1_1-5000_german.pdf)

 

1.1    Antique Period Housing Remains From Archaeological Excavations

Generally, most of the Hellenistic houses at Pergamon were laid out with a small, centrally-located and roughly square courtyard, with rooms on one or two sides of it. The main rooms are often stacked in two levels on the north side of the courtyard. A wide passage or colonnade on the north side of the courtyard often opened onto foyers, which enabled access to other rooms. An exact north-south arrangement of the city blocks was not possible because of the topographical situation and earlier construction.

Thus the size and arrangement of the rooms differed from house to house. From the time of Philetairos, at the latest, this kind of courtyard house was common and it was ever more widespread as time went on, but not universal. Some complexes were designed as Prostas houses, similar to designs seen at Priene.

Others had wide columned halls in front of main rooms to the north. Especially in this latter type there is often a second story accessed by stairways. In the courtyards there were often cisterns, which captured rain water from the sloping roofs above. For the construction under Eumenes II, a city block of 35 x 45 m can be reconstructed, subject to significant variation as a result of the terrain. (Radt, W., 1999, pp.93)

We will use Antique Period housing architectural assets which excavated at located on a street leading down from the acropolis, the so-called Hall of Benches (Podiensaal) is a rectangular banqueting room measuring 24 m x 11 m (in its final stage).

Description: Located on a street leading down from the acropolis, the so-called Hall of Benches (Podiensaal) is a rectangular banqueting room measuring 24 m x 11 m (in its final stage). This was within a transformed peristyle house that was built in the second century BCE.  The building is oriented with the long side running east-west along the street, although it is set back behind a row of shops and workshops. 

A small alley led through to the paved yard in front of the building. Across from the doorway is a cult niche and together these divide the interior into two banqueting rooms with three benches each (triclinia).  Each of the rooms consisted of a raised podium, or bench, 1 m high and 2 m wide, with a marble shelf set slightly lower in order to accommodate food and drink.  For a detailed description of the building phases, see Schwarzer 2002.

Figure 6 : Located On A Street Leading Down From The Acropolis, The So-Called Hall Of Benches (Podiensaal) Is A Rectangular Banqueting Room  (http://philipharland.com/greco-roman-associations/building-b6-hall-of-benches-of-the-dionysiac-cowherds-ii-iv-ce/)

 

We will use antique period housing architectural and environmental assets which excavated at located on a street leading down from the acropolis, the so-called hall of benches (podiensaal) is a rectangular banqueting room measuring 24 m x 11 m (in its final stage).

Located on a street leading down from the acropolis, this was within a transformed peristyle house that was built in the second century BC.  The building is oriented with the long side running east-west along the street, although it is set back behind a row of shops and workshops.  A small alley led through to the paved yard in front of the building. Across from the doorway is a cult niche and together these divide the interior into two banqueting rooms with three benches each (triclinia). 

Each of the rooms consisted of

 a raised podium, or bench,

1 m high and 2 m wide, with a marble shelf set slightly lower in order to accommodate food and drink.  (For A Detailed Description Of The Building Phases, See Schwarzer 2002.)

Figure 7: Reconstruction (1:250) Of Phases 3-5 (Ca. 1-225 Ce) Of The Converted Peristyle House (Schwarzer 2008, 70 (Figure 22). (http://philipharland.com/greco-roman-associations/building-b6-hall-of-benches-of-the-dionysiac-cowherds-ii-iv-ce/)

 

Peristyle house type is a rectangular open-top courtyard surrounded by colonnaded corridors in peristyle ancient architecture. The peristyle, which showed itself in Greek architecture in the 5th century BC, was also taken over by Roman architecture from the 2nd century BC.

 

 

Figure 8-9: Plan And Axonometric Drawing Of The Peristyle House (1:250) In Phase 4 (Ca. 100-150 Ce) With The Hall Of Benches (Podiensaal) Seen At The Top. (Schwarzer 2008, 62)

 

The evidence for Late Byzantine domestic architecture is similarly limited. The excavations at Pergamon provide some sense of a neighborhood development.

Figure 10 : Reconstruction of a Byzantine neighborhood, Pergamon (© Klaus Rheidt)

 

Here the houses consist of several rooms, often with a portico, arranged around a courtyard set off the irregular pattern of alleys and cul-de-sacs. Similar house forms have been noted in other urban situations, with the focus of the house away from the street.

 

2 Pergamon (Bergama) Houses: From Ancient To Contemporary

They are structures born from the climate, environmental and economic conditions of the Aegean Region. Since the main material of the buildings is stone, it has the feature of being cool in summers and warm in winters. The load-bearing walls of the buildings are mostly rough cut.

It is made of stone mesh and the binding material is lime mortar. The wooden skeleton and the adobe infill walls made with the “bagdadi system”, which can be seen in some buildings, are mostly located on the second floors.

 

Figure 11-12 : From Past Today: Pergamon (Bergama) Houses (Bergama Municipality, Inventory 450-5/8 Parcels)

In most of the buildings, the non-bearing walls were built with the wooden bagdadi technique. A few buildings are covered with cut stone on the outside, and most of them are plastered inside and out. Most of the buildings have basements. The effects of the region's being in an earthquake zone can be seen in the construction techniques of the houses. Especially with thick load-bearing walls, small-sized windows and their locations, the use of lightening arches was born out of necessity.

Wood material; It is used in doors, windows, stairs, overhangs and flooring, ceiling and roof elements. In addition, "Fer Forge" type ironwork is common in the region. The consoles with many entrance doors, window grilles and overhangs are examples of this kind of craftsmanship and are fine examples of their kind.

On the windows, metal or wooden shutters are encountered. Again, almost all of these doors and windows have stone lintels, jambs and are straight or arched.

In a significant part of the buildings, there are cornice elements instead of eaves. Wooden fringe element is rarely encountered. The roof form is generally cradle or sitting, and its original cover is Turkish style tiles. The load-bearing systems of the new buildings in the area were made with masonry or reinforced concrete construction technique, and brick and briquette were used as filling materials.

 

2.2 Traditional Housing Fabric

Streets perpendicular and parallel to the slope are usually paved with stones, but in places this stone pavement has been covered with concrete over it. The slope is usually for rain runoff given towards the middle of the street.

Street widths vary as 3-5-7 meters, vehicle passage is difficult in places. Dead-end streets are quite common. On both sides of these streets, masonry structures, mostly one or two storeys, made of cut or rubble stone, generally in adjacent order, form the texture.

The structures within the urban site reflect the features that are often referred to as the old "Greek Architecture". In some places, there are also a few buildings with rough cut stone on the ground floor and a wooden carrier system on the upper floor, reflecting the characteristics of the "Ottoman-Turkish" building culture. However, it should be noted that they are the product of a common culture.

  

Figure 13-14 : Rum Type Facades, Pergamon (Bergama) Houses (Bergama Municipality, Inventory 451 - 43/44 Parcels)

The new structures are; they are generally two-storied, with their architectural style and generally reinforced concrete construction system, which are contrary to the historical surrounding housing texture. Stone structures, which are described as Greek Type, usually have ostentatious doors with flat or arched stone lintels.

Windows with flat or arched stone lintels have metal or wooden shutters. Some of these shutters can be counted as examples of metal art. The basement floor is very common in these houses.

 

Figure 15-16 : Traditional Ottoman-Turkish Type Facades, Pergamon (Bergama) Houses (Bergama Municipality, Inventory 315)

 

Traditional Turkish Houses, with their wide eaves, wooden structural structure, overhangs, wooden windows and doors, are located in the streets, albeit a little. The residences have Turkish style tiled roofs. In some houses, these roofs have been replaced with Marseille tiles. The walls are usually plastered and painted in pastel colors such as yellow/blue/pink. Among the façade decorations, ornaments such as moldings, borders, inscriptions, and eaves are encountered.

 

2.3 Traditional Urban Tissue (Buildings-Street Relationships)

The buildings are usually one- or two-storey residences with an adjacent arrangement, no garden or a very small garden. It is reached by dead ends in places and located in the garden. Residences are also found. However, the buildings with mostly open and street-facing facades also reflect the social character of the area. The residences are entered directly from the street or through a courtyard.

Residences in Bergama Historical Urban Texture (Urban Protected Area) are generally structures that open directly to the street and have special facades. Doors and windows and under eaves on facades, usually stone and plaster moldings, lintels and eaves adorned with ornaments.

In some buildings, there is a full basement and a semi-basement, and the entrance to the building can be accessed by raising the entrance and through the entrances with stairs.

Apart from the urban protected area, the traditional texture around the Historical City Center, located in the south of Uçkemer Stream, also bears the characteristics of the Ottoman-Turkish Urban Texture. The residences in this region generally have an inward-looking wooden structural structure with an entrance from a courtyard.

 

2.4 Plan Typology Of Houses

The majority of the houses that make up the general texture of the area are houses without a garden in an adjacent layout. On the other hand, the courtyard element is more common. Buildings can be one or two storeys. The houses are entered either directly from the street or through the courtyard. The positions of the houses with respect to the parcel and the street are the most

It is of four types with its plain form. Street-facing, garden-less building, the building with a street front and a courtyard at the back, a building with a front and a courtyard facing the street, the building located behind the courtyard facing the street.

The houses in the aforementioned adjacent layout can be located on the street as twins or in a symmetrical arrangement.

Bergama houses are composed of units that describe all the life and activities of the period in which they were built. Except for a few large structures in the area, they are minimally programmed. The structures are arranged as one or two storeys and with or without a basement.

 

2.5 House – Parcel Relationships

Considering that the buildings are directly related to the plan schemes, the subject has been examined in this direction, and it has been seen that the classification, which is seen as four different types above, can actually be divided into two main groups in terms of the formation of the entrance that affects the plan of the building.

 

Figure 17: House – Parcel Relationships (Tuncer, M., 2014)

 

 

The type with direct access to the house from the street

                     a- Type without courtyard

                     b- The type where the courtyard is behind the building

The type that can be reached from the courtyard to the house

                     a- Side courtyard type

                     b- Forecourt type

 

2.6 Plan Typology

Two main plan schemes:  middle sofa and outer sofa according to this sofa (entrance hall) space. In two-storey residences, the upper floor plan often coincides with the lower floor plan.

I- Structures with entrance from the road

I.1. Types with middle sofa

I.2. Types with outer sofa

II- Structures with entrance courtyard

II.1. one storey

II.2. two storey

      

Figure 18: Plan Typologies Of Houses (A) (Tuncer, M., 2014)

 

2.7 Reevaluate The Urban Design Project

Urban design principles were determined in the light of urban macroform features obtained from archaeological excavations in the Ancient City of Bergama. It is aimed to reuse the design principles determined in this study.

This study reevaluated the plans and projects prepared to Dokuz Eylul University, City and Region Planning Department 2013-14, Urban Design Study in İzmir-Bergama (80 Ha.) and (45 Ha) implementation Zoning plan-Settlement plan CRP 312 Planning Studio. Focus area for the urban and housing design in the North, Mustafa Yazıcı Street, Kayhan Street; Kaymakam Kemal Bey Street in the West and in the west Adnan Menderes boulevard are chosen.

Figure 19-20 :  Area Of Study In Today And Antiquity

Grid plan typology is the basic planning decision of planning. The grid plan of the ancient Pergamon settlement was taken into account while making this decision. Housing islands here are generally adjacent structures and buildings with entrances from the street. Architectural typologies suitable and compatible with the building typologies unearthed during the excavations and the ottoman and contemporary building typologies will be developed on a larger scale. For this, a specific new building architectural typology regulation should be developed.

Figure 21 : Implementation Zoning Plan (Planning and Urban Design: Ozturk, S., 2013)

Figure 22: Settlement Plan (Planning and Urban Design: Ozturk, S., 2013)

 

 

Central business area is reserved for management, tourism, social, cultural and commercial structures and social infrastructure areas in the implementation plan. Commercial + housing areas, ground floors will be used as commercial in the first buildings with front face to the road in these areas. Housing areas, these are residence zones that will be conserved, improved and healized according to the building density (medium and low) determined in the implemention plan.

Parks (resting areas) areas, that respond to the needs of recreation of the city lives with green vegetation. Recreational areas, these areas are the areas where urban people can have fun, rest, and make sports activities daily. Urban social infrastructure areas, education, health, cultural, religious etc. These are areas where social facilities will be placed.

 

Figure 23-24 : Function Diagram And Road System (Planning and Urban Design: Ozturk, S., 2013)

 

 

In function diagram and road system, 4-meter pavements have been proposed on the boulevards surrounding the study area. The 10-meter pedestrian walkway, which is proposed for the pedestrian to move freely in the area, connects the central business area and residential areas.

 

Figure 25: Number Of Floor Zone Analysis (Planning and Urban Design: Ozturk, S., 2013)

 

In number of floor zone analysis, two and 3 floor building heights are recommended on the area because of the archaelogical excavation datas.

 

3 Results Of The Paper: “No Culture Ever Dies, It Is Always Handed Down From Generation To Generation!”

In ancient Pergamon it is known that grid island designs, use of water and greens were mainly use in the Pergamon city. Colonaded streets, shade and wind directions, climatically adaptive housing areas and architecture were mainly used. All of these housing areas urban design principles have been prepared in the south section in Pergamon (Bergama) as will be a sample of for the future designs.

Principles regarding the urban design of housing area in ancient times will be derived from the archaeological excavations and surveys. It will be useful for the new urban housing area designs for the future new housing expansions of Bergama. Grid plan typology is the basic planning decision of planning. The grid plan of the ancient Pergamon settlement was taken into account while making this decision. Housing islands here are generally adjacent structures and buildings with entrances from the street. however, architectural typologies suitable and compatible with the building typologies unearthed during the excavations and the Ottoman and contemporary building typologies will be developed on a larger scale. for this, a specific new building architectural typology regulation should be developed.

Principles regarding the urban design of housing area in ancient times will be derived from the archaeological excavations and surveys. It will be useful for the new urban housing area designs for the future housing expansıons of Bergama. Architectural research should be continued and the information obtained from archaeological excavations should be evaluated and transferred to new designs. This kind of work is pioneer and can be developed according to the data to be revealed in the excavations. There are many ancient cities in the country, and this can be developing a repeatable method for the future.

 

 

 

 

References:

Ozturk, S., 2013-14, Urban Design Study in İzmir-Bergama (80 Ha.) and (45 Ha) implementation Zoning plan-settlement plan, Dokuz Eylul University, CRP Department, CRP3112 Planning Studio.

Radt, W., 2002,”Pergamon Antik Bir Kentin Tarihi Ve Yapıtları”, Yapı Kredi Yay.

Radt, W., 1999,  “Pergamon: Geschichte und Bauten einer antiken Metropole. Darmstadt .

Tuncer, M., 2007, “Conservation Policies for Cultural Tourism in the City of Science, Art and Culture, Bergama (Pergamon)”, International Symposium, Pergamon (Bergama), Netherlands City of Alkmaar, Netherlands Union of Municipalities (Vng) and Bergama Municipality, "Universal Cultural Heritage of Humanity: Bergama Project", Within the Scope of Logo East Program, 2007,

Tuncer, M., 2011, “What Should Be Done to Include Bergama (Pergamon) on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List”, International Bergama Symposium, Ege University Izmir Application and Research Center and Bergama Municipality.

Tuncer, M., 2014, “Tarihi Çevre Yokolurken”; Examples of Amasra, Bergama, Kaş, Uçhisar", Book, Alter Publishing, Ank.

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