Architect:Bruno Taut
Faculty of Letters of Ankara University, was established on October 1, 1935. Start of formal education was in small part of Evkaf Apartment. The Faculty Building built by Bruno Taut two years later, is evaluated as among the most magnificient structure of its age.
The bulk of a building extends through the north-south direction and along the boulevard. The structure is made up of a high ground on the basement and four floored masses. These masses are the two horizontal blocks each added to other by sliding and two vertical blocks each consists of huge spaces on the edges. With its rounded wall and one corner column, asymmetric entrance contributes the building, more of modern looking. Ground floor, with staircase-each corner rounded-on the entrance and an extremely large hall brimmed over marble floor, is in a different order from the upper floors.
Notching mid partition’s windows placed in equal size and distance are reformed in the side wings and axes are determined by plasters. Surface of entrance is covered with stone, and side wings are covered with stone-brick mixing knit. The front façade remains exception for that cover. Back and side facades of a building are plastered. One of the Early Ottoman wall knitting style -changing the orders of stone and brick- seen on the side wings, may connected to the inspiration of Taut’s examination on traditional architecture on account of his interest on Mimar Sinan and Turk culture. Besides , use of turquoise tile and wall knitting, Bruno sends some very meaningful messages to Turkish Arts. Concave curtain rod and curve finish of a defender roof carried by single column on the entrance are the interesting details of structure. Like other details, balustrade and iron parts’ design are belonged to Taut.
To some writers, the building is evaluated as a synthesis of mid - Europe tradition and Turkish influences.
Ground Floor Plan:
Upper Floor Plan:
Free-Hand Sketch:
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BRUNO TAUT (1880-1938)Bruno Taut, born in 1880 in Königsberg, worked as an architect at the Königsberg Baugewerbeschule and moved to Berlin in 1902 where he worked for the Art Nouveau architect Bruno Möhring.
He became a proficient painter and pastel artist, but chose ultimately to pursue a career as an architect.
He opened his own architectural practice in 1909. In 1919, Taut initiated the “Work Council For The Arts” that sought to extend the German Revolution of 1918-1919 to the field of art.
From 1921 to 1924, Bruno Taut served as city architect in Madgeburg. Where he had entire streetscapes and the Baroque town hall repainted in bright colours. Influenced by Expressionism, Taut incorporated colour as a relevant element of the architecture.
From 1924 to 1931. He built residential estates in Berlin providing some 12000 dwellings. Unlike in his theoretical writings, the focus of these projects was not so much on the artistic aspects of architecture but on the social concerns.
In 1930, Bruno Taut was appointed to the faculty of the Technische Hochschue in Berlin-Charlottenburg as a professor of housing construction and urban development and was made an honorary of the International Architectural Society in Japan.
German architect Bruno Taut left Germany with his wife escape from Nazis visited to Japan because of an invitation in Japan International Architect Association. They lived in Sendai first, but moved to Takasaki with introduction by Inove Fusaichiro on August 1st, 1934, and lived at Senshintei in Takasaki city for two years and three months. Then, he relocated to Turkey in 1936, which had been making efforts for some time to attract European and American architects to help modernize the country. Here he was named chairman of the Academy of Fine Arts Istanbul and head of the architectural bureau of the Ministry of Education in Ankara.
He died in Istanbul in 1938.
