Yeniden İşlevlendirme Kapsamında Mekan Ve Bellek İlişkisinin Dönüşümü: Kavaklıdere Sineması Örneği

Abstract

This thesis, shaped around the relationship between place and memory, examines this relationship in the context of adaptive reuse. The focus of the study is Kavaklıdere Cinema, designed by architect Nejat Tekelioğlu in 1965 and recently repurposed as a cultural center known as “Kült Kavaklıdere.”

The concepts of place and memory are intertwined in a multifaceted relationship that both influences and transforms each other. While memory becomes tangible in the built environment, place preserves the traces of the past, keeping memory alive. Preserving the intangible and tangible values of a place and transferring them to future generations is crucial for maintaining the continuity of a city’s historical and cultural layers, as well as for generating new social meanings and usage values. Adaptive reuse, which involves giving a new function to structures that have lost their original purpose, is a strategic intervention in this context.

Cinemas built in Turkey between 1950 and 1980 are structures where the lifestyle and design understanding of that period are visible. These buildings have secured a significant place in the collective memory as public spaces where the city’s cultural identity is constructed. However, changing viewer habits have led to the closure, demolition, or interventions disconnected from their historical context. Kavaklıdere Cinema, which remained preserved without acquiring a new function during its period of closure, diverges from this common trend in Ankara. Known as the “cinema of festivals” by the locals and a symbol of the city’s cultural life, the cinema was closed for 16 years before being repurposed as a multi-purpose cultural center under the name “Kült Kavaklıdere” in 2023. The spatial transformations that Kavaklıdere Cinema underwent, influenced by socio-cultural changes, provide an opportunity to examine the relationship between culture, memory, and place. This study evaluates the adaptive reuse process of this historic cinema, focusing on functional layout, spatial organization, and identity elements, and explores the impact of spatial transformation on memory.