The Kerkenes Eco center a show case for appropriate housing and sustainable development in rural Turkey

Date

2015-09-09

Author

Elias Özkan, Soofia Tahira
Matthieu, Pedergnana

Metadata

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A fast developing country, Turkey faces many challenges including an urgent need for sustainable economic development in rural and remote areas. Villagers in Central Anatolia, where climatic conditions are typified by very cold winters and hot, sunny and dry summers, are migrating to cities where they seek a more comfortable life style. Thus village economies have worsened and buildings have been abandoned. The Kerkenes Eco‐Center, located on the edge of Şahmuratlı Village in central Anatolia, was founded in 2002 as a response to this situation. By bringing together village residents, local and state officials, NGOs, students and academics, the Eco‐Center strives to advocate sustainable rural development and to act as a dynamic experimental base where buildings of traditional and alternative designs can be constructed and monitored. As a response to villagers’ needs for comfort, low‐cost construction, and low‐maintenance buildings “new” designs and techniques, such as straw‐ bale walls, have been introduced while traditional practices such as flat roofs and sun‐drying techniques have been improved. This paper presents the results of research and hands‐on activities which go a long way towards demonstrating the viability of alternative building techniques. Not only is the efficiency of the proposed solutions evaluated, but also the social impact and advantages brought to the village are examined. Buildings within the Kerkenes Eco‐Center are continuously monitored and results analyzed while simulations are used to generate the optimum models for energy efficient designs. New buildings and solutions are implemented according to the results obtained. Hence on‐going studies, including straw‐bale construction, passive solar heating and integrated rocket stoves, make it possible to propose solutions for a sustainable rural life and viable future.

Subject Keywords

Energy efficiency, Appropriate building material, Sustainable rural development

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/72812
http://www.kerkenes.metu.edu.tr/keco/04library/2conferences/P_563.pdf

Conference Name

Passive and Low Energy Architecture: Architecture in (R)Evolution (9 - 11 Eylül 2015)

Collections

Department of Architecture, Conference / Seminar

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Citation Formats

S. T. Elias Özkan and P. Matthieu, “The Kerkenes Eco center a show case for appropriate housing and sustainable development in rural Turkey,” presented at the Passive and Low Energy Architecture: Architecture in (R)Evolution (9 - 11 Eylül 2015), Bologna, İtalya, 2015, Accessed: 00, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/72812.