ARCHITECTURE AS A MEDIUM OF SOCIAL CHANGE: THE REFLECTIONS OF LIFE AND INNOVATIVE STYLE OF CLEMENS HOLZMEISTER ON TURKEY

Abstract

Changes and innovations in architecture have influenced social life in every age. Although architecture is not alone responsible
for the changes in social life, it is one of the most important potentials that will affect the change in the life of people. The study
is on the architectural style of Clemens Holzmeister, who played an active role in the development of the capital Ankara in the
process of shaping a new nation, and how this style influenced his works, especially in the formation of a new state in Ankara.
Holzmeister pioneered political debates and social changes with the buildings he built before and after he came to Turkey.
Some of the buildings representing the new state in Ankara; Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Ministry of Defense, the
General Staff Building, Atatürk's House, the International Central Bank, Real Estate Bank, Ministry of Education Building,
Supreme Court Building, Ministry of Public Works, Ankara Military Academy, Ankara Officers' Club, trust Anita (with Anton
Hanak), the architect of the Austrian Embassy building. He is the founder of the style "Holzmeisterizm" and a professor who
contributed to the education of many architects both in Turkey and Austria. His designs in Turkey play a major role in the
establishment of a new understanding of the state and represent a social change in this context. In this study, his architectural
design journey beginning from the Alps has been examined by approaching his architecture as a demonstration of an effective
social and political change. Holzmeister’s main brave representative works before and after Turkey are analysed
chronologically; the reflection of his innovative and revolutionary character, life and preceding works on Turkey has been
reconsidered in this context.