Mualla Eyuboglu's Work in Village Institutes: A Hands-On Approach to National Architecture in 1940s Turkey

Abstract

Turkish architect Mualla Eyuboglu's career started at the Village Institutes, which were established in the early Republican period (1923-present) to meet Anatolian villages' needs for modern educational development through hands-on training. As the head , instructor of the Construction Section in the Hasanoglan Village Institute in 1942, Eyuboglu worked all over Anatolia, thereby taking part in the construction of modern Turkey. Eyuboglu's role as a tutor, designer , construc-tion supervisor at these Village Institutes was closely linked to broader discussions of national architecture. Since records on this period's construction processes are rare, this article considers Eyuboglu's pedagogical practice, vernacular approach, and crit-icism of national architecture in the 1940s through the use of Eyuboglu's diaries, professional and personal notes, and original drawings from her personal archive. We argue that, despite her position within the Turkish architectural intelligentsia, Eyuboglu's experiences with the difficult realities of rural sites led her to question formal training. She did this through her criticism of contemporary architectural and construction practices, which she felt were detached from the concerns and condi-tions of the villages. Through a hands-on approach to the construction of the Village Institutes, Eyuboglu believed that national architecture could embrace the needs of people within their geographical and social contexts, as well as regional technologi-cal possibilities.