Sedat Hakkı Eldem
He is one of the most important figures of 20th century Turkish architecture. His contribution is not limited only with his designs, he is also author of many surveying and archiving work. He started his education life abroad, Geneva and Munich. Then he came to Istanbul and started his architecture education in Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi (1924). After graduated in 1928, with his scholarship he went to France, England and Germany, worked in the offices of Perret, Jansen and Poelzig. In Ankara he also worked with Holzman and Mongeri until becoming an instructor as the assistant of Egli in Güzel Sanatlar Akademisi(1932). He was the pioneer of the integration of new international trends into local with some of his projects like the Turkish Pavilion in New York world exhibition (1938-39), Istanbul Courthouse (1948), Hilton Hotel (Istanbul) (1952). His general approach was to adapt traditional elements into dwellings or other private spaces while using a rational and functional idea in designs of public buildings like hotel, bank, school or administrative. One of the most important issues he dealed with was the architectural education, between 1941-46 he worked as the head of architecture department in GSA. Then he done numerous survey and restoration works throughout rest of his career. His restoration project over Mehmet Serif Paşa Konağı (1978-87) in Istanbul won the European Nostra prize (Lahey, 1991). His other awards can be listed as below:
- Modern Artists Exhibition, bronze medal, 1991;
- American Institute of Architecture, regional design prize, 1952;
- Sedat Simavi Architecture and City Planning award, 1983;
- Turkish Ministry of Culture, Culture and Art award, 1983;
- Ağa Han Architecture award, 1986.
References:
Bozdoğan S, Özkan S, Yenal Y. (2005) Sedad Eldem Architect In Turkey Literatür Yayınları