SEYFI ARKAN AND HIS PROJECT-ILLER BANKASI-

SEYFI ARKAN(1904 – 1966)

Known as one of the leading Turkish architects following the modernist movement, Seyfi Arkan was born on 1904 in Istanbul. He started his architecture related education at the “Sanay-i Nefise Mektebi” and graduated from the same school with its name changed to “Fine Arts Academy”, he was a student of Vedat Tek. Arkan graduated from Vedat Tek’s atelier in 1928. After he received the first prize at a competition for a monument about martyrs of Çanakkale, he was sent to study in Germany by a scholarship provided by the government. He studied with Hans Poelzig. He returned to Turkey in 1933 and started working in the school he graduated from, as an instructor at the Department of Urbanism. He is known to be influenced by his former teacher Poelzig and the socio-economic nature of Berlin. The years between 1930 and 1940 were his most productive years architecturally. He met Mustafa Kemal Atatürk during that period and designed many building for the government including Florya Deniz Köşkü (1935-1936), İller Bankası (1937). He played a very important role in the “Westernization” period of the Turkish Republic. He prepared plans or many towns and cities which very successfully reflected the socio-economic status of Turkey at that time. Unfortunately, nationalist movements started after 1940 and he lost many of his former employers. He died in 1966 due to health problems and his office was evacuated because of the debts he could not pay.


ILLER BANKASI (1937)

After the Independence War, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk demanded to found an institution which could supply the necessary needs for reconstruction of buildings and infrastructure of towns and cities. A competition was organized in 1935 by the Turkish government for the building of “Belediyeler Bankası” in which the Turkish architect Seyfi Arkan came first. Name of the institution was later changed to “İller Bankası” in 1944. The building was constructed during 1937. A variety of construction materials were used in the building. On top of concrete, different materials are used for columns which are shaped in a chamfered manner. As a result of the increasing need for space within the building due to increase in work capacity, the administration demanded some solutions for the problem. Architect Arkan suggested alterations and the building can be used efficiently even today.