Cumhuriyet Dönemi İstanbul mimarlığında Rüknettin Güney
Istanbul's Republican Era architecture and Ruknettin Guney
Yazar: CANSU ÖZKUL
Danışman: YRD. DOÇ. DR. VESİLE GÜL CEPHANECİGİL
İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi / Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü / Mimarlık Ana Bilim Dalı / Mimarlık Tarihi Bilim Dalı
Derece: Yüksek Lisans, 2016
Konu: Mimarlık = Architecture

Özet:
Rüknettin Güney gerek mimari üretimi ile, gerekse bu üretimin İstanbul'un modernleşme süreci bağlamında temsil ettikleri nedeniyle önemli bir figürdür. Mimarlık kariyerini 1933-1970 yılları arasında sürdürmüş olan, Fransız mimarlık okulu Ecole des Beaux-Arts mezunu Güney, uzun yıllar İstanbul Belediyesi İmar Müdürlüğü baş mimarı olarak görev yapmış ve bu sırada belediyenin inşa ettiği önemli yapıların tasarımını üstlenmiştir. Mimar ayrıca serbest mimarlık kariyeri süresince de nitelikli yapılar tasarlamış, bunun dışında bazı önemli mimari proje yarışmalarında ödüller almıştır. Rüknettin Güney, İstanbul'un Cumhuriyet döneminde geçirdiği dönüşüm süreçlerinde hem belirleyici bir pozisyona sahip olmuş, hem de bu dönüşümleri şekillendiren siyasi süreçlerden doğrudan etkilenmiş bir mimardır. Bu tez çalışmasının amacı, Türkiye modern mimarlığının özellikle İstanbul'daki önemli figürlerinden biri olan Rüknettin Güney'in belediye mimarı ve serbest mimar olarak gerçekleştirdiği mimari üretimi dönemsel koşullar içinde değerlendirmektir. Ayrıca Güney hakkında ulaşılabilen tüm veriyi derleyerek kapsamlı bir kaynak ortaya koymak hedeflenmiştir. 
Tezde Güney'in kariyeri, kronolojik olarak ve aynı zamanda mimarın mesleki kimliği üzerinden tariflenmiştir. Güney'in Fransa'dan Türkiye'ye dönüşünü takip eden ilk yılları (1933-1936), Erken Cumhuriyet İstanbul'unun imarı üzerinden tariflenen 1936-1950 aralığı, Demokrat Parti dönemine denk gelen 1950-1960 aralığı ve mimarın son dönemi olan 1960-1970 aralığı farklı bölümler halinde ele alınmıştır. Bu dönemler İstanbul'un dönüşüm sürecindeki farklı aşamaları temsil etmelerine paralel olarak, Güney'in mimarlık pratiğindeki ana dönemleri ifade etmektedir. Buna bağlı olarak 1936-50 aralığını kapsayan bölümde, çalışmalarının neredeyse tamamını Kırdar belediyesi himayesinde gerçekleştirmiş olması nedeniyle "belediye mimarı" olarak işlenmiştir. Bu dönemde İstanbul, Prost planları ve Kırdar yönetimi altında modernleştirilmeye çalışılmaktadır. Rüknettin Güney bu süreçte gerek belediye imar bürosundaki çalışmalarıyla, gerekse bu dönemde tasarladığı Taksim Gazinosu, Florya Belediye Gazinosu, Kadıköy Halkevi ve Beyoğlu Evlendirme Dairesi gibi yapılarıyla, modernleşme programında aktif olarak rol almıştır. İktidarda Demokrat Parti'nin bulunduğu 1950-60 yılları aralığında ise Güney'in mesleki kimliğini, serbest mimarlık çalışmaları belirlemiştir. Bu dönemde mimar, Taksim Divan Oteli ve uygulanmayan Kalamış Oteli projesi ile çeşitli apartman yapılarına imza atmıştır. Mimarın kamu kuruluşları ve serbest kariyeri arasında geçişler yaşadığı kariyerinin son on senesini kapsayan 1960-70 aralığı ise, Güney'in iki farklı mesleki kimlik arasında değişimler yaşadığı, mimari üretimini muhafaza etmek adına farklı kariyer yönelimlerinde bulunduğu bir süreç olmuştur. Ele alınan tüm bu dönemler arasında gözlemlenen siyasi ve toplumsal kırılma ve dönüşümler, Güney'in gerek bir mimar, gerekse bir meslek adamı olarak geçirdiği evrelerin irdelenmesine ışık tutmaktadır.

Abstract:
Rüknettin Güney has been an influential figure in Istanbul's modernization process, with his architectural practice and its influence. After his graduation from Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts Paris, Güney's architectural career of forty years includes operating as the Chief Architect in Istanbul Municipality's Department of Planning where he took responsibility of the designs of various important buildings that was constructed in that era.  Güney also designed compelling buildings during his time as an independent architect as well as winning numerous awards in architectural project competitions. Rüknettin Güney played a decisive role during the transformation period of Istanbul in early Republican era and was also affected by the political developments that shaped this transformation. He is one of the key figures in Istanbul for Turkey's modern architecture and this thesis' aim is to evaluate his architectural works that he delivered as a municipal and an independent architect, considering the periodical circumstances and to provide an extensive source for all the accessible data related to him. Güney's career was described chronologically and at the same time on the professional identification of the architect. The first years after his arrival from France to Turkey (1933-1936), the Early Republican Istanbul's redevelopment period between 1936-1950, the period between 1950-1960 where Democratic Party is in power and architect's last years between 1960-1970 was inspected in different sections. As well as representing different stages of the transformation of Istanbul, these periods also refer to main stages of Güney's architectural practice and career.
The architect returned to the country in 1933 after his graduation from Ecole des Beaux-Arts in France and after receiving his architectural license, he first worked in a construction office for a short period of time in the ministry of education. He then began his career in Istanbul Municipality Redevelopment Bureau in 1936 and actively pursued this role until 1950. In this part of the thesis, Güney was treated as a "municipal architect" because almost all of his work was carried out under Lütfi Kırdar's era of Istanbul Municipality. The main actors of this period when the city was being transformed according to the Kemalist Revolution's ideologies, are urbanist Henri Prost, the governor and mayor Lütfi Kırdar, and the bureau of Redevelopment in the municipality. The Municipal Redevelopment Bureau has worked on meeting these structural needs of modernizing Istanbul. Rüknettin Güney has actively participated in this modernization process with his works in the Municipality and also with the construction of several important projects such as Taksim Gazinosu, Florya Belediye Gazinosu, Kadıköy Halkevi and Beyoğlu Evlendirme Dairesi which he designed in this period. Güney is the person who designed a significant amount of the structures that carry strategical value in Lütfi Kırdar's era of Istanbul. As a conclusion, it can be said that Güney's architectural production carries both ideological and strategical value for Istanbul's transformation. Rüknettin Güney also won the Kadıköy Halkevi Binası architectural competition held in 1938 and raised his reputation both in the modern architecture environment and in the municipality. The consistency and success of the architect during the municipality years of his career, was a result of Güney's disciplined and a hard working professional conduct and his qualified design approach that could bring rationalistic solutions to the needs of the structural programs. Furthermore, Güney's architectural language that is both a result of his own style and his architectural formation, carries similarities to Henri Prost who is also responsible of redevelopment of the city. Both designers who are Ecole des Beaux-Arts alumni, consider user's comfort and hygiene elements; Güney on his structures and Prost, on a city scale. Prost and Güney both have designed spaces that are shaped by "spacious" circulation spaces and "bright" gathering areas.  
During the 1950-1960 period when the Democratic Party was in power, the professional identity of Güney was determined by his freelance architectural work. With the change of administration in Istanbul Municipality, Güney has first moved away from his role in the bureau and subsequently Taksim Opera House project, where he was responsible for the design and the construction. As a result, his career has undergone a major transformation. In this period of time, because of post-war consequences and legislation changes allowing private construction projects, there has been a serious increase in the number of apartment buildings due to increase in population. In addition, as a result of the foreign policies of the new regime, American influence has increased and as an architectural outcome of this movement, the construction of buildings in international style has increased. With the prominence of the private sector, business buildings and other commercial structures was being built in different parts of the city, as well as tourism projects that are consequences of the city's mission envisioned by the government. This architectural environment that was shaped by all these components was the main factor molding Güney's freelance architectural works. Rüknettin Güney has mainly designed apartment buildings in the post-1950 period but has also implemented special designs for office blocks, hotels and private housing for high socio-economical class. 
Years between 1960 and 1970 has been a period of changes  for the architect, between different career orientations, including public institutions and his freelance career, in order to maintaining his architectural production. Due to 1960 coup, the cancellation of the Kalamış Hotel project has caused a stir in Rüknettin Güney's career. After investing financially in the project and taking a loan to expand his office, the architect has experienced an economical downfall after the cancellation of the project and then was invited to the Istanbul Municipality's Bureau of Development, where the military administration was in  charge. In the aftermath of accepting this invitation, Güney has found the department quite different than it was before as the bureau has become a place that has been separated from the architectural design and application environment and is struggling in an intensive bureaucratic framework with only license and project approvals. In the year 1961, Urban Development Department was quite different than Kırdar's period where architectural production was the main focus. In this period, the bureau was mostly engaged with the applicants for approval and approval of the rapid construction projects in Istanbul. It is quite different from the architectural environment that Ruknettin Güney is accustomed to, a post-coup regulatory regime and a business environment where a problematic, complex bureaucracy prevails. Güney is an architecture who involves with the architectural production itself, rather than taking part in administrative processes. Therefore, Güney has decided to conclude his work in the municipality, where only administrative work was carried out and architectural design was non-existent. Shortly afterwards, the architect resigns in late 1961, emphasizing that he is an "architect, not a manager," and returns to free-work. In 1964, he takes a break from freelance architectural work again and works in Department of Construction of Istanbul University only to resign in 1967 and to spend last years of his life as a freelance architect.
The political and social breakdowns and transformations observed during all these periods sheds a light on the research on Güney both as an architect and a professional. Ruknettin Güney had an important place in the architecture of early Republican period and the modernization process of Istanbul during this period and maintained his profession as both a public servant and a freelance architect, like many Turkish architects performing this profession in the first years of the Republic. However, the significance of Rüknettin Güney's projects is a direct result to his architectural qualities. The architect has created a consistent characteristic in his designs blending the era-specific formal orientations with his architectural formation that he obtained in Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts. The modernist architectural language that Güney has embraced is in harmony with the preferences of the Kemalist regime, where architecture is being seen as a tool for the construction of the nation-state. At the same time, these structures which are described as "needs of the city", have become the social focal points of the modernizing city, functioning like stages for the contemporary urban society model that is desired. Thus they also have meanings that overlap with the ideological preferences of the period.
The importance given to functionality and user comfort can be observed in many of Güney's works.  Wide window openings, details that allow natural light to be taken in, surfaces and large spaces that bathe in light thanks to the indirect interior illumination, circulation areas that flow rationally in one another and especially wide staircases are among the primary elements of Rüknettin Güney's architectural style. Aforementioned casinos, clubs, community center buildings, apartment complexes, movie theatres and all the other structures - some of which are non-existent today - have been the modern icons of urban recollection. His professional career which continued in different eras of the Republican Period, conveys important examples so as to comprehend the relationship formed between the architectural environment and the ideological, financial and cultural structures of these eras.