New Uses for Old Buildings: The case of ‘Soğukçeşme’ Street, İstanbul, Turkey

Abstract

İstanbul has served as the capital of three great empires and is a culturalcentre of outstanding importance not only for Turkey but also for theworld as a whole. Its historical and cultural heritage should be fullyexploited and its inheritance carefully preserved to serve as aninspiration to future generations. The most effective way of lendingeducational end inspirational significance to the old buildings that fallinto this category is to convert each one of them into a living entity. Onthe basis of these arguments, this article aims to explore changes toimportant examples of such original buildings over time and how toconvert them to suit contemporary usage values.