A Productive Architect And A Modern Building In Ankara: Bruno Taut and Atatürk High-School

Educational buildings suitable to the new curriculums, which were developed by a sicientific manner in the Early Republican Period (1923-50), are among the structures that symbolize the state, thanks to both their contemporary architectural identities, and their locations in the city. A large number of school buildings constructed in Ba？kent, Ankara during this period were produced in care of architects from German-speakingcountries in the Architects Office of the Ministry of National Education. Amongthem, German architect Bruno Taut was one of the main actors of architecture of this period with his school designs, he disregarded the formalist side of modern architecture and paid attention to the conformity to the conditions such as climate which the building is located in, material etc. rather than the style arguments, and he resorted to produce a functional structure. Apart from some references tothe Ottoman architecture in the Faculty of Language, History and Geography, he produced more plain and modest but highly impressive solutions with environment-friendly lumped mass approach at differentheights, in his secondary school and high-school buildings. The Atatürk High-School buildingbecomes a show arena of Taut’sideas on “modern architecture” with its native cultural details, alongside the functionalist and trational solutions required by the education. In this study, it is aimed to introduce and evaluate the architectural style of BrunoTautforthe Atatürk High-School Building as well as the architectural identity of the Early Republican Period. The function of the building, its relationship with the city, architectural identity and attributes and place in the architecture of the Early Republican Period is the main discussion in thisstudy