EXAMINATION OF INTERVENTIONS ON REINFORCED CONCRETE SYSTEM ON HISTORIC BUILDING – CASE OF TURKEY

In the 20th century, after the destruction of World War II, concrete was commonly used in buildings due to its rapid and economic production nature. Concrete buildings from this era reflect the period’s characteristics, social, economic, and political changes, and even are important evidence of the developments of concrete as a material, detail design, construction, and production technology. Because of these reasons, the conservation of concrete buildings from the 20th century is of great importance in sustaining their value. Most of them require interventions (e.g., repair, treatment, and maintenance) due to obsolescence originating from intrinsic factors of the material/design/construction itself, exposure to environmental conditions for years, and changing regulations/aesthetic factors, etc. Today, international conservation organizations (e.g., DOCOMOMO, ICOMOS) are playing a leading role in embracing the conservation approaches and principles applied to 20th century cultural heritage. The documentation of them contributes possible assessment in the future within the context of cultural heritage conservation. In the study, the main objective is a detailed review of intervention to the buildings that have a reinforced concrete structural system. Through this objective, the study consists of two main stages as (i) a comprehensive literature review, and (ii) intervention examples from part of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University – Fındıklı Campus, Istanbul, Turkey. In the first stage, the intervention factors, obsolescence, principles, methods, process, and measures for the reinforced concrete system are presented. In the second stage, a brief explanation is given about the case building which was constructed in 1860 and was intervened according to modern period characteristics in the 1950s and 1970s. Afterward, interventions were made to reinforced concrete structural system of part of the building (Münire Sultan Palace) between 2020-2023 are explained. As a result, the conservation methods of building are discussed with the earlier interventions to the buildings and information collected from the comprehensive literature review.