Historical Evaluation of Built Form in Diyarbakir Suriçi Region

Diyarbakir is a unique geographical region that bears the traces of many civilizations from prehistoric to modern times. Mesopotamian culture and cultures found in Anatolia created the mixed urban morphology of the region and affected the development of the city. However, mass migration and authority’s implementation on new zoning plans as a result of social and physical conflicts within the area have begun to erode Suriçi’s spatial identity that have developed throughout the historical process as a matter of spatial experiences. These developments have triggered the process where the city is losing its historical identity. But in time, the city gained the ability of adaptation to deterioration and change without losing its relationship with the elements that formed its identity. This study aims to compare the spatial configuration between the original and transformed plan of the traditional house in Suriçi. The study analyzes whether boundaries shift in response to changes in society and consequential changes in built form. The methodology is based on describing the relationship between the architectural and morphological aspects of space and analyzing the spatial morphology of traditional houses in Suriçi through space syntax parameters. The study identified significant changes in the spatial arrangement in plan layout. These transformations have a considerable impact on the morphology of Suriçi which retained specific characteristics from the original layout but splitting into more than one house or increased/decreased the number of space and altered the function of space. All alterations have modified the integration and depth values of spaces.