Emecik village, 25 km away from Datça, hosts the S, Ş, T and U houses. Rumor has it that Spanish pirates passing off the coast of Datça abandoned patients suffering from leprosy in this village, located on the slope of the mountain. While these patients were living doomed to their fate on this hill, they were healed thanks to the beautiful weather of Datça. Those who recovered considered this place their home and started to live by establishing the village of Emecik at the foot of the hill. In Sarıliman, just below the village, there are ruins of a Doric temple dedicated to Apollo, dating back to the Hellenistic period.
Four doctor clients would like to have a house built for each to settle in when they retire, in the project area where there are ruins of stone houses. These ruins of old village houses, which are in very bad condition and are completely unusable, were never registered. Newer buildings in the immediate vicinity were built out of scale, in complete ignorance of these buildings.
The project has been handled in a particularly distinct way in order to revitalize the authentic and local architecture, granting the village with its identity for the past thousands of years, and to trace the historical texture of the region. Values of the region and the changes it has gone through have been identified to ensure that the original texture of the village can be transferred to future generations,
The aim is to strengthen these ruins of stone houses with local characteristics and make them a part of the design. Preparation of the house plans began by taking the exact measurements of these ruins, which sit on a sloping land and whose measurements remained unknown. Although the setback distances of new houses to be built within the village are defined differently, the old traces have been respected as much as possible in consultation with the rapporteurs. The raft foundation and hidden column-beam system, built in accordance with the regulations, were restored with the stones found around the ruins of abandoned buildings.
While the mixed system of stone and reinforced concrete on the ground floors forms the heavy base of the villas, the modern additional light mass at the top hosts the bedrooms. In the village, due to narrow roads where a cement mixer cannot pass through and a slope that is not suited for vehicle traffic, lightweight, hand-portable box profile materials were preferred in particular in order to simplify issues relating to cost and labor. First floor walls formed with 60x100x4 box profiles, and the carcass of the roof formed with 60x120x4 box profiles were turned into steel construction with the help of these materials. The roof was later covered with roof tile underlayment and the deck was covered with plywood. Natural light penetration and air circulation are enabled with skylights created on the roof.
The façade is formed by ‘Aquapanel’, sheathing and plaster. For the inner layer of the façade plasterboard is used. Efforts have been made to make these new, contemporary additions simple and plain, reflective of their period and in harmony with the Mediterranean identity. In addition to the main masses, outbuildings were created within permitted measurements and distance. These additions are planned to be framed at the same level as the beam on the stone wall. Between these two masses, the area called ‘hayat’ was created with wooden rafters. Small balconies with wooden floors were placed on some of the pergolas. The project was completed with three different materials: The old stone wall, the new stone wall built with old stones, white plastered walls on steel construction, and tiles on the roof.
These houses, which reflect the local identity of the village in the area of reconstruction, attracted the attention of landowners who were going to build new houses within the same vicinity, and they aimed to produce projects that reflect the same architectural identity in their own projects.
