Assessment of the buildings in the Dudaş village of Karabuk’s Ovacik district in terms of the utilization of traditional materials and construction technique

Abstract

Karabük’s Ovacık district is a settlement that has been used as a residential area since ancient times, though experiences recently an increase in immigrations from day to day due to various reasons which are mainly economical. Even though Ovacık is one of the rare residential areas whose architectural texture remained almost intact, the district has not been able to stand out with this aspect. Until 2019, no studies based on its rural architecture have been carried out in the district and its villages. Within the scope of this study, on-site investigations were made in all 12 neighborhoods of the village in order to determine the construction materials and techniques used in traditional buildings of Dudaş village. In addition, face-to-face interviews were held with those who are still alive among the craftsmen who built houses by using traditional methods in the region. In Dudaş village; wood and stone seem to be the most preferred building materials. The carrier system of the buildings is either a masonry system or a wooden framework or a wooden masonry system. It is also possible to see a combination of these production systems in one building. Both in the carrier system and interior elements of traditional buildings, wood is widely used. Stone is preferred in building foundations, garden walls and for filling the gaps between the wooden framework. Other traditional building materials found in the study area are adobe and clay bricks. Considering the construction system of the traditional buildings in this village, it can be seen that the ground floor walls are constructed out of rubble and coarse stone by using masonry technique, while for the upper floor walls adobe between wooden framework is used. This study is important in terms of recording and documenting the construction techniques, materials and traditional buildings of Dudaş village, which reflect the characteristic features of local architecture, which already lost some of their parts in time, and rapidly keep losing the other parts that have survived.