The Roofs and Culture in Architecture: Roofs of Vienna and Mersin

Abstract

The roof is one of the main important structural elements for human life that supplies taking shelter. The other meanings of the roof are social and structural meanings. The culture of the country, the region, the city and the local are the elements that compose this social meaning. The social meaning, naturally includes all cultural values. As the culture affects the elements that constitute the structural meaning, the geography and climate of the local are also compose this structural meaning. The structural meaning involves the constructional form and the structure. The social and structural meanings of roofs are affected the form, function, and materials. Vienna as being a city in Europe and as the capital of Austria shows the significant characteristics for the order of roofs as a European city, with its continental climate. And Mersin, as a city in the south Anatolia, near the Mediterranean Sea of Turkey, with its regional and indigenous characteristics, shows the characteristics for the order of roofs. The orders of roofs for the cities Mersin and Vienna are searched in the aspect of social meaning, climate, and geography. It is worth to examine the social meaning, the effects of cultural and climate differences conveying by the roofs of Mersin and Vienna. In this study, while researching the culture, social meaning of roofs for Mersin and Vienna in the cultural, natural, and formal viewpoint, the subject is taken into consideration in the aspect of qualitative and objective factors. Firstly, it is done observations in these cities, searched the history of the cities, their climate and social life. It is evaluated the social meaning and cultural determinants in a qualitative aspect of their form and created atmosphere. In the social meaning, it is examined the characteristics of climate, atmosphere of environment, materials as the natural determinants. It is also tried to investigate the way of life of users and the characteristics of utilization of space in roofs. It is tried to evaluate the roofs of Mersin and Vienna in the aspect of social meaning with cultural and natural determinants and with all the data and evidences according to physical side, in a qualitative manner.

Keywords: Culture, Roof, Social Meaning, Mersin’s roofs, Vienna’s roofs.