PAUL BONATZ- OPERA BUİLDİNG

Paul Bonatz was born in Metz in 1887.He studied under Karl Hocheder and Friedrich von Thiersch at the Munich Technical College. After that he became the assistant of Fisher He followed his principles and highly impressed by large heavy stone structures, in a more contemporary form. He followed his profession as an architect all his life and never gave up his principles as some of his contemporaries did. In 1943 he was appointed consulting architect to the Ministry of Education in Turkey. He was a lecturer in the Architectural Faculty at Istanbul Technical University between 1946 and 1955 and took part in the restoration of the Taskisla building where the Faculty was situated . Bonatz realized a variety of different projects during his years in Turkey, Saracoglu Housing for Government Officials in Ankara (1945,) where he tried to use traditional features of the Turkish house in a contemporary dwelling. His design stressed form rather than function in this work In 1948 Bonatz redesigned Sevki Balmumcu's Exhibition Hall in Ankara and turned it into the Grand Theatre. Bonatz supported the trend towards 2nd National Architecture and his ideas on monumental design had an effect on Turkish architecture. Bonatz wrote two books, the titles of which are "Leben und Bauen", and "Brücken" (with F. Leonhardt) published in 1951. He died in Stuttgart in 1956.

Opera building’s first version was designed by Şevki Balmumcu and built between 1933-1934.The first function of this building was Exhibition Hall but between 1947-1948 the building was redesigned by Paul Bonatz and turned it into the Grand Theatre. Unfortunately, this situation was highly criticized because according to some people, this change caused the loss of originality of this building and this situation made Şevki Balmumcu upset and affected his health. However Bonatz designed the building according to the principles of second National Architecture.

The construction type of this building is reinforced concrete.The building is mainly divided into three parts which are entrance, stage and saloon for audience.These three parts became whole with the help of riwaq at the front façade. The entrance is at the east elevation and from there, one can access to the foyer.There are two passages in the foyer which enable access to the main audience place. From the entresol one can access to the mezzanine floor. Finally, the marble stairs at the middle of the foyer enables access to the lodge. Traditional Turkish house architecture style can be seen in the Opera Building. Stained glasses at the mezzanine floor and wooden walls at the foyer can be an example to this style. Finally as an exterior decoration at the front façade artificial stone which looks like Ankara stone had been used and at the other façades ivory coloured stucco had been used.

LOCATION IN ANKARA

FLOOR PLANS

ELEVATIONS

SECTIONS

OUTDOOR PHOTOS

INDOOR PHOTOS

SKETCHS

OUR COMMENTS :

OPERA

Although some people claimed that feature's of building were destroyed after Bonatz redesigned,it is totally wrong since he used 2nd national architecture trend successfuly. In the opera building , he achieved his goal in using traditional features of the turkish hause. Accessing to the main audience place designed smart.There are two main passages in the foyer so audience easily reach to the place.