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This study aims to examine the spatial organization of kyomachiya in comparison with the traditional Safranbolu House in order to figure out the characteristics of kyomachiya and Safranbolu house through the way of living and religio-cultural norms. Two houses have been chosen from Kyoto, Japan and Safranbolu, Turkey for the case study. A comparison between kyomachiya and Safranbolu house has been carried out focusing on the determinated themes: influence of settlement pattern on the design of each house, function, spatial organization, religio-cultural norms, privacy, relation with the nature, social system, seasonal changes. Although their forms are different and each case are located in totally different contexts, a considerable amount of similarities, besides the differences have come out. In the conclusion part, consequences of the comparative study in respect to the way of living have been expressed.

The purpose of this study is to make a conceptual analysis of the rooms of traditional residential architectures of Japan and Turkey in order to find out and compare cultural reflections of Turkish and Japanese ways of life on their own houses. To focus the discussion, this research has been arranged around certain themes and concepts. In Chapter 2, this study provides an outline of the basic characteristics of traditional architectures of Japan and Turkey. Chapter 3 contains comparison of some basic concepts that have been used to define characteristics of traditional rooms. The first section of this chapter is devoted to the meaning and comparison of the concept of ‘simplicity’ in traditional lifestyles. In the following sections, introversion and extroversion characters of the rooms and the reflection of climatic factors in Japanese and Turkish house types are studied comparatively. In conclusion, a preliminary outline of the outcomes of the comparative study is given. Special attention is given to the relation between the traditional lifestyles of the occupants and the reflection of lifestyles in their rooms.

Vernacular architecture in housing has different examples within Turkey and “Turkish house” is a widely used and discussed term. Local, climatic and historical conditions including local materials shaped the formation of houses as well as the philosophical and cultural aspects. These houses are mostly built by local users and they have evolved in time. There are many lessons that can be learned from these houses where recent mass houses and apartment blocks are built numerously usually ignoring the environmental and cultural values and needs. Advances in technologies support and encourage mass-customization and mass-production can be freed from unconnected and repetitive housing. For this study Mardin is selected and detailed and new housing design researches and concepts are presented. In short, this paper aims to draw a general frame for Turkish Houses and focuses on Mardin Houses in order to emphasize that new housing can be designed by using new technologies which are inspired and derived from traditional local values and settlements.