2025 - Historicising and Visualising the Evolution of Ottoman Architecture, by Muzaffer Özgüleş
B1 Senior Scholar Award – Residency in Oxford
During a three-month residency in Oxford, Muzaffer will conduct a research project titled “Historicising and Visualising the Evolution of Ottoman Architecture.” This research critically examines the evolution of Ottoman architecture in Istanbul from the mid-15th to early 20th century, uncovering long-term architectural patterns and their correlation with historical events.
The project will build on the database of the app Timeline Travel, a tool that enables users to explore Istanbul’s architectural evolution by visualising structures on an interactive timeline and map, contextualising them alongside historical figures and events. It already includes 17 extant Ottoman and Byzantine structures and basic records of approximately 1000 buildings and will add monumental nonextant buildings, reconstructing a more comprehensive picture of Ottoman Istanbul’s architectural landscape.
The first phase of the study involves archival research at the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries to identify and document lost Ottoman structures, including palaces and mosque complexes. The second phase leverages TT’s structured dataset to analyze the evolution of Ottoman architecture using spatial and data visualisation techniques. This research is pioneering in its use of big-data and spatial analysis to reinterpret Ottoman architectural evolution in Istanbul, examining long-term patterns in architectural production to reveal previously unobserved facts and establish new links between architectural development and historical transformations.
Muzaffer Özgüleş is an architectural historian and Assistant Professor at Alanya University, Turkey. He received his PhD from Istanbul Technical University.
