RATIONAL LUXURY: ART DECO AND SPATIAL REPRESENTATION IN EARLY REPUBLICAN TURKEY

Abstract

This study examines the defining influence of the Art Deco style, which became one of the main reference points for modern design in the first quarter of the 20th century, on interior and furniture design within the framework of historical, cultural, and aesthetic parameters. The study focuses on the emergence of Art Deco in France, its international recognition gained at the 1925 Paris Exhibition, and the structural relationship this process established with the modernization efforts of Turkey's Early Republican period. The study analyzes the morphological character, material composition, and spatial organization principles of the style across a range of contexts, from public buildings to residential typologies. Historical description and qualitative analysis methods were adopted in the research; period architectural archives and designer projects were subjected to comparative reading. The simplification and reproduction processes that Art Deco underwent as a result of its interaction with local cultural characteristics in Turkey were identified. The unique interpretations of the style, particularly in the context of craft traditions, adaptation of local materials, and class representation dynamics, were presented with reference to the literature. Furthermore, the representational power of strategies such as axial orientation, symmetrical composition, and dramatic light organization, which are central to interior design, was emphasized. In this regard, the study reveals that Art Deco in Turkey is not merely an aesthetic preference or a set of imported forms; rather, it became a strategic spatial device for the Early Republic's vision of creating a contemporary society. This multi-layered analysis, ranging from monumental public buildings on a macro scale to disciplining interior spaces that guide users and micro-scale furniture designs symbolizing a new lifestyle, reveals the sociological and ideological dimensions of the style. Ultimately, the research comprehensively presents to the literature how the Art Deco experience in Turkey, shaped by the political goals of the era, changing class dynamics, and local craftsmanship, constructed a unique, localized, and rational scene of modernization in the history of interior architecture.