Outside the Walls, borders, wars, migrations, commitments,
abandoned places, dormitories, houses, neighborhoods, families, portraits,
People and the past, the future and the present.
And outside the walls, there was another world.
Although Kuşadası is currently feeling the intense pressures of mass tourism, rapid construction, and concrete development, it possesses significant experience and effort in the preservation of its cultural heritage.
The comprehensive restoration work carried out on the Caravanserai in the 1960s, the cooperative approach to the historical environment undertaken in the 1980s in collaboration with Kent-Koop, Kuşadası Municipality, and METU, the street revitalization projects and individual building restorations developed with participatory methods under the leadership of Kuşadası Municipality from the 2000s onwards; and in recent years, projects focusing on local memory such as the "Remembering Neighborhood" led by the Kuşadası Education and Development Foundation… All these are important milestones in the city's preservation journey. This accumulated experience has also been made visible through the awards given by the Historical Cities Association.
However, conservation is never—and never has been—a process that can be undertaken by a single person, institution, or organization. Because cultural heritage is a shared value of humanity. Therefore, conservation is a multi-stakeholder, multi-layered, and collaborative process.
We also tried to make this multi-stakeholder structure visible in our documentary.
We explored the preservation stories of houses that have witnessed the history of Kuşadası. Some stories were promising, while others were still waiting to be written.
Because we have seen that preservation is not only in the walls. Preservation is outside the walls. It is in the people, in the living, in memories, in creations, projects, establishment processes, and in daily life.
Therefore, with our documentary "Outside the Walls," we tried to depict not only the structures themselves, but also the life, relationships, and struggles that took shape around those structures.
We sincerely thank all the institutions, experts, local stakeholders, and the people of Kuşadası who shared their stories with us for their contributions to the realization of this study.
Suleyman Burcak Dislocation
Architect/Conservation Specialist
Roof Birds
These birds, made of baked clay and crafted by each artisan with their own interpretation, were prepared on the ground and placed on the eaves, and many have survived to this day. The birds have different appearances; some are seen with their wings spread, some carrying eggs in their hands, and some carrying ribbons.
It is our collective wish that an inventory of the Roof Birds (Eaves Birds), which are thought to have given Kuşadası its name and created this unique appearance, be prepared, replicas be made, and that this characteristic be preserved by using them in the houses in the urban fabric of Kuşadası.
Architect Ümit Özkan