Colour mapping of traditional urban fabric material in the southeastern region of Turkey: havara stone

Abstract

Colour is one of the important elements that extends from the urban scale to the space scale. The use of colour is important in expressing the settlement’s visual and psychological identity in the construction of place-specific architecture. Each settlement has unique colour cartels. The material is at the beginning of basic structural elements that make up these colour cartels. Havara stone is a cultural heritage item whose unique colour characterises the physical environment of the eastern region of Turkey, which was affected by an earthquake in 2023. The use of havara stone is important in the process of planning the restoration of historical environments in provinces located in the region. This study aims to determine the colours of the stone used, and their proportions. A centralised colour chart has been developed through computer-aided colour mapping techniques based on samples of apostle stone. This chart is intended to function as a referential framework for guiding colour selection in forthcoming restitution and adaptive reuse interventions within the region. It is anticipated that the findings of this study will contribute to ensuring the quality and authenticity of restoration works, and that the colour mapping method will be adopted as a standard approach in the conservation of historical environments characterised by vernacular architecture and a preserved historical fabric.A colourchart is put in the middle with the computer-aided colourmapping method made from apostle stone samples. It is planned that this cartel will be the source of colourpreferences in the restitution and re-functioning studiesto be carried out in the region. It is hoped that the study’s findings will assist in ensuring the quality of the restoration worksand thatthe colourmapping methodwill be adoptedfor all historical environments having vernacular architecture with the historical fabric.