FROM POWER PLANT TO MUSEUM: A SUSTAINABLE TRANSFORMATION

Throughout history, cities have needed industrialization since they emerged. Industrialization requires electric power plants because they meet the electricity demand of cities. However, old power plants failed to meet the energy demand of developing cities over time. Therefore, many were shut down, abandoned or demolished. The sustainability of buildings reflecting urban history and witnessing industrialization is an important architectural issue. Sustainable cities and sustainable architecture are made possible by reintegrating such buildings into urban life. From a material and spiritual point of view, cities and city dwellers benefit the transformation and reutilization of existing resources as well. The subject of this study is the transformation of Silahtaraga, which is located in Istanbul and the first electric power plant in Turkey. A modern example of industrial architecture built between 1910 and 1914, Silahtaraga was a coal-fired power plant that met the electricity demand of the city. It was then the first urban scale thermal power plant of the Ottoman state. However, it failed to meet the increasing demand of the city, and therefore, was completely shut down and abandoned in 1983. It was transformed and conserved through refunction in 2007. Today, it is used as a museum of energy, a museum of contemporary art and a library. The study discusses the history, transformation, significance and re-functionalization of Silahtaraga power plant built during the industrialization process. The aim of the study is to highlight the necessity of revitalization and refunction of buildings which have witnessed urban history and held a distinguished position in urban memory and identity.