Gonca Büyükmıhçı/ Kayseri'de Yaşam ve Konut Kültürü (Kayseri Erciyes Üniversitesi Yayınları No: 148,2005) Kayser Evlerine İlişkin 260 resim, 97 çizim, 248 s. ISBN 975-6478-29-2

• Published in: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 83 - 92
• Main Author: İMAMOĞLU, Vacit
• Format: Book Review
• Language: Turkish
• Published: ODTÜ 2006
• Subjects: Anadolu; Anatolia; Architectural Heritage; Architecture and Design; Armenians; Critical Review; Culture; Eleştirel İnceleme; Ermeniler; Ethnic Groups; Etnik Gruplar; Geleneksel Mimari; History; History of Art; House; Kayseri; Kitap İnceleme; Konut; Kültür; Mimari Miras; Mimarlık ve Tasarım; Muslim Population; Müslüman Nüfus; Sanat Tarihi; Tarih; Traditional Architecture
• ISSN: 0258-5316

Gonca Büyükmıhçı's book titled, "Kayseri de Yaşam ve Konut Kültürü" (Life and House Culture in Kayseri) attempts to examine and compare Armenian and muslim houses built in and around the town of Kayseri in the 19th century. The author disregards other Christian groups of Kayseri and treats all non-muslim houses as if all belonged to Armenians. Although the number of houses are too few to make a systematic comparison, the author tries to make generalizations and states that Armenians have built their houses around a central hall (sofa) while muslims continied to build the courtyard-type houses. This cannot be a valid generalization because many muslim houses were built with central halls and many Armenian houses with courtyards.
The logic and criteria used for classifying houses into two groups are not clearly stated in the book. Additionally, names and locations of a large portion of the houses are not indicated. This, in turn, creates a chaotic situation in the arrangement of the visual material: Some pictures of the very same house appears in the muslim group, some in the Armenian. Additionally, although the author states that she aims to examine the 19th century, she gives muslim house examples from earlier periods. The book has several repetitions, numerous mistakes and seem to exhibit care-free opinions about various architectural issues and details. It also has ethical problems involving plagiarism.