Architecture | EMIN ONAT: FOUNDER AND ARCHITECT | Gallery

A Life Born in The Constitutional Era and Continuing into The Republic 1908-1961 | Architecture | Founder

EMIN ONAT: FOUNDER AND ARCHITECT | Architecture

Emin Onat’s identity as an architect began to form in the ETH years in Zurich.

The years M.Emin Halid spent in ETH follow a bright curve of success. It was a great opportunity. His teacher, Otto R. Salvisberg, was not only a well-known and a good designer, but also well-versed in thought on architecture and experienced in its application. He was an architect who gave his own interpretation to the Bauhaus style, enriching it with a simple, functional but plastic emphasis.
M.Emin would learn to seek, experiment with and interpret Modernism from his teacher.

Onat’s functionalist style, that featured in his architecture for a period of five years and brought him more competition projects, began to change under the influence of the ‘rediscovering the traditional’ concept of the era commencing in the 40s.

These years were more of a time of searching for a reference for Onat. The Village Institute project competitions of 1941 must have been a major factor in this orientation. A perspective that attempted to bring together the local with a view opening from a large city to a village environment with rationalist principles was observed in Onat. Onat’s individual approach with the ‘monumental/academic’ style of the Anatolian era intensified in the interpretation of the rationale of Anatolian residential architecture in partnerships with S. Hakkı Eldem. In this era, Onat’s architecture is characterised by a return to Modernism. Onat designed his most notable buildings in this era.

There are four eras of Onat's Architecture with ETH years in Zurich:

ETH years in Zurich 1928-1934
Functional 1934-1938
Local and Nostalgic 1938-1953
A Return to His Roots 1953-1961

	1953-1961 A Return to His Roots: Marmara Apartment, İstanbul-Moda,1957. ...In the entrance halls there are mosaic panels by Ercüment Kalmık and the apartment building that also housed the office of Onat is one of the rare examples to survive to this day.

	1953-1961 A Return to His Roots: Yüksel Apartment (İstanbul-Şişli, 1960)

	1953-1961 A Return to His Roots: Sporel (Atıfet) Apartment (İstanbul-Moda, 1957)

	1953-1961 A Return to His Roots: Gazino, Ankara-Zafer Meydanı, 1952. This summer club known to have been an elegant building in the Modernist style has been completely changed in our times and turned into a bazaar. And is lost to us.

	1953-1961 A Return to His Roots: Moda Marine Club Facilities, İstanbul, 1956-57. Moda Marine Club was the subject of a design for a large social club and recreation centre (beach-hotel, gazino, sailing club) that was meticulously prepared by Onat.