A dagger to the heart of traditional fabric: 'Vertical' transformation in Kaş by TOKİ

Kaş, a world-renowned tourism center in Antalya known for its unique nature, is now facing the threat of vertical architecture following the pressure of uncontrolled construction it has been subjected to in recent years. The 10-story TOKİ blocks rising in Yeniköy Neighborhood are dealing a heavy blow to the district's centuries-old traditional civil architectural identity and silhouette.

FROM A 3-STORY LIMIT TO 10-STORY BLOCKS

The rough construction of the TOKİ project, which overshadows Kaş's steep slopes and unique nature, has been largely completed. The project, built in Yeniköy Neighborhood and consisting of 214 residences and workplaces, has become the first large-scale example of vertical architecture in a district that has been trying to preserve the horizontal and nature-compatible texture of traditional Mediterranean architecture.

According to the report by Yusuf Yavuz, the unplanned construction, which is carried out by pushing the 5-story limit even on steep slopes near the center in a district that normally has a 3-story limit, has turned into a virtually institutionalized massacre with the TOKİ project. The 10-story blocks rising on the peaks of nature-wonder hills are irreversibly destroying Kaş's urban identity and aesthetics.

THE FINAL ACT OF 20 YEARS OF UNCONTROLLED TRANSFORMATION

This aesthetic and ecological destruction in Kaş is actually not new. The unplanned, identity-less, and rent-oriented construction that began in the district center in the early 2000s has gradually spread to Kaş's unique rural settlements and villages.

Villages with centuries-old historical textures have been filled with villas with pools that have sprung up like mushrooms over the last 20 years. These regions, where housing and land prices have entered a race with metropolises, have been turned into piles of concrete in a completely unplanned manner, without any infrastructure work being carried out.

NATURE AND HISTORY SACRIFICED FOR RENT

These projects, which were implemented despite all the warnings of local people and environmental activists, not only spoil Kaş's current silhouette but also mortgage its future. This "hard transformation," which is infrastructure-less, concrete-focused, and completely contrary to the region's geographical structure, carries the risk of turning Kaş from a unique natural paradise into an identity-less concrete city.

The fact that institutions responsible for protecting traditional architecture and passing it on to future generations are erecting 10-story concrete masses in the heart of Kaş is recorded as the most concrete indicator that protection policy has failed.