KEŞF-İ SÂNİ (SECOND COST ESTIMATION) BOOK OF DARÜLACEZE

The Darülaceze buildings, whose foundations were laid in 1892 and inaugurated in 1896, take an important place in the late Ottoman architecture in terms of its function and construction process. The complex founded with encouragement and initiatives of Sultan Abdülhamid II, had functions such as orphanage, nursing home, hospital and vocational training center in addition to meeting the needs of poor people. In addition to these functions, places of worship such as mosque and church have been included in the complex for residents of Darülaceze to perfom their prayers. During the construction of Darülaceze, supply of pecuniary resources and building materials was of great importance in order to carry out the work succesfully, due to the size of the complex and the functions of the buildings in it. Therefore, before commencing the construction process, a commission was established to determine the capacity of the complex and cost estimation works were completed after the architectural projects were prepared. However, a number of problems were encountered during the construction process and costs developed beyond the estimations. At this point, the concept of Keşf-i Sâni (second cost estimation) book appears. The second cost estimation book prepared after the completion of the constructions, is the book which the quantities and costs of the works realized during the construction process were calculated. In this paper, establishment of Darülaceze and the functions of the buildings in the complex will be firstly mentioned. Afterwards, cost estimation methods in Ottoman Empire will be discussed and Keşf-i Sâni (second cost estimation) Book of Darülaceze will be presented with other documents from the same period in which the complex was built.

Keywords

19th Century Ottoman Architecture, Cost Estimation Methods, Traditional Building Techniques, Traditional Building Materials