ABSTRACT

In 1958, the architect and critic Şevki Vanlı (1926-2008) coined the term “Hiltonculuk” to describe a fad among prominent Turkish architects who uncritically modeled their buildings after the Istanbul Hilton Hotel (1952-5), designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) and Sedad Hakkı Eldem (Figure 1). Vanlı’s criticism was directed at the easy reproduction of the “perfect mediocrity” of 1950s American architecture à la International Style in postwar Turkey.1