Reinterpreting the Past Through Design: A Museum Proposal for Perge Archaeological Site, Antalya

This thesis discusses the ancient city of Perge as a potential site of architectural intervention based on heritage theory, spatial abstraction, and interpretive design. Perge is perhaps the most documented ancient city in Türkiye. However, Perge has been underutilized as an urban and narrative space much more so as a site of object-space relations through museological practices. The project examines the lost southern extension of the North–South colonnaded street and proposes a new museum outside of the archaeological area. The museum does not restore or reconstruct but rather interprets the urban and architectural logic of Perge its axis, its water systems, and its layerings and transforms them into a more contemporary spatial language. Taking cues from collective memory, trace theory, and site-specificity, the project frames architecture as an interactive medium of interpretation. As constructed, the museum manifests an active construction of a 'memory' field that proposes to offer an embodied and narrative understanding of heritage and reestablish a contemporary continuity with Perge's historical presence.