“Serander” are two-story wooden structures erected on a stone bases that marry the slope and provide a horizantal ground for the upper stories. Each story is larger than previous one. With its empty lower story on pillars for the purpose of ventilation, this light piece of construction seems ready to take flight. It is an abstract structure to be read like a system model, or a mental design.
“Serander” is placed on the stone base with four, six, or nine timber pillars, which are solidly bracketed by slanting rafters that emphasize the rising movement of the construction. Like an abacus on pillars, with cylindrical plates below them that are apparently developed to protect the store room from the other creatures of nature, they are another manifestation of creativity.
The storage space on the upper story is surrounded by a veranda that underlines the overall appearance. This story consists of three or four modules and its elevation is considerably high. In some practices, the upper units are enlarged to be added to the storage space. Broad eaves emphasize the lightness of the structure.
This unique and astounding typological element of the Black Sea region is constructed as a separate building that is exclusively allocated for the preservation of foodstuff. Built next to houses, store rooms or “seranders” inlocal idiom, are one of the most brilliant expressions of creativity in architectural practices.
It is possible to question the necessity of such an amount of labor spent on these painstakingly designed, decorated and constructed elements. Although the meticulousness seems to be internalized due to a mastery acquired by innumerable experiments in form, the “serander” can be read as an embodiment of a mentality that wishes to dedicate a building to the fruit of the land to consecrate it.
Starting with the points at which the pillars are attached to the rafters, the builders of “seranders” have also developed a specific ornamentation scheme, like the bands of geometric motifs on rafters and openwork on parapets. Even the intersections of wooden walls are used as a chance for embellishment or for plasticity.
In sum, the “serander” is a traditional model that is well known, meticulously executed, and bien raffine. It is a functional as well as a poetic model perched on the flower-bedecked slopes of the Eastern Black Sea topography. It is to be noted down by the contemporary architect as a source of inspiration. It is a structural stylization. An image with thousands of associations. A The elitist geometry of the Sagra House does not come up out of the blue. It is an appointment with “serander” in the context of Le Corbusier, a retreat into a local typology in pursuit of high modernity. It is a call for a new life, silent and profound.
Batur, A. & Gür, Ş.Ö. “Rural Architecture in the Eastern Black Sea Region”. Istanbul 2005. ISBN 975-7235-68-7
