Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
VII. Uluslararası Türk Dünyası Turizm Kongresi, Gazimagusa, Kıbrıs (Kktc), 21 - 25 Mayıs 2025, ss.799-802, (Özet Bildiri)
This study examines the family and child-friendly tourism approach in a historical structure adapted for reuse. The MACHmit Children's Museum in Berlin is analyzed in terms of form, function, and representation. The adaptive reuse of the Elias Church contains a phenomenon beyond the physical evaluation of the structure. In particular, the selection of functions for the benefit of the family and the child and the responses given to social needs will be discussed in terms of the social components of architecture. According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the United Nations on November 20, 1989, every child has the right to learn, know, satisfy their curiosity, think as they wish, participate actively, and have their own opinions in line with their abilities and cognition. The state parties should care about these needs with the children's museums that they host, which are structures with sociocultural functions. While the history of children's museums in America dates back to the end of the 19th century, it coincides with the 1970s in Germany. While these museums initially maintained the traditional museum concept, they later changed their formal and functional understanding with innovative and action-oriented methods such as pedagogical, applied, mental, learning-by-doing, play, and discovery. This change supported children's museums to become informal and universal educational spaces. Current research on children's museums emphasizes that designs should be shaped according to factors such as imagination, sense of humor, and social interactions in line with children's views. Adaptation to reuse is the re-functioning of structures that have lost their original purpose for sustainable protection. Its main goals include preserving architectural and cultural heritage, transforming urban decay, and igniting social change. As social and technological needs develop, extending the life of structures is possible with adaptive reuse practices. This concept intersects with the ideals of protection, preservation, transmission to the future, and integration with society, especially for sociocultural structures such as museums today.
The MACHmit Museum in Berlin, which brings together the concepts of family- and childfriendly tourism, adaptive reuse, and museum under one umbrella, was founded in 1992. The process, which first began with the “Prenzlauer Berg Children and Youth Museum” project by the Netzwerk Spiel Cultural Association, attracted attention with the “Soap Shop” exhibition. It temporarily served in a primary school on Ibsenstrasse, and while various events and exhibitions were organized here, the idea of a children’s museum developed. In 2000, the nonprofit MACHmit Children’s Museum was established, and during this process, they undertook the three-year restoration of the Elias Church, which had lost its congregation and needed financial resources for its maintenance. Designed by government architect Gustav Werner and architect Fritz Förster and opened for worship in 1910, the Protestant Elias Church recalls the beginnings of modernism with its architectural style, while its pointed arched portals and 802 windows on the triangular pedimented façade bear traces of the neo-Gothic style. The association, which signed a 75-year lease agreement with Elias, collaborated with Klaus Block Architecture to create child-friendly spaces within the church. While preserving the original spaces and objects belonging to the church, Klaus placed a vertical labyrinth, which is both temporary and arouses wonder and curiosity due to its existence, within this high-ceilinged structure, based on the children's ability to think and move independently. This object, which can also be considered a play labyrinth, is the dominant character of the architectural arrangement and is supported by counters, storage and work areas, and complementary construction. The MACHmit Museum presents one or two interactive temporary exhibitions each year focusing on themes such as the transformation of the city, encounters with different worlds, nature, and the environment. In addition to these, the museum also offers holiday workshops, children's and school class activities, and vocational training for parents and teachers. Buildings should be sustainable supporting social values. Society begins with the child. The conversion of the public building, which is the subject of this study, manages to transfer its story from generation to generation by accepting the child as a subject with a public function. As a result, the spatial and functional arrangements behind the family- and child-friendly MACHmit Museum, as a structure adapted from a church, will be examined under the headings of "discovery, curiosity, equality, freedom, universality, and participation" in relation to children's rights. It is aimed that these concepts will guide and shed light on designs in the future.
Keywords: family-child-friendly tourism, adaptive reuse, church, children’s museum, conversion.