A Poetic Reading of Tourism Architecture in Assos

Tourism architecture is a building type shaped by economic and social needs, as well as by its relationship with the geographical, cultural, and historical context of the settlement in which it is situated. The examples of tourism architecture examined in Assos constitute a broad spectrum between poetic character and tourism-oriented representation. Rather than being considered solely as individual structures, poetic character is grounded in a coherent design approach shaped through atmosphere, landscape, sensory experience, and user–space interaction. In this respect, a poetic approach to architectural production is based on a design understanding that prevents tourism architecture from being reduced merely to a formal costume or being commodified. The aim of this study is to reveal the poetic character of tourism architecture in Assos, Çanakkale. The study proposes a reading of Assos’s tourism architecture that extends from massing and spatial configuration to interior atmosphere. A purposive sampling method was employed in this study. Accordingly, the selected buildings were examined under two categories: examples of architectural heritage adapted for tourism purposes and newly constructed tourism buildings that reinterpret and sustain the poetic character of Assos through a contemporary approach. In this way, the study considers both the historical continuity of poetic character and its manifestations in contemporary architecture.