The Factory as National Space

The design and layout of the new state factories communicated changing social expectations, progress and power. They were distinctively different from the ornate late-Ottoman factories in terms of the construction material, the size and prioritization of efficiency. To foreign visitors, “the silhouettes of elongated sheds, high chimneys, isolated columns” looked like they were “set up there by mistake.” Behind what looked like a misplacement were the expectations on cultural transformation factories would yield.