Abstract
Architectural competitions hold a pivotal role in shaping the global architectural discourse, including in Turkey, by fostering innovation and being the benchmark for contemporary aesthetic trends. Architectural aesthetics, a dynamic construct influenced by cultural, political, and technological shifts, are prominently reflected in these competitions. However, the definition of architectural aesthetics is elusive, shifting from a traditional emphasis on beauty to a contemporary focus on the multi-sensory perception of the spatial atmosphere evoked by structures. Therefore, this study endeavors to elucidate the often-implicit aesthetic dimensions and methodologies within public building design projects. By examining the project description statements of award-winning entries in national architectural competitions held after 2020, this study aims to explore how subject-based and object-based aesthetic approaches are represented within contemporary architectural discourse and how the relationship between these approaches is constructed. Methodologically, we employed quantitative and qualitative content analysis on the textual descriptions of 106 award-winning public building designs and classified architects’ aesthetic orientations. In this study, compositional aesthetic approaches are defined as object-based design strategies that organize spatial form, programmatic relationships, circulation, and visual composition through principles such as scale, proportion, and hierarchy, while atmospheric aesthetic approaches are defined as subject-based expressions related to sensory experience, emotion, mood, and the experiential qualities of space. According to these studies, our findings indicate a dominance of compositional approaches over atmospheric ones, with few explicit references to the aesthetic context within either approach. By systematically examining award-winning projects within a defined contemporary timeframe, this study offers an empirically grounded account of how aesthetic priorities are articulated and normalized in recent public architectural practice in Turkey.