Does a timber house stay cool in Antalya's heat?

Designed properly, yes. Antalya is in TS 825 degree-day zone 1 and the governing load is cooling. Deep eaves, generous porches, controlled south glazing, cross ventilation and a light-coloured roof cut the cooling load directly. In timber frame the insulation sits inside the wall, giving high thermal performance at the same wall thickness.

Which type of model do you recommend for Antalya?

Open-plan models with generous porches, usually single-storey. In this climate a porch is not decorative — it is the functional element that stops the sun before it reaches the facade. The models listed on this page were selected on that criterion.

Can you build on the steep plots at Kaş and Kalkan?

Yes, but two things need settling on the site visit: turning room for the truck and level ground for the crane. On sloping parcels, two-storey models usually need less excavation and retaining work than a wide single-storey footprint.

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Timber Frame Homes in Antalya

Antalya takes one of the highest solar loads in Turkey. What decides a house's performance here is not heating — it is shade.

TS 825 climate zone: Zone 1
From our Gölbaşı facility: approx. 540 km

Detached-house demand in Antalya comes from two separate markets: holiday and retirement homes along the coast, and the highland and forest parcels in the Taurus foothills chosen as an escape from the city's heat. The two call for different scales of plan.

Where timber frame homes get built in Antalya

Kaş, Kalkan and Patara — hillside parcels with sea views
Kemer, Çamyuva and Beldibi — the narrow strip between forest and sea
Serik, Belek and Side — flat, wide agricultural and citrus land
Döşemealtı and Aksu — year-round villa districts close to the city
Alanya and Gazipaşa — more affordable coastal plots
Elmalı, Korkuteli and İbradı — cool highland parcels in the Taurus foothills

Antalya's climate: degree-day zone 1 and designing for shade

Under TS 825 Antalya sits in degree-day zone 1, Turkey's mildest band. That inverts the insulation problem entirely: the governing load across the year in Antalya is cooling, not heating. Designing a house in Central Anatolia, the question is how to keep heat inside; in Antalya the question is how to stop the sun reaching the facade at all.

The architectural answer is clear. Shading a glazed surface before the sun strikes it is many times more efficient than cooling the room afterwards. Deep eaves, full-depth porches, controlled glazing on south elevations, an open plan that allows cross ventilation, and a light-coloured roof are all design decisions that cut the cooling load directly.

This is why American-style plans work so well on the Mediterranean coast. The deep covered porch and the wrap-around veranda are not accessories added to that architecture — they are its defining element, and they exist precisely to produce shade. The models listed on this page were chosen for their porches.

Earthquakes and ground conditions

Antalya sits in a more moderate hazard band than the Marmara and Aegean provinces, with the Fethiye–Burdur fault zone running to the west. But since 2019 there has been no such thing as an earthquake "zone grade" in Turkey: TBDY 2018 gives an acceleration value for every parcel by coordinate, and the calculation follows from it. Timber frame's low mass markedly reduces the force the same ground acceleration imposes compared with equivalent concrete.

There is a second ground issue specific to Antalya: much of the region sits on karstic limestone, where dissolution voids can occur. Independently of the building system, this makes Antalya a province where the geotechnical survey deserves to be taken seriously.

Transport and site access

It is roughly 540 km from our Gölbaşı facility to Antalya. Along the coast the thing to watch is the steep hillside parcels around Kaş and Kalkan: the truck's turning room and level ground for the crane have to be planned in advance. On flat plots around Serik and Döşemealtı that constraint usually does not arise.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a timber house stay cool in Antalya's heat?: Designed properly, yes. Antalya is in TS 825 degree-day zone 1 and the governing load is cooling. Deep eaves, generous porches, controlled south glazing, cross ventilation and a light-coloured roof cut the cooling load directly. In timber frame the insulation sits inside the wall, giving high thermal performance at the same wall thickness.
Which type of model do you recommend for Antalya?: Open-plan models with generous porches, usually single-storey. In this climate a porch is not decorative — it is the functional element that stops the sun before it reaches the facade. The models listed on this page were selected on that criterion.
Can you build on the steep plots at Kaş and Kalkan?: Yes, but two things need settling on the site visit: turning room for the truck and level ground for the crane. On sloping parcels, two-storey models usually need less excavation and retaining work than a wide single-storey footprint.
Is a geotechnical survey required?: It is required for every permitted building in Turkey, and it matters particularly in Antalya: much of the region sits on karstic limestone where dissolution voids can occur. This is independent of the building system, and the foundation solution follows from the survey result.