MİMARLIK AGENDA

A ‘Central Administration’, “Out of Control” / Ali Cengizkan

While the capital Ankara was getting planned, the process and decisions taken have been treated with utmost importance; prominence to follow a plan and programme under difficult conditions were believed; and cooperation with most famous and well-known planners were made. Gazi Farm (AOÇ), founded by Atatürk in 1925 and donated by Atatürk to public as a Republican asset, was shattered without any public consent, has been tried to get preserved by the Chamber of Architects and other NGOs with over 33 lawsuits, from 2006 to today. Not all the cases opened were resulted but the whole resulted ones were won. The author states that this new ‘central administration’ founded on the grounds of “unplanned approach, secret projects kept away from the public, trading over and penetrating the committee decisions, reclaiming power through regular fascism towards AOÇ management and users”, can only be the ‘capital’ of a forgery and corrupted understanding rather than a the capital of progressive, participatory and democratic Turkey.

AGENDA

60th Anniversary of The Chamber of Architects / Eyüp Muhcu, Bülend Tuna, Fatih Söyler, Doğan Hasol, Aydan Erim, Deniz İncedayı, Doğan Tekeli, Necip Mutlu, Ayşen Ciravoğlu

2014 is the 60th anniversary of the Chamber of Architects. Approaching the 70th anniversary of CAT, what should be the future perspectives for the next decade? Here is a forum section composed of different projections on the position of the professional organisation in ten years, and realised and developed perspectives. It is a letter to future, where we trace the recent history, the present and future steps of the Chamber of Architects.

COMMEMORATION

In memory of Muhlis Türkmen / Figen Kafesçioğlu

Prof. Muhlis Türkmen, who has produced many architectural works starting with his graduation from the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul, in 1946 till the end of 1990s, is one of the influential architects with valuable contribution to the adventure of modern architecture in Turkey. His role as educator, which he started right after graduation and continued till 2003, adopting an innovative approach accompanied with positive and sensitive behaviours made him a respected and admired instructor in the Academy. Figen Kafescioğlu, a student and a friend of him wrote an obituary following his death on September 1st, 2014.

Rigorous and Tacit Defender of Rationalism: Ayhan Tayman / Zafer Akay

We have lost Eng. Architect Ayhan Tayman, who holds a two-digit registration member key for the Chamber of Architects, on the 23rd September 2014. Tayman, undoubtedly was one of the pioneering figures of 1950s modern Turkish architecture, yet not a very well-known one due to the lack of publications about his work. Graduated from ITU in 1950, Tayman has won many first prizes in various competitions he entered between 1950 and 1960. Zafer Akay, who also works for the documentation and preservation of Tayman’s work, wrote an article that presents a selection of rationalist examples among his work.

VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE

First the Fundamentals, the Rest will Follow: Reflections on the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale / Elke Krasny

Representations of Architecture / Ela Kaçel

What has Changed in Architecture from 1980s to 2014? A Comparative Reading to the first and last Venice Architecture Biennale / Esin Kömez Dağlıoğlu

14th Venice Architecture Biennale, brings along an innovation with the theme set for the national pavilions, also has a special meaning for Turkey. Unlike other biennales, where national exhibitions and other independent works focus on different themes, this year Rem Koolhaas gathered all the exhibitions under a single theme: “Absorbing Modernity 1914-2014”. The importance of this year’s Biennale for Turkey is the permanent exhibition space, which was widely discussed from the day it was announced, and which enables Turkey to take part in the biennale for the first time at national scale. Days before the closure of biennale the magazine collects three articles on the subject. One of the invited curators of the previous biennale Elke Krasny, evaluates on the theme of the biennale and Koolhaas’s approach and stresses that “the theme Fundamentals, signals the end of an architectural history that we are accustomed”. Ela Kaçel, while examining the selected theme for national exhibitions, evaluates on the fact that Turkish Pavilion, rather than focusing on the century defined by the theme, focuses on the personal and architectural background of the curator of the exhibition, Murat Tabanlıoğlu. In the last review on Biennale Esin Kömez Dağlıoğlu, evaluates on the thematic relations between the first architectural biennale in 1980, where Koolhaas was a participant and the biennale this year, revealing the shifts in the paradigm of architecture.

AGENDA

Building Madness, Construction Workers’ Crime and Architect’s Innocence / Haydar Karabey

One of the major problems that emerge as the result of policies that focus on the speed of growth in construction industry, rather than how limitless and uncontrolled this growth is, is the deficiencies in labour and work safety. Serious events caused by this growth and uncontrolled processes, which is described by the author as “madness”, have fuelled the debate on the issue of responsibility. For some, architects are accounted only for being responsible from the design of the project, yet for others it is unacceptable for architects to undertake the final outcome but exempt themselves from the obligations of the process. The author, while discussing the issue through professional ethics, questions the contemporary architectural approach.

UIA CONGRESS

Impressions from the World Architecture Congress / Ruşen Keleş

After UIA 2014 / Şengül Öymen Gür

World Architecture Congress, one of the most important international meeting platforms of architects and urban planners, was organised this year in Durban in South Africa. Honorary Board member of the Congress Ruşen Keleş, emphasises the issue of “architects searching for architectures elsewhere” in reference to the theme of the congress “Architecture Otherwhere”. Another review on the congress belongs to Şengül Öymen Gür, who is a member of International Committee of Architectural Critics (CICA). She underlines the reason for putting special emphasis on public interest through the themes of the congress’ sessions is the result of understanding the necessity of a human-centred architectural progress. Held every year with crowded participation, the next UIA Congress will take place in 2017 in Seoul, Korea with a theme “Soul of City”.

EVENTS

A House by the Sea / Meriç Öner

“Summer Homes: Colony of the City” exhibition took place in SALT Beyoğlu, between the dates 5 September - 16 November 2014. Meriç Öner, who is the coordinator of the exhibition, organised in the scope of SALT Research and Programmes and with the contribution from many researchers, architects and enthusiasts, focuses on the summer houses that shaped the patterns of development and life in the Marmara, Aegean and Mediterranean coasts of Turkey between 1700-2000. Notes on the exhibition prepared by Meriç Öner aim to unfold the process and method adopted in the formation and development of the content of the exhibition.

ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION

ENHSA and European Network of Heads of Schools of Architecture: “What Next?” / Neslihan Dostoğlu

The last meeting of ENHSA, European Network of Heads of Schools of Architecture, organised every year for 17 years, was held this year. Chairs from various Architectural Departments, meet with an aim to discuss the problems encountered in European schools of architecture together and come up with solutions, tried to attain a general assessment of previous meetings and sought for developing future perspectives on architectural education. Discussions on the quality of architecture and urban design education during the meeting are expected to shed light on the discussions in Turkey.

FROM RURAL / CITY

A Dream for the Revival of a Village: Experience of Marmariç / Merve Güleryüz Çohadar

The new residents of Marmariç village, located in Izmir, Bayındır region, are not the villagers anymore but are the people from Istanbul, who believe the urban life disrupts ecological and social balance. In 2003, a group of 14 people have moved to Marmariç, as formerly called Dernekli Village, abandoned twenty years ago and leased 22 acres of land for 49 years from the state. The group tries to establish an ecologic life and revive this abandoned village, since 2003. The author describing the life at the village allows us to take a quick glance at the notion of “eco-village”.

ARCHITECTURAL CRITICISM

Revisiting National Architecture Awards through Nef Primary School:

Inside Gültepe and Ortabayır Neighbourhood “Ortabayır”, “Victory” or “NEF Primary School”/ Neşe Gurallar

NEF Primary School was nominated in the Building Category of National Architecture Awards 2014 “due to; the transparency/ permeability achieved both in peripheries of the land and on the ground level in an urban tissue with very limited /restricted social facilities and dense yet weak physical structures, … the spatial potentials to become a social hub, offered at the scale of a neighbourhood”. The author in her critical approach written through experiencing the building focuses on how far the gap between the aim of the designer / building and realised work can be extended. She further stresses the need to consider the structural behaviours throughout the life cycle of the buildings in the scope of the awards programme. She says that the evaluation of buildings on site, as is being applied today nearly only in Aga Khan Awards for Architecture due to time/budget resources, should be operationalised also for the National Architecture Awards.

COMPETITION

Design Corridors Izmir National Architectural Ideas Competition

With an aim to promote design and innovation in Izmir, Design Corridors Izmir National Architectural Ideas Competition is announced to present the notion of design to broader audience in the city, gain citizens’ awareness to design and achieve space for the accommodation of design events, which present striking, innovative and creative design ideas. Opened by Izmir Mediterranean Academy, the competition aimed to obtain design ideas for multi-purpose spaces, which can shelter various design and art exhibitions, performances and other artistic activities in various public spaces of Izmir, and which are portable, suitable to climatic conditions and provide necessary security conditions for the exhibited objects within. Among 77 projects submitted to the competition, 5 equivalent awards were distributed.

New Urban Design Ideas Competition for the Area of Former Eskişehir Atatürk Stadium

What to do to the land, which will be vacated by the moving of Atatürk Stadium located at Eskişehir city centre, was opened to discussion by the Governor’s Office and a preliminary research on the subject was already at its course. Parallel to the decision of moving the stadium, Chamber of Architects Eskişehir Branch has announced the New Urban Design Ideas Competition for the Area of Former Eskişehir Atatürk Stadium with a sub-theme called “Meteoric Void-Eskişehir creates its gravitational force”, which dwells on the issue of urban participation problem and calls for reclaiming such unique outdoor spaces at city centres for the benefit of citizens’ presence and activity spaces. The single-staged national competition, held in two categories for “architects” and “architectural students”, accepted a total of 95 submitted projects, 46 in architects and 49 in architectural students’ category. 4 projects were given equivalent awards in both categories.

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Use of Colour in Pre-School Education Buildings / B. Ece Şahin, Neslihan Dostoğlu

Determination of colours to be used in the education buildings, is an issue, often disregarded as a design problem and left to the decision of the school’s principal or if more fortunate of the architect’s appreciation. The author, while focusing on the effects of pre-school education buildings on the development of children, comments on the colours used in interior spaces.

Regression of Design with Life: Example of Municipality of Samsun Trade Centre / Pınar Dinç Kalaycı, Gülşah Güleç

Competitions, as a method of attaining projects, allow the production of dynamic and exempt/genuine designs in the architectural environment. However whether these designs when realised still reflect the enthusiasm of the architectural presentations or be able to maintain their energy against time, are the questions not always answered positively. The authors, through focusing on the winning project of the Municipality of Samsun Trade Centre Competition, opened in 1986, examine the transformations of the building, the conceptual references of the design process, thus portray life story of a building.

PRESERVATION - REVITALISATION

Conservation Theory’s Approach to Architectural Reconstruction / Deniz Mazlum

The problem of “how, why and what to preserve?” is a starting point of a multidimensional discussion topic, lacking a single answer. The result of discussions in the agenda of not only in Turkey, but in many places of the world, causes the emergence of diverse implementations. Besides the leading theorists’ approach on the subject, the author summarises the subtexts of legislation, agreements and written documents in a chronological order, providing a comprehensive review for a better understanding of the ongoing debates.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE REPUBLICAN PERIOD

Spatial Continuity and Transition Çifteler Village Institute Settlements / Figen Kıvılcım Çorakbaş, Firuzan Melike Sümertaş

While the Village Institutes are regarded as the prominent influential projects of the Republican era for a group of people, for some, they are regarded as a “stillborn” education model, due to the effort raised by the model in keeping peasants in the village. The authors by claiming the Village Institutes as having a significant place in the collective memory of the society analyse the Çifteler example, located in Eskişehir, including the transformation the settlement faced from 1940s to today.

CONTACT

Need for Architecture in an Overthrown (Evolving) World / Elif Özgür Koltukoğlu

Changing climatic conditions and the natural or urban areas formerly inhabited by local people through their own methods have started to become deteriorating living areas increasingly. So how is it possible to stand against these conditions through architecture? Response to this question can address Makoko Floating School. Situated in Nigeria’s largest and former capital city Lagos, designed by Amsterdam based architectural firm NLE, the first prototype is realised as a school project. The project, having the capacity to produce projects in different scales and diverse functions, aims to come up with solutions to the building problems of the region.