MİMARLIK AGENDA

Reevaluating the Need for Participation in the Process of Shaping the Urban Space / Ruşen Keleş

Following on the conclusions presented by this article, which aims to establish the ground for further critical dialogue, the forthcoming issues of Mimarlık magazine will begin a series of pieces focusing on the participation models in the field of architecture, design and their relationship with the city. We make an open call for contributions and look forward to your additions to this series, which will include perspectives from various disciplines about participation.

AGENDA

• A Year After: In Memory of Cengiz Bektaş… / Müjgan Şerefhanoğlu Sözen

Remembering Cengiz Bektaş -who left remarkable traces all around Turkey, having received many prestigious awards, and whom we lost on March 20, 2020- the writer outlines the “versatile, strong identity and personality” of Bektaş by recalling their professional collaborations.

• Autonomy in the University, Academic Freedom and Boğaziçi University / Tahsin Yeşildere

As stated in the "Magna Charta Universitatum" declaration (regarded as the constitution of universities), it is a universally recognized principle that universities should be autonomous and independent from the political sphere. In this context, the writer, tackling the concepts of academic freedom and academic reliability, highlights past and present instances in which such autonomy has been undermined.

EVENT

• THE 2020 AGENDA OF TURKEY'S MODERN HERITAGE: Modern Heritage under Threat of Destruction, Reconstruction, and "Adaptive Reuse" / Özgün Özçakır

The meeting “The Modern Heritage Agenda of Turkey 2020”, organized by KORDER and DOCOMOMO Turkey Working Party, took place on February 11, 2021. This article summarizes the highlights of the event, which revolved around five examples of the many modern architectural heritage structures that are deliberately ignored and left to deteriorate, being needlessly demolished and then granted reconstruction permits should they “bring necessary additions for higher profits.” You are also invited to watch the entire event in KORDER’s YouTube Channel.

• Architecture in its Festival Mode / Saitali Köknar

The first Istanbul Architecture Festival took place between the 5th and 11th of December, 2020, under the title “Paradigm Shift”. This was at the end of a difficult year in which we had learned to live in our homes under pandemic conditions. The festival, envisioned as an annual event, offers architects - who already have the possibility to come together at biennials, fairs and congresses- a festival environment where they can celebrate and share with wider audiences the values that architecture adds to our lives, opting to transcend excessively professional settings which, regardless of their relevance, often fall short of popular attendance.

CULTURAL HERITAGE IN DANGER

Treasure Hunter in the Lydian Tumuli of Sardis Bintepeler / Nezih Başgelen

In this chapter of Cultural Heritage in Danger, a series which began in our 405th issue, Nezih Başgelen wrote a piece on the Tumuli of Sardis.

COMMEMORATION PROGRAMME: VEDAT DALOKAY

Open Call for Archives and Studies on Vedat Dalokay!

The Commemoration program that the Chamber of Architects organizes to honor architects who contributed to the architectural culture of Turkey and who are no longer with us has chosen Vedat Dalokay for the 2020-2022 period. Within the scope of the program, we summon you, our colleagues, to submit to us any potential contributions, including original researches on Dalokay, as well to share any existing archival materials you may possess.

COMPETITIONS

• Bursa Atatürk Sports Hall Architectural Design Competition

The architectural project competition organized by the Bursa Branch of TMMOB Chamber of Architects has come to its conclusion. Its goals were to develop a spatial organization with recreational spaces that adopted a comprehensive open space concept connected to the People’s Garden and the Reşat Oyal Urban Park, therefore guaranteeing the right balance between open, semi-open and closed spaces. In the competition (which was freelance, national and single-stage), 114 entries were taken into consideration, 3 prizes and 5 honorable mentions were given, and 5 purchases were made.

• Bursa Hans District Çarşıbaşı Urban Design Project Competition

The urban design project competition organized by the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality’s General Directorate of Construction has concluded. It aimed at planning and designing the area known as Çarşıbaşı and its environment, located in the Hans District at the historical urban center of Bursa. Part of the goal was to contextualize the design of the Çarşıbaşı area together with the historical, spatial, social, cultural, economic layers and environmental relations existing in the district. In the competition (which was freelance, national and single-stage), 35 entries were taken into consideration, 3 prizes and 5 honorable mentions were given, and 7 purchases were made.

• The "October 10th Monument And Memorial" Project Competition

The project competition organized by the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality has concluded. Its main goal was to preserve the date of the terror attack which struck the "Labor, Peace and Democracy" rally (October 10th, 2015), keeping it alive in the city’s collective memory, and to create a public space where that day can be remembered and commemorated in İzmir. In the competition (which was freelance, national and single-stage), 30 entries were taken into consideration, 3 prizes and 3 honorable mentions were given, and 2 purchases were made.

URBAN PLANNING

‘Pedestrian’ Overpasses as a Hypocritical Term / Mehmet Çağlar Meşhur

‘Pedestrian’ overpasses, which are built with the claim of ameliorating the lives of pedestrians and increasing their safety, are nowadays the inevitable result of superficial transportation decisions geared towards uninterrupted vehicle traffic. Tackling overpasses, the function of which is to in fact increase the comfort of driving among urban vehicles, the writer discusses the subject by analyzing the case of Konya.

HOUSING

The Evolution of Collective Life Models from Utopia to Co-Housing / Berkay Oskay

Especially in Scandinavian countries, wherein the female labour force participation has the highest rates, the collective housing experience started with the central kitchen buildings under the management of private sector in order to alleviate the housework burden on the working women and consequently improve the integration of women labour into economic development. Collective housing movement has aimed to reconstruct the circle of family structure in order to provide an equal distribution of gender roles of households by the aid of remodelling into co-housing practices. This study examines the collective housing applications within the European countries, especially the Scandinavian countries, and North America, and the ideas and initiatives that form the origin of these projects.

ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY

Searching for the City of the Future in the Past: Yahya Kemal's Spaces of Representation / Fatma Sinem Akbulut, Neşe Gurallar

Yahya Kemal's thoughts on urban utopias and Istanbul have a constitutive role within his discussions of his era and "cultural conservatism." Presenting a construction of the fictional utopia for the future, the writers examine the dream of a metropolis built along with Yahya Kemal's spaces of representation on an axis extending from the past to the future.

PRESERVATION / REVITALISATION

Presentation of Inner City Archeological Areas: Lessons from Rome / Mustafa Sayan

The dynamism ushered by urban life often brings principles of urbanism and the discipline of conversation head to head. In this context, there is a critical debate of what are the conditions under which the historical sites accepted as a common heritage of humanity will be preserved and presented. The writer discusses the points that need to be drawn attention from an international framework by looking at model practices in Rome.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE REPUBLICAN PERIOD

• Pursuing a Modern and National Identity: Ali Mukadder Çizer / Orkun Dayıoğlu

Ali Mukadder Çizer, who started his architectural education in Germany during the Second World War and continued it in Switzerland, became prominent thanks to his residential projects and various city plans in Turkey. The writer pursues detailed a monographic research in light of the testimonies of the people who have worked with Çizer by focusing on his architecture.

• A Structure at the Intersection of Architecture, Industrial and Graphic Design: The TEKEL Pavilion at the Samsun Fair / Mustafa Çağhan Keskin

The TEKEL Pavilion, designed within the scope of the Samsun Fair (which endeavored to introduce the tourism potential of the city to the whole world), is one of the best examples of pioneering post-modernism of its period. Addressing the building, which has an important place in the memory of the city, the writer draws attention to the fact that the pavilion is "a refined example in which all of the sub-branches of design come from a single source."

ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION

The Seven Liberal Arts of Antiquity and the Education of the “Architect” / Aktan Acar

In ancient Rome, liberal arts seem to partly constitute the system that regulated definition, explanation, and judgment at every scale, from the structure of the universe to the arrangement of bricks. The writer, who tackles the definition of architectural activity and the role of the architect in the process of making of a structure by taking into account the differences in epoch, examines the relationship between the dominant paradigm of the era, "the status of architecture, the identity and education of the architect."

CONTACT

A Kaleidoscopic Experience: Reflector Pavilion / Aysu Kuştaş

Reflector Pavilion, currently located on the slope of a hill in the town of Wingles (France), creates disorder within chaos as it adapts to the natural ecosystem that it is emplaced in thanks to the exciting manner in which it modifies perspective. The structure, reflecting whatever that is projected with higher intensity, locates “everything” in the process of alteration and reconsolidates the relationship between the living and the nature.