MİMARLIK AGENDA

Gezi Resistance and the Chamber of Architects / Bülent Batuman

Mücella Yapıcı, Can Atalay and Tayfun Kahraman were arrested in the final hearing of the Gezi Trial. The author highlights that the Chamber of Architects has been an opponent advocating the public interest within the city and built environment since the 1950s. Then, he salutes Gezi, as a public reaction erupted against the urban hegemony generated by political Islam, the oppressive-destructive dispositions of these urbanization processes; and the “justice guard duties”.

COMMEMORATION

After İhsan Bilgin / Ela Kaçel  

İhsan Bilgin, a member of the Chamber of Architects with the registration number 10656, passed away on May 6, 2022. As an Istanbul Erkek Lisesi graduate, he received his master’s degree in 1980 (ITU), doctoral degree in 1990 (ITU), title of “associate professor” in 1994 (YTU), and “professor” in 2000 (YTU). Bilgin was a lecturer at YTU during 1982-2004, at Istanbul Bilgi University during 2004-20, where he was one of the founders of the Faculty of Architecture, and lastly at Istanbul Kent University. He was one of the editors of Defter journal, an author in Taraf newspaper and the website serbestiyet.com. The Bilgin Architecture firm, which he founded in 1984, contributed to numerous architectural design projects and constructions; including but not limited to Evidea installation (with Emre Arolat and Nevzat Sayın in 2005), restoration of Okur Mansion (2003), The Museum of Innocence (2003), Ottoman Bank Museum (2002), YTU Davutpaşa Campus Housing (1999), Komers Residence (1999), and Karaca retail shops (1998). Bilgin contributed to the architectural literature with the series Metropol and Architecture (2008-16), the book Essays on Peter Zumthor’s Architecture (2019), various articles on modern housing, settlement and architectural culture, and monographies. Ela Kaçel wrote a text in memoriam.

AGENDA

Two Site-Specific Conservation Laws of Turkey: Comparative Evaluation of Gelibolu and Kapadokya Regions / Funda Solmaz Şakar

Site-Specific Laws mark a new era within Turkey’s conservation policies, which will constitute the new legal and administrative frameworks of conservation. In this issue, the author comparatively explore the laws upon Çanakkale effectuated in 2014 and Gelibolu effectuated in 2019. The author’s assessment of the law regarding the Cappadocia Region, published in the 419th issue, can be accessed via the link https://bit.ly/3Hr9azZ.

EVENT

Interdisciplinary Approaches to Interior Spaces / Burkay Pasin

The symposium “Modern Interior Spaces in Turkey” was organized for the second time this year by docomomo_tr; which calls for “distinct disciplinary initiatives, approaches and representations”. The author depicts a comprehensive framework of the program, and encourages the young researches to think beyond the mere documentation of the interior space to consider the redefinition of the modern interior spaces with interdisciplinary approaches.

INTERNATIONAL AGENDA

War, Climate Crisis and Housing Problem / Ayşen Ciravoğlu, Deniz İncedayı

UIA, ACE and UMAR recently conducted a general congress and forums to inquire the agendas of architecture. Under the roof of the Chamber of Architects, the authors closely follow the international debates and share sections from the meetings. The authors bring the global pandemic, political conflicts, impending war threats, and the problem of migration into question.

CULTURAL HERITAGE IN DANGER

The Annihilated Modern Urban Fabric, Structure and Heritage in the Capital City / Savaş Zafer Şahin    

In this chapter of Cultural Heritage in Danger, a section initiated in our 405th issue, we will discuss Ankara’s urban fabric with Savaş Zafer Şahin’s narration.

ARCHITECTURE-DEMOCRACY-PARTICIPATION

Is Investing into Housing a Sanctuary for Inflation? / Mustafa Sönmez          

Housing rents, prices, costs, and inflation… The author conducts a relational survey on Turkey’s political economy to investigate the housing problem, which clued its arrival in advance and soared lately.

COMPETITIONS

• January 5th Park and its Immediate Surrounding Urban Design Competition

The competition, organized by the Adana Metropolitan Municipality for the memory of the 100th anniversary of the salvation of Adana, is concluded. The competition focused on the dense residential zones of the Seyhan and Çukurova districts. The entries were expected to address a holistic urban design strategy for the improvement of urban citizens’ everyday life conditions which provides a healthy and meritable life quality, and the design approaches offers a qualified park and open venues suitable for construction. For the freelance, national, and two-stage competition, 19 entries were taken into consideration; 3 prizes, 3 honorable mentions were given, and 2 purchases were made.

• Tarsus Waterfall Tourism Facilities Architectural Project Competition

The competition, organized by the Mersin Metropolitan Municipality, is concluded. Within the boundaries of the Tarsus district’s Kemalpaşa neighborhood, the competition aimed to achieve architectural design projects which (a) enhance the urban life quality in Tarsus by considering the region’s historical and social context with a timely approach; (b) increase the public space usage; (c) contribute to the region’s economy; (d) open all of the social strata enabling diverse uses, qualified, applicable, unique, respectful to nature, sustainable, innovative and functional, which promote fine arts. For the freelance, national, and single-stage competition 74 entries were taken into consideration; 3 prizes and 3 honorable mentions were given.

USER PARTICIPATION

A Proposal for Transitioning from Management to Governance: Muğla Karabağlar Plateau / Feray Koca

Recently the term “management” is becoming outmoded, giving its place to “good governance” which provides societal coordination. When decisions for the spaces that one interacts with are made, the will of individuals (who are directly influenced by such arrangements) to actively participate and gain the right to interfere, necessitates the need for participation. The author presents cross-sections from the process of transitioning to a governance structure, through the case of the Karabağlar Plateau.

PRESERVATION / REVITALISATION

The Role of Museums for Preserving Urban Memory: Amuri Workers’ Distict, Tampere, Finland / Seval Cömertler

The enhancements in conservation during the 20th century, the cities coming into prominence with globalization, and the visual culture becoming more crucial with postmodernism, have influenced museology. Among the museums, which depart from being solely precious object storages and gain new meanings and become diversified; the ones which highlight the local cultures play a key role in preserving the urban memory. The author explores the “Museum of Workers' Housing” in Amuri, the first industrial city of Tampere, Finland; and the museum’s contributions to preserving the urban collective memory.

URBAN CULTURE

The Urban Wanderer Character from Flaneur to Present / Hilal Iavarone, Pelin Dursun Çebi

The wanderer of the early modern Paris, the “Flaneur”, has transformed into various characters over time within the urban and everyday life scopes. The author explicates wandering in the city as the ideal way of telling the stories of the city, experiencing and discovering them. The article ponders the transformative effect of technology on the urban experience through the “urban wanderer” identity of the 21st century by discussing the reflections of the urban wanderer’s changing identities on contemporary literature.

URBAN DESIGN

Case for an Urban Design Guideline: İzmit Pertev Paşa Mosque and its Vicinity / Aleyna Aydın, Sibel Ecemiş Kılıç, Mercan Efe Güney

Standardization as well as cities losing their identities and looking alike are among the leading problems of contemporary cities. The authors centralize the urban design guidelines as documents that propose to improve the spatial quality of urban venues, and preserve urban features with their unique identities. The article discusses the problems and potentials of the Pertev Paşa Mosque and its vicinity, located in İzmit’s center, through the urban design guideline developed for the zone.

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

The Defeat of Professional Ethics against Commodified Architecture / Sena Işıklar Bengi, Gizem Özkan Üstün

Architecture becomes a whole through collecting pieces from the structure of societies, economic conditions, and ideological agendas. Nowadays, the need-related use-value of space gives its place to prioritizing the property relations of the capitalist system. Hence the space is objectivized, whereas the individuals are reduced to solely being the users of these objects. The authors bring the decaying internal dynamics and the soaring new predicament of commodified architecture into question. The article deduces the upcoming influences of the consumption architecture on the damaged professional ethics, user, employer, space, and architect.

ARCHITECTURAL THEORY

The Role of Space on the Enterprising-up of Life / Emre Demirtaş, Mehtap Özbayraktar

The production of space plays an active role in the “conditioning, production and display” of the human and non-human through various modes of performance. This process appears as the primary constituent of the ontological and epistemological differentiation between inside and outside. The author focuses on the relationship between space and performance. Through this framework, the relationship between the spaces in which human dispositions are conditioned, and the venues in which the non-human are produced and displayed, is explored.

CONTACT

The Cannabis Mode of Brick: Scale.Less / Başak Tükenmez

The author explores the Scale.Less installation of cannabis brick as a stand in silence for the Colombian architect Rogelio Salmon. The installation is commentated on as a “potential cure for the cities under environmental crisis, and a future envisagement of distorted dimensions”.

* English Summary by Ece Konuk